IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2140 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 11, 2019 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

AN ACT 

To prevent child marriage in refugee settlements 

administered by the United Nations, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing Child Mar3 riage in Displaced Populations Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) According to UNICEF, 12 million girls 

7 marry before the age of 18 every year. 

8 (2) Early marriage denies children, especially 

9 girls, their right to make vital decisions about their 

10 well-being, including relating to their health, family, 

11 and career. Child brides are less likely to finish their 

12 education, and are at higher risk for abuse, con13 tracting HIV, and dying while pregnant or giving 

14 birth. 

15 (3) Child marriage also imposes substantial eco16 nomic costs to developing countries, impeding devel17 opment and prosperity gains. 

18 (4) Displaced populations are particularly vul19 nerable to child marriage, in communities where pov20 erty, instability, and displacement put pressure on 

21 families to marry children, particularly young girls, 

22 off at a young age. 

23 (5) One United Nations (UN) study found that 

24 child marriage rates were 4 times higher among dis25 placed Syrian refugees than among Syrians before 


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1 the crisis. This indicates that displacement, insta2 bility, and poverty are driving child marriages. 

3 (6) United Nations agencies, including 

4 UNICEF and UNHCR, have acknowledged the dan5 gers of child marriage and taken steps to address its 

6 risk in the populations they serve. 

7 (7) The UN Joint Program on Child Marriage 

8 supports this work by building the resilience of pop9 ulations to indirectly prevent child marriage and by 

10 generating new data and evidence on the prevalence 

11 of child marriage in humanitarian and fragile set12 tings. For example, in Uganda, the UN Joint Pro13 gram on Child Marriage helped 27,000 adolescent 

14 girls strengthen critical skills through school clubs 

15 and Go Back to School campaigns, as well as life16 skills and financial literacy training. 

17 (8) After the UN Joint Program on Child Mar18 riage identified Yemen as one of its focus countries, 

19 65,000 people, of whom 45,000 are adolescents, 

20 were reached with awareness raising activities on the 

21 harms of child marriage in 2018 alone. As a result, 

22 local council representatives, elders, and community 

23 leaders from six districts signed a pledge to support 

24 advocacy efforts to end child marriage. 


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1 SEC. 3. PREVENTING CHILD MARRIAGE IN DISPLACED POP2 ULATIONS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall direct the 

4 United States Permanent Representative to the United 

5 Nations to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United 

6 States at the United Nations to call for an adoption of 

7 an agreed-upon definition of ‘‘child marriage’’ across 

8 United Nations agencies. 

9 (b) STRATEGY.—The President shall direct the 

10 United States Permanent Representative to the United 

11 Nations to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United 

12 States at the United Nations to call for the development 

13 of a comprehensive strategy to address child marriage in 

14 refugee settlements administered by the United Nations. 

15 Such strategy should include the following: 

16 (1) A mandate to regularly collect and report 

17 data related to the number of known or suspected 

18 child marriages taking place inside each such settle19 ment. 

20 (2) Protocols for United Nations personnel re21 garding prevention and monitoring of child mar22 riages inside each such settlement. 

23 (3) A description of United Nations programs 

24 administered at such settlements that include— 


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1 (A) physical, mental, and emotional reha2 bilitation and support to children who have ex3 tricated themselves from child marriage; and 

4 (B) alternatives to child marriage, such as 

5 education initiatives. 

6 (4) Protocols regarding how United Nations 

7 personnel should— 

8 (A) report adults participating in illegal 

9 child marriages in each such settlement; and 

10 (B) monitor the prosecution of such adults 

11 by the authorities of the country in which the 

12 settlement at issue is located. 

13 (c) RESEARCH.—The President shall direct the 

14 United States Permanent Representative to the United 

15 Nations to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United 

16 States at the United Nations to advocate for the United 

17 Nations and its appropriate agencies to include, as appro18 priate, in all of its research into child marriage the rela19 tionship between child marriage and violence against girls, 

20 including young children and infants. 

21 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

22 (1) CHILD MARRIAGE.—The term ‘‘child mar23 riage’’ means a formal marriage or informal union 

24 involving at least one person younger than age 18. 


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1 (2) ILLEGAL CHILD MARRIAGE.—The term ‘‘il2 legal child marriage’’ means a child marriage that is 

3 illegal under the laws of the country in which the 

4 child marriage occurs. 

Passed the House of Representatives June 10, 2019. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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