II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1781 

To authorize appropriations for the Department of State for fiscal years 

2020 through 2022 to provide assistance to El Salvador, Guatemala, 

and Honduras through bilateral compacts to increase protection of 

women and children in their homes and communities and reduce female 

homicides, domestic violence, and sexual assault. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 11, 2019 

Mr. RUBIO (for himself, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. YOUNG, and Mr. 

KAINE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To authorize appropriations for the Department of State 

for fiscal years 2020 through 2022 to provide assistance 

to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras through bilateral compacts to increase protection of women and children in their homes and communities and reduce female 

homicides, domestic violence, and sexual assault. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Central American 

5 Women and Children Protection Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress makes the following findings: 

3 (1) The Northern Triangle countries of El Sal4 vador, Honduras, and Guatemala have among the 

5 highest homicide rates in the world. In 2017, there 

6 were 60 homicides per 100,000 people in El Sal7 vador, 43.6 homicides per 100,000 people in Hon8 duras, and 26.1 homicides per 100,000 people in 

9 Guatemala. 

10 (2) Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador are 

11 characterized by a high prevalence of drug- and 

12 gang-related violence, murder, and crimes involving 

13 sexual- and gender-based violence. The region also 

14 has high rates of domestic violence, child abuse, and 

15 sexual assault. 

16 (3) Central America ranks high among regions 

17 of the world for female homicides. A combined 801 

18 women were victims of homicide in El Salvador, 

19 Honduras, and Guatemala in 2017 alone, according 

20 to the United Nations Office of Drug Control and 

21 Crime. 

22 (4) El Salvador and Honduras are both among 

23 the top 3 countries in the world with the highest 

24 child homicides rates, with more than 22 and 32 

25 deaths per 100,000 children respectively, according 


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1 to the nongovernmental organization Save the Chil2 dren. 

3 (5) Thousands of women, children, and families 

4 are fleeing unsafe homes and communities each 

5 month in these countries due to surging violence. 

6 (6) Violent crimes against women and children 

7 are substantially under-reported because the major8 ity of victims lack safe access to protection and jus9 tice. 

10 (7) Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador gov11 ernments allow impunity for perpetrators of violence 

12 against women and children, with less than 10 per13 cent of reported cases resulting in conviction. 

14 (8) According to a study conducted by the 

15 Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 

16 childhood experiences with domestic violence in 

17 Latin America are a major risk factor for future 

18 criminal behavior. Fifty-six percent of incarcerated 

19 women and 59 percent of incarcerated men surveyed 

20 experienced intra-familial violence during childhood. 

21 SEC. 3. WOMEN AND CHILDREN PROTECTION COMPACTS. 

22 (a) AUTHORIZATION TO ENTER INTO COMPACTS.— 

23 The Secretary of State is authorized to enter into bilateral 

24 agreements with the Governments of El Salvador, Guate25 mala, and Honduras (in this Act referred to as ‘‘Compact 


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1 Countries’’) to be known as Women and Children Protec2 tion Compacts (in this Act referred to as ‘‘Compacts’’), 

3 for the purposes of— 

4 (1) strengthening the Compact Countries’ 

5 criminal justice systems and civil protection courts 

6 to protect women and children and serve victims of 

7 domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse 

8 and neglect and hold perpetrators accountable; 

9 (2) securing, creating, and sustaining safe com10 munities, building on current place-based approaches 

11 to prevent and deter violence against women and 

12 children; 

13 (3) ensuring schools are safe and promoting the 

14 prevention and early detection of gender-based and 

15 domestic abuse within communities in the Compact 

16 Countries; and 

17 (4) providing security within the region to fami18 lies and unaccompanied children fleeing domestic, 

19 gang, or drug violence. 

20 (b) COMPONENTS OF COMPACT.—A Compact shall 

21 establish a 3- to 6-year plan for achieving shared objec22 tives articulated in Compacts, in furtherance of the pur23 poses of this Act, and shall include— 

24 (1) identification of areas of highest incidence 

25 of violence against women and children; 


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1 (2) evaluation of women and child victims’ ac2 cess to protection and justice; 

3 (3) evaluation of justice system capacity to re4 spond to reports of femicide, sexual assault, domes5 tic violence, and child abuse and neglect and to hold 

6 perpetrators accountable; 

7 (4) identification of measurable goals to protect 

8 women and children to deter crimes against them 

9 that the Compact commits to achieve during the 

10 term of the Compact; 

11 (5) indicators to monitor and measure progress 

12 toward achieving these objectives, including reduc13 tions in prevalence of femicide, sexual assault, do14 mestic violence, and child abuse and neglect; and 

15 (6) provisions to ensure funds provided under 

16 the Compact may be fully accounted for with an 

17 adequate audit trail. 

18 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF ASSISTANCE. 

19 (a) ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary of State and the 

20 Administrator of the United States Agency for Inter21 national Development are authorized to provide assistance 

22 to assist the Government of El Salvador, the Government 

23 of Guatemala, or the Government of Honduras if the 

24 country enters into a Compact. 


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1 (b) PROHIBITION OF DIRECT ASSISTANCE.—No 

2 funds provided pursuant to this Act shall be provided di3 rectly to the Governments of El Salvador, Guatemala, and 

4 Honduras. 

5 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

6 authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for each of fis7 cal years 2020, 2021, and 2022 to carry out this Act. 

8 (d) SUSPENSION OF ASSISTANCE.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may suspend 

10 or terminate assistance authorized by this Act to 

11 any of the three countries if the Secretary deter12 mines that— 

13 (A) the country’s government is engaged in 

14 activities that are contrary to the national secu15 rity interests of the United States; 

16 (B) the country or recipient entity has en17 gaged in a pattern of actions inconsistent with 

18 the criteria used to determine the eligibility of 

19 the country or entity, as the case may be; or 

20 (C) the country or recipient entity has 

21 failed to make sufficient progress to meet the 

22 goals of the Compact. 

23 (2) REINSTATEMENT.—The Secretary may re24 instate assistance for a country or entity suspended 

25 or terminated under this paragraph only if the SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:24 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1781.IS S1781

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1 retary certifies to Congress that the country or enti2 ty has taken steps to correcting each condition for 

3 which assistance was suspended or terminated under 

4 paragraph (1). 

5 SEC. 5. COMPACT PROGRESS REPORTS AND BRIEFING. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall sub7 mit to Congress not later than September 30 of each fiscal 

8 year covered by the authorization a joint report that con9 tains a detailed description of the implementation of the 

10 Compacts during the prior year. 

11 (b) CONTENTS.—The report under subsection (a) for 

12 fiscal year 2022 shall include— 

13 (1) information on the overall rates of gender14 based violence in the Northern Triangle countries, 

15 including by using victimization surveys, regardless 

16 of whether or not these acts of violence are reported 

17 to government authorities; 

18 (2) information on incidences of gender-based 

19 violence cases reported to the authorities in the 

20 Northern Triangle countries and the percentage of 

21 perpetrators investigated, apprehended, prosecuted, 

22 and convicted; 

23 (3) information on the capacity and resource al24 location of child welfare systems in each Northern 

25 Triangle country to protect unaccompanied children, 


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1 including runaways and refugee returnees in North2 ern Triangle countries; 

3 (4) the percentage of reported violence against 

4 women and children cases reaching conviction; 

5 (5) a baseline and percentage changes in 

6 women and children victims receiving legal and so7 cial services; 

8 (6) a baseline and percentage changes in school 

9 retention rates; 

10 (7) a baseline and changes in capacity of police, 

11 prosecution service, and courts to combat violence 

12 against women and children; and 

13 (8) independent external evaluation of funded 

14 programs, including compliance with terms of the 

15 Compacts by all parties. 

16 (c) BRIEFING.—Not later than 180 days after the 

17 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 

18 and the Administrator of the United States Agency for 

19 International Development shall provide the Committee on 

20 Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on 

21 Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives a briefing 

22 on the data and information collected pursuant to this sec23 tion and the steps taken to protect victims of domestic 

24 violence, sexual assault, and child abuse and neglect. 

Æ 


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