115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5273 

AN ACT 

To reduce global fragility and violence by improving the 

capacity of the United States to reduce and address 

the causes of violence, violent conflict, and fragility, 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 ‘‘Global Fragility and 

3 Violence Reduction Act of 2018’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) According to the United Nations, an un7 precedented 68.5 million people around the world, 

8 the highest level ever recorded, are currently forcibly 

9 displaced from their homes. 

10 (2) According to the World Bank, violence and 

11 violent conflict are now the leading causes of dis12 placement and food insecurity worldwide, driving 80 

13 percent of humanitarian needs, with the same con14 flicts accounting for the majority of forcibly dis15 placed persons every year since 1991. 

16 (3) According to the World Health Organiza17 tion, preventable forms of violence kill at least 1.4 

18 million people each year. According to the Institute 

19 for Economics and Peace, violence containment costs 

20 the global economy $14.76 trillion a year, or 12.4 

21 percent of the world’s GDP. If violence were to de22 crease uniformly across the world by just 10 per23 cent, the global economy would gain $1.48 trillion 

24 each year. 

25 (4) Violence and violent conflict underpin many 

26 of the United States Government’s key national se-
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1 curity challenges. Notably, violent conflicts allow for 

2 environments in which terrorist organizations recruit 

3 and thrive, while the combination of violence, cor4 ruption, poverty, poor governance, and underdevelop5 ment often enables transnational gangs and criminal 

6 networks to wreak havoc and commit atrocities 

7 worldwide. 

8 (5) According to new research by the University 

9 of Maryland and University of Pittsburgh, exposure 

10 to violence increases support for violence and violent 

11 extremism. Research increasingly finds exposure to 

12 violence as a predictor of future participation in vio13 lence, including violent extremism. 

14 (6) United States foreign policy and assistance 

15 efforts in highly violent and fragile states remain 

16 governed by an outdated patchwork of authorities 

17 that prioritize responding to immediate needs rather 

18 than solving the problems that cause them. 

19 (7) Lessons learned over the past 20 years, doc20 umented by the 2013 Special Inspector General for 

21 Iraq Reconstruction Lessons Learned Study, the 

22 2016 Fragility Study Group report, and the 2018 

23 Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Lessons 

24 Learned Study on Stabilization, show that effective, 

25 sustained United States efforts to reduce violence 
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1 and stabilize fragile and violence-affected states re2 quire clearly defined goals and strategies, adequate 

3 long-term funding, rigorous and iterative conflict 

4 analysis, coordination across the United States Gov5 ernment, including strong civil-military coordination, 

6 and integration with national and sub-national part7 ners, including local civil society organizations, local 

8 justice systems, and local governance structures. 

9 (8) The ‘‘Stabilization Assistance Review’’ re10 leased in 2018 by the Departments of State and De11 fense and the United States Agency for Inter12 national Development states, ‘‘The United States 

13 has strong national security and economic interests 

14 in reducing levels of violence and promoting stability 

15 in areas affected by armed conflict.’’ The Review 

16 further states, ‘‘Stabilization is an inherently polit17 ical endeavor that requires aligning U.S. Govern18 ment efforts – diplomatic engagement, foreign as19 sistance, and defense – toward supporting locally le20 gitimate authorities and systems to peaceably man21 age conflict and prevent violence.’’. 

22 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

23 It is the policy of the United States to— 

24 (1) ensure that all relevant Federal depart25 ments and agencies coordinate to achieve coherent, 
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1 long-term goals for programs designed to prevent vi2 olence, stabilize conflict-affected areas, and address 

3 the long-term causes of violence and fragility, includ4 ing when implementing the Global Fragility and Vio5 lence Reduction Initiative described in section 5(a); 

6 (2) seek to improve global, regional, and local 

7 coordination of relevant international and multilat8 eral development and donor organizations regarding 

9 efforts to prevent violence, stabilize conflict-affected 

10 areas, and address the long-term causes of violence 

11 and fragility in fragile and violence-affected coun12 tries, and, where practicable and appropriate, align 

13 such efforts with multilateral goals and indicators; 

14 (3) expand and enhance the effectiveness of 

15 United States foreign assistance programs and ac16 tivities to prevent violence, stabilize conflict-affected 

17 areas, and address the long-term causes of violence 

18 and fragility, including programs intended to im19 prove the indicators described in section 5(d)(1); 

20 (4) support the research and development of ef21 fective approaches to prevent violence, stabilize con22 flict-affected areas, and address the long-term 

23 causes of violence and fragility; and 

24 (5) improve the monitoring, evaluation, learn25 ing, and adaptation tools and authorities for relevant 
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1 Federal departments and agencies working to pre2 vent violence, stabilize conflict-affected areas, and 

3 address the long-term causes of violence and fra4 gility. 

5 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING ASSISTANCE FOR 

6 THE GLOBAL FRAGILITY AND VIOLENCE RE7 DUCTION INITIATIVE. 

8 It is the sense of Congress that the President, the 

9 Secretary of State, the Administrator of USAID, the Sec10 retary of Defense, and the heads of other relevant Federal 

11 departments and agencies, should work with Congress to 

12 provide sufficient types and levels of funding to— 

13 (1) allow for more adaptive program planning 

14 and implementation under the initiative and priority 

15 country or regional plans required under section 5, 

16 including through exemptions from specific and min17 imum funding levels when such exemptions would 

18 make programs better able to respond to monitoring 

19 and evaluation or changed circumstances in relevant 

20 countries; 

21 (2) better integrate conflict and violence reduc22 tion activities into other program areas where appro23 priate; and 

24 (3) contribute to the creation of transparent 

25 and accountable multilateral funds, initiatives, and 
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1 strategies to enhance and better coordinate both pri2 vate and public efforts to prevent violence, stabilize 

3 conflict-affected areas, and address the long-term 

4 causes of violence and fragility. 

5 SEC. 5. GLOBAL INITIATIVE TO REDUCE FRAGILITY AND VI6 OLENCE. 

7 (a) INITIATIVE.—The Secretary of State, in coordina8 tion with the Administrator of the United States Agency 

9 for International Development (USAID), the Secretary of 

10 Defense, and the heads of other relevant Federal depart11 ments and agencies, shall establish an interagency initia12 tive, to be referred to as the ‘‘Global Initiative to Reduce 

13 Fragility and Violence’’, to prevent violence, stabilize con14 flict-affected areas, and address the long-term causes of 

15 violence and fragility. 

16 (b) IMPLEMENTATION PLAN.—Not later than 180 

17 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec18 retary of State, in coordination with the Administrator of 

19 USAID, the Secretary of Defense, and the heads of other 

20 relevant Federal departments and agencies, shall develop 

21 and submit to the appropriate congressional committees 

22 an interagency implementation plan for the Global Initia23 tive to Reduce Fragility and Violence established pursuant 

24 to subsection (a) that includes the following: 
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1 (1) Descriptions of the overall goals, objectives, 

2 criteria, and metrics guiding the implementation, in3 cluding with respect to prioritizing countries and 

4 measuring progress. 

5 (2) A list of the priority countries and regions 

6 selected pursuant to subsection (d)(2). 

7 (3) Identification of the roles and responsibil8 ities of each participating Federal department or 

9 agency, while ensuring that with respect to activities 

10 relating to stabilization— 

11 (A) the Department of State shall be the 

12 overall lead for establishing United States for13 eign policy and advancing diplomatic and polit14 ical efforts; 

15 (B) USAID shall be the lead implementing 

16 agency for development, humanitarian, and re17 lated non-security programs; 

18 (C) the Department of Defense shall sup19 port the activities of the Department of State 

20 and USAID as appropriate, including by pro21 viding requisite security and reinforcing civilian 

22 efforts, with the concurrence of the Secretary of 

23 State and Administrator of USAID; and 

24 (D) other Federal departments and agen25 cies shall support the activities of the Depart-
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1 ment of State and USAID as appropriate, with 

2 the concurrence of the Secretary of State and 

3 Administrator of USAID. 

4 (4) Identification of the authorities, staffing, 

5 and other resource requirements needed to effec6 tively implement the initiative. 

7 (5) Descriptions of the organizational steps the 

8 Department of State, USAID, the Department of 

9 Defense, and each other relevant Federal depart10 ment or agency will take to improve planning, co11 ordination, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, 

12 adaptive management, and iterative learning with re13 spect to the programs under such initiative. 

14 (6) Descriptions of the steps each relevant Fed15 eral department or agency will take to improve co16 ordination and collaboration under such initiative 

17 with international development organizations, inter18 national donors, multilateral organizations, and the 

19 private sector. 

20 (7) Descriptions of potential areas of improved 

21 public and private sector research and development, 

22 including with academic, philanthropic, and civil so23 ciety organizations, on more effective approaches to 

24 preventing violence, stabilizing conflict-affected 
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1 areas, and addressing the long-term causes of vio2 lence and fragility. 

3 (8) Plans for regularly evaluating and updating, 

4 on an iterative basis— 

5 (A) the Global Initiative to Reduce Fra6 gility and Violence; 

7 (B) the interagency implementation plan 

8 described in this subsection; and 

9 (C) the priority country and regional plans 

10 described in subsection (c). 

11 (c) PRIORITY COUNTRY AND REGIONAL PLANS.— 

12 Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of 

13 this Act, the Secretary of State, in coordination with the 

14 Administrator of USAID, the Secretary of Defense, and 

15 the heads of other relevant Federal departments and agen16 cies, shall develop and submit to the appropriate congres17 sional committees 10-year plans to align and integrate the 

18 diplomatic, development, security, and other relevant ac19 tivities of the United States Government with the initiative 

20 required under subsection (a) for each of the priority 

21 countries and regions designated pursuant to subsection 

22 (d). Such priority country and regional plans shall include: 

23 (1) Specific interagency plans for coordination 

24 and implementation under the country or regional 

25 plan. 
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1 (2) Descriptions of how and when the relevant 

2 goals, objectives, and plans for each priority country 

3 or region will be incorporated into relevant United 

4 States country plans and strategies, including De5 partment of State Integrated Country Strategies, 

6 USAID Country Development Cooperation Strate7 gies, and Department of Defense Campaign Plans, 

8 Operational Plans, and Regional Strategies, as well 

9 as any equivalent or successor plans or strategies. 

10 (3) Interagency plans to ensure that appro11 priate local actors, including government and civil 

12 society entities and organizations led by women, 

13 youth, or under-represented communities, have roles 

14 in developing, implementing, monitoring, evaluating, 

15 and updating relevant aspects of each such country 

16 or regional plan. 

17 (4) Clear, transparent, and measurable diplo18 matic, development, and security benchmarks, time19 tables, and performance metrics for each such coun20 try and region that align with best practices where 

21 applicable. 

22 (5) Interagency plans for monitoring and eval23 uation, adaptive management, and iterative learning 

24 that provide for regular and iterative policy and pro25 gram adaptations based on outcomes, lessons 
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1 learned, and other evidence gathered from each such 

2 country or region and across such countries and re3 gions. 

4 (6) Descriptions of the available policy tools to 

5 prevent violence, stabilize conflict-affected areas, and 

6 address the long-term causes of violence and fra7 gility in each such country or region. 

8 (7) Descriptions of the resources and authori9 ties that would be required for each relevant Federal 

10 department or agency to best implement each such 

11 country or regional plan, as well as evidence-based 

12 iterative updates to such plans. 

13 (8) Descriptions of potential areas of improved 

14 partnership with respect to such country or region, 

15 regarding efforts to prevent violence, stabilize con16 flict-affected areas, and address the long-term 

17 causes of violence and fragility, between the United 

18 States Government and— 

19 (A) international development organiza20 tions; 

21 (B) relevant international donors; 

22 (C) multilateral organizations; and 

23 (D) the private sector. 

24 (d) DESIGNATION OF PRIORITY COUNTRIES AND RE25 GIONS.— 
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1 (1) IDENTIFICATION OF CANDIDATE COUNTRIES

2 AND REGIONS.—The Secretary of State, in coordina3 tion with the Administrator of USAID and the Sec4 retary of Defense and in consultation with the ap5 propriate congressional committees, shall develop a 

6 list of candidate countries and regions to be consid7 ered for inclusion under the initiative on the basis 

8 of— 

9 (A) clearly defined indicators of high levels 

10 of violence and fragility in such country or re11 gion, such as— 

12 (i) violence committed by armed 

13 groups, gender-based violence, and violence 

14 against children and youth; 

15 (ii) prevalence of, and citizen support 

16 for, adversarial armed groups; 

17 (iii) internal and external population 

18 displacement; 

19 (iv) patterns of human rights viola20 tions, including early warning indicators of 

21 the commission of genocide or other atroc22 ities; 

23 (v) poor governance, pervasive corrup24 tion, and political instability; and 
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1 (vi) vulnerability to current or future 

2 transnational threats; and 

3 (B) the capacity and opportunity to work 

4 across Federal departments and agencies and 

5 with local partners and other donors to prevent 

6 violence, stabilize conflict-affected areas, and 

7 address the long-term causes of violence and 

8 fragility with respect to such country or region, 

9 including by measurably— 

10 (i) improving inclusive, transparent, 

11 and accountable power structures, includ12 ing effective, legitimate, and resilient na13 tional and sub-national institutions; 

14 (ii) improving effective and respected 

15 conflict prevention, mitigation, manage16 ment, and resolution mechanisms; 

17 (iii) reducing levels of support among 

18 the residents of such country or region for 

19 violence, violent extremism, and adversarial 

20 armed groups; 

21 (iv) ensuring strong foundations for 

22 plurality, non-discrimination, human 

23 rights, rule of law, and equal access to jus24 tice; 
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1 (v) addressing political, social, eco2 nomic, and environmental vulnerabilities, 

3 grievances, and conflicts; 

4 (vi) ensuring inclusive economic devel5 opment and enabling business environ6 ments; and 

7 (vii) improving resilience to 

8 transnational stresses and shocks, includ9 ing from organized crime, violent extremist 

10 organizations, and economic and food mar11 kets crises. 

12 (2) SELECTION OF PRIORITY COUNTRIES AND

13 REGIONS.—From among the candidate countries and 

14 regions identified pursuant to paragraph (1), the 

15 Secretary of State, in coordination with the Admin16 istrator of USAID and the Secretary of Defense, 

17 shall select certain countries as ‘‘priority countries’’ 

18 and certain regions as ‘‘priority regions’’ in a man19 ner that ensures that— 

20 (A) countries and regions are selected in a 

21 sufficient number and of sufficient diversity to 

22 provide indicators of the various drivers and 

23 early warnings of violence, conflict, and fra24 gility, as well as best practices for United 

25 States efforts to prevent violence, stabilize con-
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1 flict-affected areas, and address the long-term 

2 causes of violence and fragility; 

3 (B) not fewer than three countries or re4 gions are designated as ‘‘Stabilization Coun5 tries’’ or ‘‘Stabilization Regions’’, in which the 

6 current levels of violence, violent conflict, or fra7 gility are among the highest in the world; 

8 (C) not fewer than three countries or re9 gions are designated as ‘‘Prevention Countries’’ 

10 or ‘‘Prevention Regions’’, in which current lev11 els of violence, violent conflict, or fragility are 

12 lower than such levels in Stabilization Countries 

13 or Stabilization Regions but warning signs for 

14 future violence, conflict, or fragility are signifi15 cant; 

16 (D) regions, rather than individual coun17 tries, are selected where the threat or spillover 

18 of violence, conflict, or fragility threatens the 

19 stability of multiple countries within a single 

20 geographic region; and 

21 (E) the countries and regions selected are 

22 in the areas of responsibility of at least three 

23 geographic bureaus of the Department of State. 

24 (e) STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION.—The initiative 

25 required under subsection (a) shall be developed in coordi-
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1 nation with representatives of local civil society and na2 tional and local governance entities, as well as relevant 

3 international development organizations, multilateral or4 ganizations, donors, and relevant private, academic, and 

5 philanthropic entities, as appropriate. 

6 (f) CONGRESSIONAL CONSULTATION.—The Secretary 

7 of State, the Administrator of USAID, and the Secretary 

8 of Defense shall provide regular briefings on the imple9 mentation of this Act to any appropriate congressional 

10 committee upon the request of such committee. 

11 (g) MEASURING VIOLENCE, VIOLENT CONFLICT, AND

12 FRAGILITY.—For the purposes of implementing, moni13 toring, and evaluating the effectiveness of the priority 

14 country and regional plans required under subsection (c), 

15 progress towards preventing violence, stabilizing conflict16 affected areas, and addressing the long-term causes of vio17 lence and fragility shall be measured by indicators estab18 lished for each such country by relevant inter-agency coun19 try teams for each such country, informed by consultations 

20 with the stakeholders specified in subsection (e). 

21 SEC. 6. IMPLEMENTATION AND UPDATES OF PRIORITY 

22 COUNTRY AND REGIONAL PLANS. 

23 The Secretary of State, in coordination with the Ad24 ministrator of USAID, the Secretary of Defense, and the 

25 heads of other relevant Federal departments and agencies, 
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1 and in consultation with the relevant United States Am2 bassadors, USAID Mission Directors, geographic Combat3 ant Commanders, and other relevant individuals with re4 sponsibility over activities in each priority country or re5 gion designated pursuant to section 5, shall ensure that— 

6 (1) the Global Initiative to Reduce Fragility 

7 and Violence and the priority country and regional 

8 plans required under such section are implemented, 

9 updated, and coordinated on a regular and iterative 

10 basis; 

11 (2) such initiative and country and regional 

12 plans are used to guide United States Government 

13 policy at a senior level and incorporated into rel14 evant strategies and plans across the United States 

15 Government and in each such country; 

16 (3) resources for all relevant activities and re17 quirements of such initiative and country and re18 gional plans are prioritized, requested, and used con19 sistent with such initiative and country and regional 

20 plans; and 

21 (4) the results of program monitoring and eval22 uation under such initiative and country and re23 gional plans are regularly reviewed and used to de24 termine continuation, modification, or termination of 

25 future year programming. 
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1 SEC. 7. BIENNIAL REPORTS AND CONGRESSIONAL CON2 SULTATION. 

3 (a) BIENNIAL REPORTS.—Not later than two years 

4 after the date of the enactment of this Act and every two 

5 years thereafter until the date that is 10 years after the 

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

7 the Administrator of USAID, the Secretary of Defense, 

8 and the heads of other relevant Federal departments and 

9 agencies shall jointly submit to the appropriate congres10 sional committees a report on progress made and lessons 

11 learned with respect to the Global Initiative to Reduce 

12 Fragility and Violence and each priority country or re13 gional plan required under section 5, including— 

14 (1) descriptions of steps taken to incorporate 

15 such initiative and such country or regional plans 

16 into relevant strategies and plans that affect such 

17 countries or regions; 

18 (2) accountings of all funding received and obli19 gated to implement each such country or regional 

20 plan during the past two years, as well as funding 

21 requested, planned, and projected for the following 

22 two years; 

23 (3) descriptions of progress made towards the 

24 goals and objectives established for each such pri25 ority country or region, including progress made to-
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1 wards achieving the specific targets, metrics, and in2 dicators described in section 5(b); and 

3 (4) descriptions of updates made during the 

4 past two years to the goals, objectives, plans of ac5 tion, and other elements described in section 5 for 

6 each such country or regional plan, as well as any 

7 changes made to programs based on the results of 

8 monitoring and evaluation. 

9 (b) CONGRESSIONAL CONSULTATION.—In addition to 

10 the reports required under subsection (a), the Secretary 

11 of State, the Administrator of USAID, the Secretary of 

12 Defense, and the heads of other relevant Federal depart13 ments and agencies shall jointly consult with the appro14 priate congressional committees at least once a year re15 garding progress made on the initiative and priority coun16 try and regional plans required under section 5. 

17 SEC. 8. GAO REVIEW. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than two years after the 

19 date of the enactment of this Act and every two years 

20 thereafter until the date that is 10 years after the date 

21 of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of 

22 the United States shall consult with the Chairman and 

23 Ranking Member of the Foreign Relations Committee of 

24 the Senate and the Foreign Affairs Committee of the 

25 House of Representatives regarding opportunities for 
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1 independent review of the activities under the Global Ini2 tiative to Reduce Fragility and Violence and the priority 

3 country and regional plans required by section 5, includ4 ing— 

5 (1) opportunities to— 

6 (A) assess the extent to which United 

7 States Government activities in each priority 

8 country designated pursuant to section 5 are 

9 being implemented in accordance with the ini10 tiative and the relevant country or regional plan 

11 required under such section; 

12 (B) assess the processes and procedures 

13 for coordinating among and within each rel14 evant Federal department or agency when im15 plementing such initiative and each such coun16 try or regional plan; 

17 (C) assess the monitoring and evaluation 

18 efforts under such initiative and each such 

19 country or regional plan, including assessments 

20 of the progress made and lessons learned with 

21 respect to each such plan, as well as any 

22 changes made to activities based on the results 

23 of such monitoring and evaluation; and 

24 (D) recommend changes necessary to bet25 ter implement United States Government activi-
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1 ties in accordance with such initiative and coun2 try and regional plans, as well as recommenda3 tions for any changes to such initiative or 

4 plans; and 

5 (2) such other matters the Comptroller General 

6 determines to be appropriate. 

7 (b) AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.—All relevant 

8 Federal departments and agencies shall make all relevant 

9 data, documents, and other information available to the 

10 Comptroller General for purposes of conducting inde11 pendent reviews pursuant to this section. 

12 SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS. 

13 In this Act— 

14 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT15 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com16 mittees’’ means— 

17 (A) the Committees on Foreign Relations, 

18 Armed Services, and Appropriations of the Sen19 ate; and 

20 (B) the Committees on Foreign Affairs, 

21 Armed Services, and Appropriations of the 

22 House of Representatives. 

23 (2) RELEVANT FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OR

24 AGENCY.—The term ‘‘relevant Federal department 

25 or agency’’ means the Department of the Treasury 
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1 and any other Federal department or agency the 

2 President determines is relevant to carry out the 

3 purposes of this Act. 

Passed the House of Representatives November 27, 

2018. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 
115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5273 

AN ACT 

To reduce global fragility and violence by improving 

and fragility, and for other purposes. address the causes of violence, violent conflict, the capacity of the United States to reduce and