II 

Calendar No. 725 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2982 

To combat international violence against women and girls. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 4, 2010 

Mr. KERRY (for himself, Mrs. BOXER, Ms. SNOWE, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. BROWN

of Ohio, Mr. BURRIS, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. CASEY, Mr. DODD, Mr. DURBIN, 

Mr. FRANKEN, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. HARKIN, Mr. JOHNSON, Mr. 

KAUFMAN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr. LAUTENBERG, Mr. 

MENENDEZ, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. SCHUMER, Mrs. 

SHAHEEN, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, Mr. 

WHITEHOUSE, Mr. SPECTER, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. 

BINGAMAN, Mr. WEBB, Mr. SANDERS, Mrs. LINCOLN, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, 

Mr. LEVIN, and Mr. COONS) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

DECEMBER 21, 2010 

Reported by Mr. KERRY, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To combat international violence against women and girls. 

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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

2 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

3 ‘‘International Violence Against Women Act of 2010’’. 

4 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

5 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Findings. 

Sec. 3. Statement of policy. 

Sec. 4. Definitions. 

TITLE I—INTERNATIONAL PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST 

WOMEN AND GIRLS 

Subtitle A—Official Designations and Institutional Changes 

Sec. 101. Duties of the Secretary of State. 

Sec. 102. Duties of the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development. 

Subtitle B—Strategy, Policy, and Programs 

Sec. 111. Comprehensive international strategy and assistance to reduce and 

prevent violence against women and girls. 

Sec. 112. Assistance to reduce international violence against women and girls. 

Sec. 113. Ensuring accountability of the United States response to violence 

against women and girls internationally. 

Sec. 114. Enhancing United States training of foreign military and police 

forces and judicial officials on violence against women and 

girls. 

Sec. 115. Addressing violence against women and girls in humanitarian relief, 

peacekeeping, conflict, and post-conflict settings. 

TITLE II—OTHER PROVISIONS 

Sec. 201. Support for multilateral efforts to end violence against women and 

girls. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) According to the United Nations, approxi9 mately 1 out of every 3 women throughout the world 

10 has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise 

11 abused in her lifetime. The World Health Organiza12 tion has reported that up to 70 percent of women 


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1 in some countries report having been victims of do2 mestic violence at some stage in their lives. 

3 (2) According to the United Nations, engaging 

4 men and women to end violence against women and 

5 girls internationally should be a priority. In recogni6 tion of this priority, United Nations Secretary-Gen7 eral Ban Ki-moon launched a multi-year campaign 

8 in 2009 to end violence against women and pledge 

9 resources to engage male leaders and to mobilize 

10 men and boys. 

11 (3) Violence against women dramatically im12 pedes progress in meeting all of our global health 

13 goals, including efforts to stem maternal mortality 

14 and the spread of HIV/AIDS. Approximately 1 in 4 

15 women are abused during pregnancy, which, accord16 ing to the World Health Organization, has been 

17 linked to miscarriage, pre-term labor, low birth 

18 weight, fetal distress, and death. Women who have 

19 experienced violence are also at higher risk for con20 tracting HIV, and women living with HIV may be 

21 up to 3 times more likely to experience violence than 

22 other women. Fear of violence also prevents women 

23 from accessing HIV/AIDS information and receiving 

24 treatment and counseling. 


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1 (4) Increasing women’s access to economic op2 portunities is crucial to preventing and responding 

3 to domestic and sexual violence. Microfinance-based 

4 interventions and increased asset control reduce lev5 els of intimate partner violence and provide eco6 nomic independence for survivors. 

7 (5) Displaced, refugee, and stateless women and 

8 girls in humanitarian emergencies, conflict settings, 

9 and natural disasters face extreme violence and 

10 threats because of power inequities, including— 

11 (A) being forced to exchange sex for food 

12 and humanitarian supplies; and 

13 (B) being at increased risk of rape, sexual 

14 exploitation, and abuse. 

15 (6) Rape and sexual assault against women and 

16 girls are used to torture, intimidate, and terrorize 

17 women and their communities. 

18 (7) According to UNICEF, child marriage— 

19 (A) is a harmful practice that deprives 

20 girls of their dignity and human rights; 

21 (B) can result in bonded labor or enslave22 ment, commercial sexual exploitation, and vio23 lence against the victims; 

24 (C) significantly increases the risk of ma25 ternal death and morbidity, infant mortality 


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1 and morbidity, obstetric fistula, and sexually 

2 transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS; and 

3 (D) is perpetuated by poverty, a lack of 

4 educational or employment opportunities for 

5 girls, parental concerns to ensure sexual rela6 tions within marriage, the dowry system, and 

7 the perceived lack of value of girls. 

8 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

9 It is the policy of the United States to— 

10 (1) systematically integrate and coordinate ef11 forts to prevent and respond to violence against 

12 women and girls internationally into United States 

13 foreign policy and foreign assistance programs; 

14 (2) expand the implementation of effective prac15 tices and programs; 

16 (3) promote women’s political, economic, edu17 cational, social, cultural, civil, and human rights and 

18 opportunities throughout the world; 

19 (4) support and build capacity of indigenous 

20 nongovernmental organizations that are working to 

21 prevent and respond to violence against women and 

22 girls internationally, particularly women’s non23 governmental organizations and groups involving 

24 male advocates; 


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1 (5) support and encourage United States orga2 nizations working in partnership with nongovern3 mental organizations described in paragraph (4); 

4 (6) prevent and respond to violence against 

5 women and girls internationally through multisec6 toral methods, working at individual, family, commu7 nity, local, national, and international levels and in8 corporating service, prevention, training, and advo9 cacy activities and economic, education, health, legal, 

10 and protective intervention services; 

11 (7) enhance training and other prevention and 

12 response to violence against women and girls inter13 nationally in humanitarian relief, conflict, and post14 conflict settings; 

15 (8) enhance training by United States personnel 

16 of professional foreign military and police forces and 

17 judicial officials to include specific and thorough in18 struction on preventing and responding to violence 

19 against women and girls internationally; 

20 (9) increase communication and cooperation 

21 with nongovernmental organizations with dem22 onstrated experience in women’s empowerment, com23 bating violence against women and girls internation24 ally, and engaging men and boys as partners, includVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:48 Dec 22, 2010 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2982.RS S2982

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1 ing consulting with such organizations during stra2 tegic planning exercises; 

3 (10) more regularly engage men and boys as 

4 community leaders, partners, and advocates in end5 ing violence against women and girls; 

6 (11) include— 

7 (A) prevention of child marriage as an im8 portant part of preventing violence against 

9 girls; and 

10 (B) ending the practice of child marriage 

11 by promoting education and skills building for 

12 girls, community programs, and increased eco13 nomic opportunities for women to achieve the 

14 Millennium Development Goals and United 

15 States global health and development objectives; 

16 (12) ensure that private security firms con17 tracted for service in conflict, humanitarian, and 

18 post-conflict settings appropriately report on, and re19 spond to, violence against women and girls inter20 nationally; and 

21 (13) continue United States leadership and in22 novative efforts at the United Nations to address vi23 olence against women and girls internationally, par24 ticularly through urging the United Nations Sec25 retary-General and United Nations member states to 


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1 fully implement the provisions of United Nations Se2 curity Council Resolutions 1325, 1820, and 1888, 

3 and other relevant United Nations agreements and 

4 initiatives. 

5 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act: 

7 (1) CHILD MARRIAGE.—The term ‘‘child mar8 riage’’ means the marriage of a girl or a boy, who 

9 has not reached the minimum legal age for marriage 

10 in the country in which the girl or boy is a resident. 

11 (2) ELIGIBLE COUNTRIES.—The term ‘‘eligible 

12 countries’’ means countries that are not classified as 

13 high-income countries in the most recent edition of 

14 the World Development Report for Reconstruction 

15 and Development, published by the International 

16 Bank for Reconstruction and Development. 

17 (3) PREVENTION AND RESPONSE.—The term 

18 ‘‘prevention and response’’ means activities designed 

19 to prevent and respond to violence against women 

20 and girls. 

21 (4) USAID ADMINISTRATOR.—The term 

22 ‘‘USAID Administrator’’ means the Administrator 

23 of the United States Agency for International Devel24 opment. 


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1 (5) VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS.— 

2 The term ‘‘violence against women and girls’’— 

3 (A) means any act of violence against 

4 women or girls that results in, or is likely to re5 sult in, physical, sexual, or psychological harm 

6 or suffering to women or girls, including threats 

7 of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivations 

8 of liberty, whether occurring in public or private 

9 life; and 

10 (B) includes— 

11 (i) physical, sexual, and psychological 

12 violence occurring in the family, including 

13 battering, sexual abuse of female children 

14 in the household, dowry-related violence, 

15 marital rape, female genital cutting and 

16 mutilation, forced child marriage, and 

17 other traditional practices harmful to 

18 women and girls, nonspousal violence, and 

19 violence related to exploitation; 

20 (ii) physical, sexual, and psychological 

21 violence occurring within the general com22 munity, including rape, sexual abuse, sex23 ual harassment and intimidation at work, 

24 in educational institutions and elsewhere, 


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1 trafficking in women and girls, and forced 

2 prostitution; and 

3 (iii) physical, sexual, and psycho4 logical violence perpetrated or condoned by 

5 the government of the country of which the 

6 victim is a resident, regardless of where 

7 the violence occurs. 

8 TITLE I—INTERNATIONAL PRE9 VENTION OF VIOLENCE 

10 AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS 

11 Subtitle A—Official Designations 

12 and Institutional Changes 

13 SEC. 101. DUTIES OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE. 

14 (a) DESIGNATION.—The Secretary of State, in ful15 filling the duties and purposes of this Act, shall designate 

16 a senior official in the Department of State to conduct 

17 the relevant activities pursuant to this Act. For the pur18 poses of this Act, that designee shall be referred to as the 

19 ‘‘Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues’’. 

20 (b) SUPPORT STAFF.—The Secretary of State shall 

21 designate appropriate staff to support the efforts of the 

22 Ambassador. 

23 (c) DUTIES.—The Ambassador shall coordinate and 

24 advise, and where relevant lead— 


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1 (1) State Department activities and policies, in2 cluding as they affect programs and funding relating 

3 to prevention and response, including gender inte4 gration and women’s development internationally as 

5 relates to prevention and response; 

6 (2) the design, and as appropriate, implementa7 tion of projects regarding prevention and response, 

8 including gender integration and women’s develop9 ment internationally as relates to prevention and re10 sponse; 

11 (3) the integration of prevention and response 

12 analysis into U.S. Government departments’ and 

13 agencies’ international programs, structures, proc14 esses and capacities; 

15 (4) allocation of State Department resources 

16 for— 

17 (A) prevention and response; and 

18 (B) development of the comprehensive 

19 international strategy described in section 300G 

20 to reduce violence against women and girls; 

21 (5) on behalf of the Secretary, conduct regular 

22 cooperation with civil society with demonstrated ex23 perience in prevention and response and women’s de24 velopment issues internationally as relates to preven25 tion and response; 


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1 (6) serve as the principal advisor to the Sec2 retary of State regarding violence against women 

3 and girls as a foreign policy matter; and 

4 (7) at the direction of the Secretary of State, 

5 represent the United States in bilateral, inter6 national and nongovernmental fora in matters rel7 evant to violence against women and girls including 

8 the status of women internationally as relates to pre9 vention and response. 

10 (d) INFORMATION-SHARING AND TRANSPARENCY.— 

11 On behalf of the Secretary, the Ambassador shall be the 

12 central repository of evaluation and monitoring data on 

13 Department of State programs that relate to prevention 

14 and response, and also for Federal Government agencies 

15 engaged in international prevention and response, in order 

16 to produce a full accounting of United States Government 

17 spending on prevention and response, and to prepare the 

18 comprehensive strategy developed under section 111. 

19 (e) CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFINGS.—Not later than 6 

20 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 

21 annually thereafter, the Ambassador shall brief Congress 

22 on the integration of gender considerations and prevention 

23 and response into its strategies, programming, and associ24 ated outcomes, and shall present Congress with an assessVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:48 Dec 22, 2010 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2982.RS S2982

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1 ment of human and financial resources necessary to fulfill 

2 the purposes and duties of this section. 

3 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

4 authorized to be appropriated, for each of fiscal years 

5 2011 through 2015— 

6 (1) $5,000,000 for administration, staffing, 

7 travel, and related expenditures; and 

8 (2) $5,000,000 in program funds to carry out 

9 activities under this section. 

10 SEC. 102. DUTIES OF THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE UNITED 

11 STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DE12 VELOPMENT. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The USAID Administrator, in 

14 fulfilling the duties and purposes of this Act, shall des15 ignate a senior official (referred to in this Act as the 

16 ‘‘Women’s Development Advisor’’ or the ‘‘Advisor’’), who 

17 shall report directly to the USAID Administrator to co18 ordinate and conduct prevention and response activities 

19 described in this Act. 

20 (b) SUPPORT STAFF.—The USAID Administrator 

21 shall designate appropriate staff to support the efforts of 

22 the Women’s Development Advisor. 

23 (c) DUTIES.—The Advisor shall coordinate and guide 

24 all USAID efforts to— 


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1 (1) integrate prevention and response, as well 

2 as broader gender issues in foreign assistance; 

3 (2) coordinate and consult with the Ambassador 

4 and USAID mission directors in carrying out (c)(1); 

5 (3) provide high level guidance to USAID mis6 sions, offices, and bureaus on prevention and re7 sponse, gender integration, design, strategy and pro8 gramming; and 

9 (4) participate in agency-wide monitoring and 

10 evaluation on gender integration activities and strat11 egies, including prevention and response. 

12 (d) COORDINATED USAID REPORTING.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—USAID technical and re14 gional bureaus identified by the USAID Adminis15 trator and the Advisor shall annually provide the 

16 Advisor with such data and findings collected under 

17 subsection (c)(4) as may be requested by the Advi18 sor. 

19 (2) SCOPE OF DATA.—The data and findings 

20 provided under paragraph (1)— 

21 (A) shall include relevant contractors, sub22 contractors, grantees, and subgrantees receiving 

23 program funds made available for prevention 

24 and response, and women’s development glob25 ally as a method of prevention; and 


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1 (B) shall be made publicly available. 

2 (3) SECURITY CONCERNS.—In determining the 

3 data and findings to be provided under this sub4 section, the Advisor shall take into account the secu5 rity concerns of USAID grantees and subgrantees. 

6 (e) CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFINGS.—Not later than 6 

7 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 

8 annually thereafter, the Advisor, in coordination with the 

9 Ambassador, shall brief Congress on the integration of 

10 gender considerations and prevention and response into its 

11 strategies, programming, and associated outcomes, using 

12 data collected under subsection (d), and shall present Con13 gress with an assessment of human and financial re14 sources necessary to fulfill the purposes and duties of this 

15 section. 

16 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to amounts oth18 erwise available, there is authorized to be appro19 priated, for each of the fiscal years 2011 through 

20 2015— 

21 (A) $5,000,000 for operations, administra22 tion, and related expenditures; and 

23 (B) $5,000,000 in program funds to carry 

24 out the activities under this section. 


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1 (2) SUPERVISION OF EXPENDITURES.— 

2 Amounts appropriated pursuant to this subsection 

3 shall be expended under the direction of the Advisor. 

4 Subtitle B—Strategy, Policy, and 

5 Programs 

6 SEC. 111. COMPREHENSIVE INTERNATIONAL STRATEGY 

7 AND ASSISTANCE TO REDUCE AND PREVENT 

8 VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS. 

9 (a) DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF

10 STRATEGY.—Not later than 1 year after the date of the 

11 enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, under the 

12 direction of the President and with the assistance of the 

13 USAID Administrator, shall— 

14 (1) develop a comprehensive, 5-year inter15 national strategy to prevent and respond to violence 

16 against women and girls internationally; and 

17 (2) submit the strategy developed under para18 graph (1) to the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

19 the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

20 the House of Representatives. 

21 (b) COLLABORATION AND COORDINATION.—In devel22 oping the strategy under subsection (a), the Secretary of 

23 State, with the assistance of the USAID Administrator, 

24 shall consult with— 


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1 (1) executive branch agencies and entities ad2 ministering international programs; 

3 (2) the Senior Policy Operating Group on Traf4 ficking in Persons; 

5 (3) representatives of civil society with dem6 onstrated experience combating violence against 

7 women and girls or promoting women’s health or 

8 women’s development issues internationally. 

9 (c) CONTENT.—The strategy developed under sub10 section (a) shall— 

11 (1) identify countries with significant levels of 

12 violence against women and girls that have the gov13 ernment or nongovernment organizational capacity 

14 to manage and implement gender-based violence pre15 vention and response program activities; 

16 (2) select up to 20 of the countries described in 

17 paragraph (1) in which to develop a gender-inte18 grated, comprehensive, and holistic individual coun19 try plan that incorporates at least 2 of the program 

20 activities listed in subsection (d); 

21 (3) assess and describe the current or potential 

22 capacity of each government or civil society to ad23 dress and respond to violence against women and 

24 girls; 


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1 (4) identify and coordinate with Federal depart2 ments and agencies that— 

3 (A) have existing programs relevant to the 

4 strategy; or 

5 (B) will be involved in new program activi6 ties; 

7 (5) describe the monitoring and evaluation 

8 mechanisms established for each country, and their 

9 use in assessing overall progress in prevention and 

10 response; 

11 (6) project general levels of resources needed to 

12 achieve the stated objectives in each country, includ13 ing an accounting of— 

14 (A) activities and funding already ex15 pended by the Department of State, USAID, 

16 other Federal agencies, other donor country 

17 governments, and other multilateral institu18 tions; and 

19 (B) leveraged private sector resources; 

20 (7) include capacity-building and technical as21 sistance for community-based women’s nongovern22 mental organizations and community-based organi23 zations with demonstrated expertise in women’s em24 powerment, including combating violence against 

25 women and girls internationally; 


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1 (8) identify and coordinate with existing non2 governmental and multilateral programs, initiatives, 

3 and groups with demonstrated experience on pre4 venting and responding to violence against women 

5 and girls internationally, particularly coordinating 

6 with women’s organizations and community-based 

7 groups; and 

8 (9) integrate gender analysis into the strategy 

9 for each country to ensure that the roles of women, 

10 girls, men, and boys are appropriately addressed. 

11 (d) PROGRAM ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED.—Assistance 

12 provided under this section shall be used to carry out 

13 country-specific strategies under subsection (a) through 

14 multi-sectoral prevention and response activities specified 

15 by the Ambassador and Advisor and that fall under at 

16 least 2 of the following broad categories: 

17 (1) Enhancing the capacity of the health sector 

18 to respond to violence against women and girls. 

19 (2) Development and enforcement of civil and 

20 criminal legal and judicial sanctions, protections, 

21 trainings, and capacity. 

22 (3) Development of programs affecting social 

23 norms, community attitudes, and male and female 

24 participation in violence and response to victims. 


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1 (4) Ensuring accessible quality educational and 

2 literacy opportunities for women and girls. 

3 (5) Promotion of access to economic oppor4 tunity projects, including increasing distribution, 

5 credit, property, and inheritance rights for women 

6 and girls. 

7 SEC. 112. ASSISTANCE TO REDUCE INTERNATIONAL VIO8 LENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS. 

9 (a) COORDINATION OF EXISTING ASSISTANCE PRO10 GRAMS.—The Ambassador, working with the Advisor, 

11 shall, to the fullest extent practicable, coordinate activities 

12 and measures to prevent and respond to violence against 

13 women and girls internationally into existing programs, 

14 contracts, grants, agreements, and foreign assistance 

15 under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and other Acts 

16 authorizing and appropriating foreign assistance, as appli17 cable. 

18 (b) AUTHORITY.—To implement and execute the 

19 comprehensive international strategy developed pursuant 

20 to section 111, the Secretary of State and the USAID Ad21 ministrator, in consultation with the Ambassador and the 

22 Advisor, may provide assistance to nongovernmental orga23 nizations, multilateral institutions, and foreign countries 

24 for program activities described in section 111(d). 


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1 (c) ALLOCATION OF NEW FUNDING.—The Secretary 

2 of State and the USAID Administrator, based on guidance 

3 from the Ambassador and the Advisor, may allocate funds 

4 to implement and execute the comprehensive international 

5 strategy developed pursuant to section 111. 

6 (d) USE OF FUNDS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any funds made available 

8 under this section to nongovernmental organizations 

9 should be designated to organizations that— 

10 (A) have demonstrated experience regard11 ing violence against women and girls inter12 nationally or have entered into a partnership 

13 with an organization with such experience; and 

14 (B) have demonstrated capabilities or ex15 perience in a particular program activity de16 scribed in section 111(d). 

17 (2) CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFINGS.—The Sec18 retary of State and the USAID Administrator shall 

19 brief Congress upon request, on the transparent 

20 mechanisms used to ensure that funds made avail21 able under this section through nongovernmental or22 ganizations are awarded to organizations described 

23 in paragraph (1). 

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1 TIONS.—Special efforts shall be made to award amounts 

2 appropriated to carry out this Act to community-based 

3 and women’s nongovernmental organizations in recipient 

4 countries. The Advisor shall brief Congress, upon request, 

5 on efforts made to assist such organizations to be eligible 

6 for such funds. 

7 (f) AWARD PROCESS.—Grant amounts awarded 

8 under this section shall be provided through an open, com9 petitive, and transparent process to the extent possible. 

10 (g) CONDITIONS.—Entities receiving grants under 

11 this section— 

12 (1) shall allocate a reasonable portion of such 

13 grants for data collection and the evaluation of pro14 gram effectiveness; 

15 (2) shall be responsible for developing and re16 porting on outcomes and impacts relating to pre17 venting and responding to violence against women 

18 and girls internationally; 

19 (3) should gather input from women’s non20 governmental organizations or community-based or21 ganizations in recipient countries, including organi22 zations with experience in working with men and 

23 boys to prevent violence; and 


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1 (4) shall consider the safety of women and girls 

2 as a primary concern in deciding how to design, im3 plement, monitor, and evaluate programs. 

4 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to amounts oth6 erwise available for such purposes, there is author7 ized to be appropriated to the President 

8 $175,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2011 

9 through 2015 to carry out this section and section 

10 111. 

11 (2) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts appro12 priated pursuant to paragraph (1) shall remain 

13 available until expended. 

14 SEC. 113. ENSURING ACCOUNTABILITY OF THE UNITED 

15 STATES RESPONSE TO VIOLENCE AGAINST 

16 WOMEN AND GIRLS INTERNATIONALLY. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

18 implementation of the comprehensive strategy under sec19 tion 111, the Secretary of State, assisted by the Ambas20 sador, shall prepare a public report on best practices for 

21 preventing and addressing violence against women and 

22 girls internationally, which shall include— 

23 (1) a description of successful efforts by govern24 ments of countries with significant levels of violence 

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1 tions, and United States, bilateral, and multilateral 

2 donors in prevention and response; 

3 (2) recommendations related to best practices, 

4 effective strategies, and improvements to enhance 

5 the impact of prevention and response efforts; and 

6 (3) the impact of activities funded by the strat7 egy in preventing and reducing violence against 

8 women and girls internationally. 

9 (b) AMENDMENTS.—Section 116(d) of the Foreign 

10 Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d)) is amend11 ed— 

12 (1) in paragraph (10), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

13 end; 

14 (2) in paragraph (11)(C), by striking the period 

15 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

16 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(12) wherever applicable, the nature and ex18 tent of violence against women and girls (as defined 

19 in section 4 of the International Violence Against 

20 Women Act of 2010).’’. 

21 (c) TRANSPARENCY.—Upon request, the Secretary of 

22 State shall provide to Congress the information made 

23 available under sections 101(d) and 102(d), including out24 comes and impacts related to prevention and response to 

25 violence against women and girls internationally submitted 


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1 by contractors, subcontractors, grantees and subgrantees, 

2 unless such disclosure would inhibit the security or effec3 tiveness of such entities. 

4 (d) RESEARCH AND DATA COLLECTION.—The Am5 bassador, assisted by the USAID Administrator and the 

6 heads of relevant bureaus and offices of the Department 

7 of State and in consultation with the Secretary of Health 

8 and Human Services and the Attorney General— 

9 (1) shall work to improve the quality and co10 ordination of existing data collection and evaluations 

11 of current violence against women and girls inter12 nationally programs; and 

13 (2) may provide financial assistance for original 

14 research or analysis of effective interventions to pre15 vent or respond to violence against women and girls 

16 internationally. 

17 (e) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts authorized to be ap18 propriated in this section may be used to— 

19 (1) collect and analyze new or existing data on 

20 the scope and extent of all forms of violence against 

21 women and girls internationally, including under22 documented forms of violence and violence against 

23 marginalized groups; 

24 (2) conduct research on effective interventions 

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1 nationally, including efforts to scale up effective pro2 gramming; and 

3 (3) support systemic data collection using inter4 nationally comparable indicators, norms, and meth5 odologies for measuring the scope, prevalence, and 

6 incidence of violence against women and girls inter7 nationally, working through— 

8 (A) governments of foreign countries; and 

9 (B) federally funded development assist10 ance and health assistance. 

11 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

12 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of State 

13 $20,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2011 through 

14 2015 to carry out the activities under this section. 

15 SEC. 114. ENHANCING UNITED STATES TRAINING OF FOR16 EIGN MILITARY AND POLICE FORCES AND JU17 DICIAL OFFICIALS ON VIOLENCE AGAINST 

18 WOMEN AND GIRLS. 

19 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to en20 sure that United States programs to train foreign mili21 tary, police, and judicial officials include instruction on 

22 prevention of and response to violence against women and 

23 girls. 

24 (b) COVERED PROGRAMS.—The programs referred to 

25 in subsection (a) include— 


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1 (1) activities authorized under the Foreign As2 sistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.); and 

3 (2) activities under section 1206 of the Na4 tional Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 

5 2006 (Public Law 109–163; 119 Stat. 3456), as 

6 amended. 

7 (c) GUIDANCE.—The Secretary of State and the Sec8 retary of Defense shall, as appropriate— 

9 (1) incorporate training on prevention and re10 sponse into the basic training curricula of foreign 

11 military forces and judicial officials; and 

12 (2) ensure that United States assistance to 

13 units involved in regional or multilateral peace14 keeping operations includes training on prevention 

15 and response. 

16 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

17 authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be nec18 essary for each of the fiscal years 2011 through 2015 to 

19 carry out the activities under this section. 

20 SEC. 115. ADDRESSING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND 

21 GIRLS IN HUMANITARIAN RELIEF, PEACE22 KEEPING, CONFLICT, AND POST-CONFLICT 

23 SETTINGS. 

24 (a) DEFINED TERM.—In this section, the term 

25 ‘‘Inter-Agency Standing Committee’’ means the committee 


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1 established in response to United Nations General Assem2 bly Resolution 46/182, adopted at New York on December 

3 19, 1991. 

4 (b) ACTIVITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE

5 WITH THE UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTER6 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.— 

7 (1) GUIDANCE.—Under the direction of the 

8 Secretary of State, the Ambassador is authorized to 

9 provide guidance to the USAID Administrator and 

10 the Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees, 

11 and Migration. 

12 (2) DUTIES.—The USAID Administrator and 

13 the Assistant Secretary shall— 

14 (A) consider the Ambassador’s guidance to 

15 the extent practicable; 

16 (B) provide assistance to programs carried 

17 out by international organizations, international 

18 and local nongovernmental organizations, and 

19 governments, as appropriate, that— 

20 (i) prevent and respond to violence 

21 against women and girls in humanitarian 

22 relief, conflict, and post-conflict settings; 

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1 based Violence Interventions in Humani2 tarian Settings; 

3 (iii) build the capacity of humani4 tarian organizations and government au5 thorities, as appropriate, to address the 

6 special protection needs of women and chil7 dren; 

8 (iv) support efforts to provide imme9 diate assistance to survivors of violence 

10 and reintegrate such individuals through 

11 education, psychosocial assistance, trauma 

12 counseling, family and community reinser13 tion and reunification, medical assistance, 

14 and economic opportunity programs; and 

15 (v) provide legal services for women 

16 and girls who are victims of violence; 

17 (C) ensure that activities to prevent and 

18 respond to violence against women and girls 

19 internationally are incorporated into any multi20 lateral or bilateral disarmament, demobilization, 

21 rehabilitation, and reintegration efforts by— 

22 (i) providing protection and suitable 

23 separate facilities in demobilization and 

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1 merly involved in, or associated with, fight2 ing forces; 

3 (ii) ensuring equitable reintegration 

4 activities and opportunities for such 

5 women and girls, including access to 

6 schooling, vocational training, employment, 

7 and childcare; 

8 (iii) providing essential medical care 

9 and psychosocial support for such women 

10 and girls who are victims of violence; and 

11 (iv) incorporating prevention and re12 sponse to violence against women and girls 

13 into programs for former combatants; 

14 (D) designate and deploy specialists in vio15 lence against women and girls, as appropriate, 

16 as an integral part of the United States Agency 

17 for International Development’s Disaster As18 sistance Response Teams to ensure the integra19 tion of prevention and response to violence 

20 against women and girls internationally in 

21 strategies and programming; and 

22 (E) strive to ensure that all grantees de23 ployed in humanitarian relief, conflict, and 

24 post-conflict operations— 


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1 (i) comply with the Inter-Agency 

2 Standing Committee’s Six Core Principles 

3 Relating to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse; 

4 (ii) train all humanitarian workers in 

5 preventing and responding to violence 

6 against women and girls, including in the 

7 use of mechanisms to report violence 

8 against women and girls; 

9 (iii) conduct appropriate public out10 reach to make known to the host commu11 nity the mechanisms to report violence 

12 against women and girls; and 

13 (iv) promptly and appropriately re14 spond to reports of violence against women 

15 and girls and treat survivors in accordance 

16 with best practices regarding confiden17 tiality. 

18 (3) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to 

20 be appropriated to the Department of State and 

21 the United States Agency for International De22 velopment $40,000,000 for each of the fiscal 

23 years 2011 through 2015 for programs de24 scribed in paragraph (2)(C) that prevent and 

25 respond to violence against women and girls in 


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1 humanitarian relief, conflict, and post-conflict 

2 operations, in addition to amounts otherwise 

3 available for such purposes. 

4 (B) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense 

5 of Congress that amounts appropriated pursu6 ant to paragraph (1) should not affect the 

7 amount appropriated for other humanitarian 

8 programs. 

9 (c) ACTIVITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE.— 

10 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment 

11 of this Act, the Secretary of State, acting through the Am12 bassador, shall brief Congress on activities and efforts 

13 to— 

14 (1) create a mechanism to ensure that contrac15 tors and grantees deployed in humanitarian relief, 

16 conflict, and post-conflict settings— 

17 (A) comply with the Inter-Agency Standing 

18 Committee’s Six Core Principles Relating to 

19 Sexual Exploitation and Abuse; 

20 (B) train their humanitarian workers in 

21 prevention and response, including proper 

22 mechanisms to report gender-based violence; 

23 and 

24 (C) promptly and appropriately respond to 

25 reports of violence against women and girls and 


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1 treat survivors in accordance with best practices 

2 regarding confidentiality; and 

3 (2) carry out the activities described in sub4 section (b)(2). 

5 (d) COORDINATION OF UNITED STATES GOVERN6 MENT EFFORTS.—Under the direction of the President, 

7 the Secretary of State is authorized to provide guidance 

8 on preventing and responding to violence against women 

9 and girls to the Secretary of Defense when United States 

10 military personnel, military contractors, and military ob11 servers are to be deployed in humanitarian relief, conflict, 

12 and post-conflict settings. The Ambassador shall regularly 

13 consult with counterparts at the Department of Defense 

14 and the Department of Justice to coordinate design and 

15 implementation of programs relevant to the purposes of 

16 this section. 

17 (e) ENHANCING UNITED STATES LEADERSHIP AND

18 ADVOCACY IN THE UNITED NATIONS.— 

19 (1) RESOURCE SHARING.—The Secretary of 

20 State, in consultation with the USAID Adminis21 trator, the Ambassador, the United States Rep22 resentative to the United Nations, the Assistant Sec23 retary for International Organization Affairs, and 

24 the Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees, 

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1 nancial, material, human, and other resources to as2 sist United Nations efforts to— 

3 (A) develop and implement appropriate 

4 training programs in prevention and response 

5 to violence against women and girls internation6 ally for peacekeeping and humanitarian per7 sonnel; 

8 (B) meet staffing goals for women military 

9 and police peacekeepers, including all-women 

10 teams and units; 

11 (C) enhance the deployment of civilian 

12 women at all levels to serve in peacekeeping 

13 missions, including through innovative staffing 

14 formulas; 

15 (D) improve protection mechanisms in and 

16 around United Nations managed refugee and 

17 internally displaced persons camps; 

18 (E) implement a zero tolerance policy for 

19 sexual exploitation and abuse in United Nations 

20 peacekeeping and humanitarian operations; 

21 (F) support troop and police contributing 

22 countries in— 

23 (i) taking appropriate actions to pre24 vent violence and abuse; 


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1 (ii) providing materials for pre-deploy2 ment and in-theater awareness training; 

3 and 

4 (iii) taking other actions to promote 

5 full accountability in cases of abusive con6 duct involving the personnel of such coun7 tries; 

8 (G) continue to expand appropriate mecha9 nisms to permit individuals to safely bring alle10 gations of violence against women and girls 

11 internationally to the attention of United Na12 tions peacekeeping commanders and heads of 

13 humanitarian missions; and 

14 (H) ensure the capacity of the United Na15 tions Office of Internal Oversight to investigate 

16 all credible allegations in a timely and efficient 

17 manner, while protecting the whistleblower. 

18 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after 

19 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Assistant 

20 Secretary of State for International Organization 

21 Affairs and the United States Representative to the 

22 United Nations, in consultation with the Ambas23 sador-at-Large of the Office for Global Women’s 

24 Issues, shall submit a report to Congress that de25 scribes United States efforts to support the impleVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:48 Dec 22, 2010 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00035 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2982.RS S2982

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1 mentation of United Nations Security Council Reso2 lutions 1325, 1820, and 1888. 

3 (f) EMERGENCY RESPONSE TO WIDESPREAD RE4 PORTS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN.— 

5 (1) EMERGENCY RESPONSE TO CREDIBLE RE6 PORTS OF CRITICAL OR WIDESPREAD VIOLENCE

7 AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS.—The Secretary of 

8 State, in consultation with the Ambassador and in 

9 coordination with relevant bureaus of the Depart10 ment of State, shall— 

11 (A) identify critical or widespread incidents 

12 of violence against women and girls in situa13 tions of armed conflict when they occur, 

14 through consultation with other Federal agen15 cies, the United Nations, international organi16 zations, and nongovernmental organizations; 

17 (B) determine emergency response meas18 ures not later than 45 days after such identi19 fication; and 

20 (C) brief Congress on the implementation 

21 of such emergency response measures and out22 comes not later than 30 days after such deter23 mination. 


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1 (2) CONTENT.—The emergency measures devel2 oped under paragraph (1) shall include a description 

3 of— 

4 (A) bilateral diplomatic efforts with— 

5 (i) the government of the country in 

6 which the violence is occurring; 

7 (ii) governments in the region in 

8 which the violence is occurring; and 

9 (iii) other donor governments. 

10 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In addi11 tion to amounts authorized to be appropriated under sub12 section (c), there is authorized to be appropriated such 

13 sums as may be necessary for emergency measures, in14 cluding the expansion of reporting mechanisms and pro15 grams, for each situation identified under this section. 

16 TITLE II—OTHER PROVISIONS 

17 SEC. 201. SUPPORT FOR MULTILATERAL EFFORTS TO END 

18 VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS. 

19 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Inter20 national Organizations and Programs Account 

21 $10,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2011 through 

22 2015 to support the United Nations Development Fund 

23 for Women Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate 

24 Violence Against Women. 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

2 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

3 ‘‘International Violence Against Women Act of 2010’’. 

4 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

5 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Findings. 

Sec. 3. Statement of policy. 

Sec. 4. Definitions. 

TITLE I—INTERNATIONAL PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST 

WOMEN AND GIRLS 

Subtitle A—Official Designations and Institutional Changes 

Sec. 101. Duties of the Secretary of State. 

Sec. 102. Duties of the Administrator of USAID. 

Subtitle B—Strategy, Policy, and Programs 

Sec. 111. Comprehensive international strategy and assistance to reduce and prevent violence against women and girls. 

Sec. 112. Assistance to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls 

internationally. 

Sec. 113. Ensuring accountability of the United States response to violence 

against women and girls internationally. 

Sec. 114. Enhancing United States training of foreign military and police forces 

and judicial officials on violence against women and girls. 

Sec. 115. Addressing violence against women and girls in humanitarian relief, 

peacekeeping, conflict, and post-conflict settings. 

TITLE II—AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS 

Sec. 201. Authorization of appropriations. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) According to the United Nations, approxi9 mately one out of every three women throughout the 

10 world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise 

11 abused in her lifetime. The World Health Organiza12 tion (WHO) has reported that up to 70 percent of 


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1 women in some countries report having been victims 

2 of domestic violence at some stage in their lives. 

3 (2) According to the United Nations, engaging 

4 men and women to end violence against women and 

5 girls internationally should be a priority. In recogni6 tion of this priority, United Nations Secretary-Gen7 eral Ban Ki-moon launched a multi-year campaign 

8 in 2009 to end violence against women and pledge re9 sources to engage male leaders and to mobilize men 

10 and boys. 

11 (3) Violence against women dramatically im12 pedes progress in meeting all of our global health 

13 goals, including efforts to stem maternal mortality 

14 and the spread of HIV/AIDS. Approximately one in 

15 four women are abused during pregnancy, which, ac16 cording to WHO, has been linked to miscarriage, pre17 term labor, low birth weight, fetal distress, and death. 

18 Women who have experienced violence are also at 

19 higher risk for contracting HIV, and women living 

20 with HIV may be up to three times more likely to ex21 perience violence than other women. Fear of violence 

22 also prevents women from accessing HIV/AIDS infor23 mation and receiving treatment and counseling. 

24 (4) Increasing women’s access to economic op25 portunities is crucial to preventing and responding to 


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1 domestic and sexual violence. Microfinance-based 

2 interventions and increased asset control reduce levels 

3 of intimate partner violence and provide economic 

4 independence for survivors. 

5 (5) Displaced, refugee, and stateless women and 

6 girls in humanitarian emergencies, conflict settings, 

7 and natural disasters face extreme violence and 

8 threats because of power inequities, including— 

9 (A) being forced to exchange sex for food 

10 and humanitarian supplies; and 

11 (B) being at increased risk of rape, sexual 

12 exploitation, and abuse. 

13 (6) Rape and sexual assault against women and 

14 girls are used to torture, intimidate, and terrorize 

15 women and their communities. 

16 (7) According to the United Nations Children’s 

17 Fund (UNICEF), child marriage— 

18 (A) is a harmful practice that deprives girls 

19 of their dignity and human rights; 

20 (B) can result in bonded labor or enslave21 ment, commercial sexual exploitation, and vio22 lence against the victims; 

23 (C) significantly increases the risk of mater24 nal death and morbidity, infant mortality and 


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1 morbidity, obstetric fistula, and sexually-trans2 mitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS; and 

3 (D) is perpetuated by poverty, a lack of 

4 educational or employment opportunities for 

5 girls, parental concerns to ensure sexual rela6 tions within marriage, the dowry system, and 

7 the perceived lack of value of girls. 

8 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

9 It is the policy of the United States to— 

10 (1) systematically integrate and coordinate ef11 forts to prevent and respond to violence against 

12 women and girls internationally into United States 

13 foreign policy and foreign assistance programs; 

14 (2) expand the implementation of effective prac15 tices and programs; 

16 (3) promote women’s political, economic, edu17 cational, social, cultural, civil, and human rights and 

18 opportunities throughout the world; 

19 (4) support and build capacity of indigenous 

20 nongovernmental organizations that are working to 

21 prevent and respond to violence against women and 

22 girls internationally, particularly women’s non23 governmental organizations and groups involving 

24 male advocates; 


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1 (5) support and encourage United States organi2 zations working in partnership with nongovernmental 

3 organizations described in paragraph (4); 

4 (6) prevent and respond to violence against 

5 women and girls internationally through multisec6 toral methods, working at individual, family, commu7 nity, local, national, and international levels and in8 corporating service, prevention, training, and advo9 cacy activities and economic, education, health, legal, 

10 and protective intervention services; 

11 (7) enhance training and other prevention and 

12 response to violence against women and girls inter13 nationally in humanitarian relief, conflict, and post14 conflict settings; 

15 (8) enhance training by United States personnel 

16 of professional foreign military and police forces and 

17 judicial officials to include specific and thorough in18 struction on preventing and responding to violence 

19 against women and girls internationally; 

20 (9) increase communication and cooperation 

21 with nongovernmental organizations with dem22 onstrated experience in prevention and response to vi23 olence against women and girls internationally, and 

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1 sulting with such organizations during strategic plan2 ning exercises; 

3 (10) more regularly engage men and boys as 

4 community leaders, partners, and advocates in ending 

5 violence against women and girls; 

6 (11) include— 

7 (A) prevention of child marriage as an im8 portant part of preventing violence against girls; 

9 and 

10 (B) ending the practice of child marriage 

11 by promoting education and skills building for 

12 girls, community programs, and increased eco13 nomic opportunities for women to achieve the 

14 Millennium Development Goals and United 

15 States global health and development objectives; 

16 (12) ensure that private security firms con17 tracted for service in conflict, humanitarian, and 

18 post-conflict settings appropriately report on, and re19 spond to, violence against women and girls inter20 nationally; and 

21 (13) continue United States leadership and inno22 vative efforts to address violence against women and 

23 girls internationally. 

24 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

25 In this Act: 


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1 (1) CHILD MARRIAGE.—The term ‘‘child mar2 riage’’ means the marriage of a girl or a boy, who has 

3 not reached the minimum legal age for marriage in 

4 the country in which the girl or boy is a resident. 

5 (2) ELIGIBLE COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘eligible 

6 country’’ means a country that is not classified as a 

7 high-income country in the most recent edition of the 

8 World Development Report for Reconstruction and 

9 Development, published by the International Bank for 

10 Reconstruction and Development. 

11 (3) PREVENTION AND RESPONSE.—The term 

12 ‘‘prevention and response’’ means activities designed 

13 to prevent and respond to violence against women 

14 and girls. 

15 (4) USAID.—The term ‘‘USAID’’ means the 

16 United States Agency for International Development. 

17 (5) VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS.—The 

18 term ‘‘violence against women and girls’’— 

19 (A) means any act of violence against 

20 women or girls that results in, or is likely to re21 sult in, physical, sexual, or psychological harm 

22 or suffering to women or girls, including threats 

23 of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivations 

24 of liberty, whether occurring in public or private 

25 life; and 


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1 (B) includes— 

2 (i) physical, sexual, and psychological 

3 violence occurring in the family, including 

4 battering, sexual abuse of female children in 

5 the household, dowry-related violence, mar6 ital rape, female genital cutting and muti7 lation, forced child marriage, and other tra8 ditional practices harmful to women and 

9 girls, nonspousal violence, and violence re10 lated to exploitation; 

11 (ii) physical, sexual, and psychological 

12 violence occurring within the general com13 munity, including rape, sexual abuse, sex14 ual harassment and intimidation at work, 

15 in educational institutions and elsewhere, 

16 trafficking in women and girls, and forced 

17 prostitution; and 

18 (iii) physical, sexual, and psycho19 logical violence perpetrated or condoned by 

20 the government of the country of which the 

21 victim is a resident, regardless of where the 

22 violence occurs. 


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1 TITLE I—INTERNATIONAL PRE2 VENTION OF VIOLENCE 

3 AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS 

4 Subtitle A—Official Designations 

5 and Institutional Changes 

6 SEC. 101. DUTIES OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE. 

7 (a) DESIGNATION.—The Secretary of State, in ful8 filling the duties and purposes of this Act, shall designate 

9 a senior official in the Department of State to conduct the 

10 activities of the Secretary under this Act. 

11 (b) INFORMATION-SHARING AND TRANSPARENCY.— 

12 The Secretary’s designee shall work with the heads of rel13 evant bureaus and offices of the Department of State and 

14 other Federal departments and agencies to track and ana15 lyze monitoring and evaluation data on programs that re16 late to international prevention and response in order to 

17 produce a full accounting of United States Government 

18 spending on international prevention and response, and to 

19 prepare the comprehensive strategy developed under section 

20 111. 

21 (c) CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFINGS.—Not later than six 

22 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, and an23 nually thereafter, the Secretary’s designee shall brief Con24 gress on international prevention and response strategies, 

25 programming, and associated outcomes, and shall submit 


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1 to Congress an assessment of human and financial resources 

2 necessary to fulfill the purposes and duties of this Act. 

3 SEC. 102. DUTIES OF THE ADMINISTRATOR OF USAID. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The USAID Administrator, in ful5 filling the duties and purposes of this Act, shall designate 

6 a senior official in USAID to conduct the activities of the 

7 USAID Administrator under this Act. 

8 (b) COORDINATED USAID REPORTING.—Consistent 

9 with USAID-wide monitoring and evaluation activities, 

10 and in order to assist in the preparation of the comprehen11 sive strategy developed under section 111, the USAID Ad12 ministrator’s designee shall work with relevant USAID 

13 technical and regional bureaus engaged in any aspect of 

14 international prevention and response to track and analyze 

15 monitoring and evaluation data and findings on USAID 

16 international prevention and response programs. 

17 (c) CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFINGS.—Not later than six 

18 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, and an19 nually thereafter, the Administrator’s designee shall brief 

20 Congress on international prevention and response strate21 gies, programming, and associated outcomes, using data 

22 collected under subsection (b), and shall submit to Congress 

23 an assessment of human and financial resources necessary 

24 to fulfill the purposes and duties of this Act. 


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1 Subtitle B—Strategy, Policy, and 

2 Programs 

3 SEC. 111. COMPREHENSIVE INTERNATIONAL STRATEGY 

4 AND ASSISTANCE TO REDUCE AND PREVENT 

5 VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS. 

6 (a) DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF STRAT7 EGY.—Not later than one year after the date of the enact8 ment of this Act, the Secretary of State, with the assistance 

9 of the USAID Administrator, shall— 

10 (1) develop a comprehensive, five-year inter11 national strategy to prevent and respond to violence 

12 against women and girls internationally; 

13 (2) submit the strategy developed under para14 graph (1) to the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

15 the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

16 the House of Representatives; and 

17 (3) make the strategy available to the public. 

18 (b) COLLABORATION AND COORDINATION.—In devel19 oping the strategy under subsection (a), the Secretary of 

20 State shall consult with— 

21 (1) Federal departments and agencies that have 

22 expertise preventing and responding to violence 

23 against women and girls or administering inter24 national programs; 


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1 (2) the Senior Policy Operating Group on Traf2 ficking in Persons; 

3 (3) representatives of civil society organizations 

4 with demonstrated experience in combating violence 

5 against women and girls or promoting women’s 

6 health or women’s development issues internationally. 

7 (c) CONTENT.—The strategy developed under sub8 section (a) shall— 

9 (1) identify eligible countries with significant 

10 levels of violence against women and girls, including 

11 within displaced communities, that have the govern12 ment or nongovernment organizational capacity to 

13 manage and implement gender-based violence preven14 tion and response program activities and should, 

15 when possible, be geographically, ethnically, and cul16 turally diverse from one another; 

17 (2) select five to 20 of the eligible countries iden18 tified under paragraph (1) in which to develop a 

19 comprehensive and holistic individual country plan 

20 that incorporates at least two of the program activi21 ties listed in subsection (d); 

22 (3) assess and describe the current or potential 

23 capacity of the government of each eligible country se24 lected under paragraph (2) and civil society organizaVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:48 Dec 22, 2010 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00049 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S2982.RS S2982

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1 tions in each such eligible country to address and re2 spond to violence against women and girls; 

3 (4) identify and coordinate with Federal depart4 ments and agencies that— 

5 (A) have existing programs relevant to the 

6 strategy; or 

7 (B) will be involved in new program activi8 ties; 

9 (5) describe the monitoring and evaluation mech10 anisms established for each eligible country, and their 

11 use in assessing overall progress in prevention and re12 sponse; 

13 (6) project general levels of resources needed to 

14 achieve the stated objectives in each eligible country, 

15 including an accounting of— 

16 (A) activities and funding already expended 

17 by the Department of State, USAID, other Fed18 eral departments and agencies, other donor coun19 try governments, and other multilateral institu20 tions; and 

21 (B) leveraged private sector resources; 

22 (7) include capacity-building and technical as23 sistance for community-based women’s nongovern24 mental organizations and community-based organiza25 tions with demonstrated experience relating to prevenVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:48 Dec 22, 2010 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00050 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S2982.RS S2982

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1 tion and response, including combating violence 

2 against women and girls internationally; 

3 (8) identify and coordinate with existing non4 governmental and multilateral programs, initiatives, 

5 and groups with demonstrated experience in preven6 tion and response internationally, particularly co7 ordinating with women’s organizations and commu8 nity-based groups; 

9 (9) integrate gender analysis into the strategy 

10 for each country to ensure that the roles of women, 

11 girls, men, and boys are appropriately addressed; and 

12 (10) include, as appropriate, strategies designed 

13 to accommodate the needs of stateless, internally dis14 placed, refugee, or religious or ethnic minority women 

15 and girls. 

16 (d) PROGRAM ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED.—The strategy 

17 developed under subsection (a) for an eligible country shall 

18 contain a country plan that incorporates at least two of 

19 the following program activities: 

20 (1) Enhancing the capacity of the health sector 

21 to prevent and respond to violence against women 

22 and girls. 

23 (2) Development and enforcement of civil and 

24 criminal legal and judicial sanctions, protections, 

25 trainings, and capacity. 


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1 (3) Development and implementation of pro2 grams, including programs targeting men and boys 

3 and media campaigns, that work to change social 

4 norms and attitudes so that violence against women 

5 and girls is neither condoned nor tolerated. 

6 (4) Ensuring accessible quality educational and 

7 literacy opportunities for women and girls. 

8 (5) Promotion of access to economic opportunity 

9 projects, including increasing distribution, credit, 

10 property, and inheritance rights for women and girls. 

11 SEC. 112. ASSISTANCE TO PREVENT AND RESPOND TO VIO12 LENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS INTER13 NATIONALLY. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State and the 

15 USAID Administrator are authorized to provide assistance 

16 pursuant to the comprehensive international strategy devel17 oped under section 111 for eligible countries identified and 

18 selected under such section, including to support program 

19 activities described in subsection (d) of such section. Assist20 ance under this section shall be provided through USAID 

21 and the Department of State implementing agencies, in22 cluding local and international civil society organizations, 

23 multilateral institutions, and governments of eligible coun24 tries, in accordance with existing procedures. 


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1 (b) COORDINATION OF EXISTING ASSISTANCE PRO2 GRAMS.—The Secretary of State and the USAID Adminis3 trator shall, to the maximum extent practicable, coordinate 

4 programs, projects, and activities under this section with 

5 other programs, projects, and activities to prevent and re6 spond to violence against women and girls internationally 

7 under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 

8 et seq.) and other foreign assistance laws, as applicable. 

9 (c) USE OF FUNDS.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any funds made available 

11 under this section to nongovernmental or civil society 

12 organizations should be made available to organiza13 tions that— 

14 (A) have demonstrated experience regarding 

15 violence against women and girls internationally 

16 or have entered into a partnership with an orga17 nization with such experience; and 

18 (B) have demonstrated capabilities or expe19 rience in a particular program activity de20 scribed in section 111(d). 

21 (2) CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFINGS.—The Secretary 

22 of State and the USAID Administrator shall brief 

23 Congress upon request, on the transparent mecha24 nisms used to ensure that funds made available under 

25 this section through nongovernmental organizations 


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1 are awarded to organizations described in paragraph 

2 (1). 

3 (d) GRANTS TO WOMEN’S NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGA4 NIZATIONS AND COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS.—To 

5 the extent possible, 10 percent of the amount of assistance 

6 provided to an eligible country under this section should 

7 be provided to community-based organizations, including 

8 community-based women’s nongovernmental organizations. 

9 The USAID Administrator shall brief Congress, upon re10 quest, on efforts made to assist such organizations to be eli11 gible for such assistance. 

12 (e) AWARD PROCESS.—Assistance provided under this 

13 section shall be provided through an open, competitive, and 

14 transparent process to the extent possible. 

15 (f) CONDITIONS.—A recipient of assistance under this 

16 section— 

17 (1) shall allocate a reasonable portion of such 

18 grants for data collection and the evaluation of pro19 gram effectiveness; 

20 (2) shall be responsible for developing and re21 porting on outcomes and impacts relating to pre22 venting and responding to violence against women 

23 and girls internationally; 

24 (3) should gather input from women’s non25 governmental organizations or community-based orVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:48 Dec 22, 2010 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00054 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S2982.RS S2982

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1 ganizations in recipient countries, including organi2 zations with experience in working with men and 

3 boys to prevent violence; and 

4 (4) shall consider the safety of women and girls 

5 as a primary concern in deciding how to design, im6 plement, monitor, and evaluate programs. 

7 SEC. 113. ENSURING ACCOUNTABILITY OF THE UNITED 

8 STATES RESPONSE TO VIOLENCE AGAINST 

9 WOMEN AND GIRLS INTERNATIONALLY. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 

11 implementation of the comprehensive strategy under section 

12 111, the Secretary of State, shall prepare and make avail13 able to the public a report on best practices for preventing 

14 and addressing violence against women and girls inter15 nationally, which shall include— 

16 (1) a description of successful efforts by govern17 ments of countries with significant levels of violence 

18 against women and girls, nongovernmental organiza19 tions, and United States, bilateral, and multilateral 

20 donors in prevention and response; 

21 (2) recommendations related to best practices, ef22 fective strategies, and improvements to enhance the 

23 impact of prevention and response efforts; and 


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1 (3) the impact of activities funded by the strat2 egy in preventing and reducing violence against 

3 women and girls internationally. 

4 (b) AMENDMENTS.—The Foreign Assistance Act of 

5 1961 is amended— 

6 (1) in section 116(d) (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d))— 

7 (A) in paragraph (10), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

8 at the end; 

9 (B) in paragraph (11)(C), by striking the 

10 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

11 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(12) wherever applicable, the nature and extent 

13 of violence against women and girls (as defined in 

14 section 4 of the International Violence Against 

15 Women Act of 2010).’’; and 

16 (2) in section 502B (22 U.S.C. 2304), by adding 

17 at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(i) The report required by subsection (b) shall in19 clude, wherever applicable, the nature and extent of violence 

20 against women and girls, as defined in section 4 of the 

21 International Violence Against Women Act of 2010.’’. 

22 (c) TRANSPARENCY.—Upon request, the Secretary of 

23 State shall provide to Congress the information made avail24 able under sections 101(b) and 102(b), including outcomes 

25 and impacts related to prevention and response to violence 


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1 against women and girls internationally submitted by con2 tractors, subcontractors, grantees and subgrantees, unless 

3 such disclosure would inhibit the security or effectiveness 

4 of such entities. 

5 (d) RESEARCH AND DATA COLLECTION.—The Sec6 retary of State, with assistance from the USAID Adminis7 trator and the heads of relevant bureaus and offices of the 

8 Department of State and in consultation with the Secretary 

9 of Health and Human Services and the Attorney General— 

10 (1) shall seek to coordinate data collection and 

11 evaluations of international violence against women 

12 and girls programs; and 

13 (2) may provide financial assistance for original 

14 research or analysis of effective interventions to pre15 vent or respond to violence against women and girls 

16 internationally. 

17 (e) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts authorized to be appro18 priated in this section may be used to— 

19 (1) collect and analyze new or existing data on 

20 the scope and extent of all forms of violence against 

21 women and girls internationally, including under 

22 documented forms of violence and violence against 

23 marginalized groups; 

24 (2) conduct research on effective interventions to 

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1 nationally, including efforts to scale up effective pro2 gramming; and 

3 (3) support systemic data collection using inter4 nationally comparable indicators, norms, and meth5 odologies for measuring the scope, prevalence, and in6 cidence of violence against women and girls inter7 nationally. 

8 SEC. 114. ENHANCING UNITED STATES TRAINING OF FOR9 EIGN MILITARY AND POLICE FORCES AND JU10 DICIAL OFFICIALS ON VIOLENCE AGAINST 

11 WOMEN AND GIRLS. 

12 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to ensure 

13 that United States programs to train foreign military, po14 lice, and judicial officials include instruction on prevention 

15 of and response to violence against women and girls. 

16 (b) GUIDANCE.—The Secretary of State is authorized 

17 to provide guidance to the Secretary of Defense, as appro18 priate, on how to— 

19 (1) incorporate training on prevention and re20 sponse into the basic training curricula of foreign 

21 military forces, police forces and judicial officials 

22 under covered programs; and 

23 (2) ensure that assistance under covered pro24 grams to units involved in regional or multilateral 


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1 peacekeeping operations includes training on preven2 tion and response. 

3 (c) COVERED PROGRAMS.—The programs referred to 

4 in subsection (a) include— 

5 (1) programs carried out by the Secretary of De6 fense under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 

7 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.); and 

8 (2) programs authorized under section 1206 of 

9 the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 

10 Year 2006 (Public Law 109–163; 119 Stat. 3456). 

11 SEC. 115. ADDRESSING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND 

12 GIRLS IN HUMANITARIAN RELIEF, PEACE13 KEEPING, CONFLICT, AND POST-CONFLICT 

14 SETTINGS. 

15 (a) ACTIVITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE WITH

16 USAID.—The Secretary of State and the USAID Adminis17 trator shall— 

18 (1) provide assistance to programs carried out 

19 by international organizations, international and 

20 local nongovernmental organizations, and govern21 ments, as appropriate, that— 

22 (A) prevent and respond to violence against 

23 women and girls in humanitarian relief, con24 flict, and post-conflict settings; 


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1 (B) build the capacity of humanitarian or2 ganizations and government authorities, as ap3 propriate, to address the special protection needs 

4 of women and children; 

5 (C) support efforts to provide immediate as6 sistance to survivors of violence and reintegrate 

7 such individuals through education, psychosocial 

8 assistance, trauma counseling, family and com9 munity reinsertion and reunification, medical 

10 assistance, and economic opportunity programs; 

11 and 

12 (D) provide legal services for women and 

13 girls who are victims of violence; 

14 (2) work to incorporate activities to prevent and 

15 respond to violence against women and girls inter16 nationally into any multilateral or bilateral disar17 mament, demobilization, rehabilitation, and re18 integration efforts by— 

19 (A) providing protection and suitable sepa20 rate facilities in demobilization and transit cen21 ters for women and girls formerly involved in, or 

22 associated with, fighting forces; 

23 (B) ensuring equitable reintegration activi24 ties and opportunities for such women and girls, 


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1 including access to schooling, vocational train2 ing, employment, and childcare; 

3 (C) providing essential medical care and 

4 psychosocial support for such women and girls 

5 who are victims of violence; and 

6 (D) incorporating prevention and response 

7 to violence against women and girls into pro8 grams for former combatants; 

9 (3) designate and deploy specialists in violence 

10 against women and girls, as appropriate, as an inte11 gral part of the USAID’s Disaster Assistance Re12 sponse Teams to ensure the integration of prevention 

13 and response to violence against women and girls 

14 internationally in strategies and programming; and 

15 (4) strive to ensure that all grantees deployed in 

16 humanitarian relief, conflict, and post-conflict oper17 ations— 

18 (A) train all humanitarian workers in pre19 venting and responding to violence against 

20 women and girls, including in the use of mecha21 nisms to report violence against women and 

22 girls; 

23 (B) conduct appropriate public outreach to 

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1 nisms to report violence against women and 

2 girls; and 

3 (C) promptly and appropriately respond to 

4 reports of violence against women and girls and 

5 treat survivors in accordance with best practices 

6 regarding confidentiality. 

7 (b) CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFINGS.—Not later than 180 

8 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec9 retary of State shall brief Congress on activities and efforts 

10 to— 

11 (1) create a mechanism to ensure that contrac12 tors and grantees deployed in humanitarian relief, 

13 conflict, and post-conflict settings— 

14 (A) train their humanitarian workers in 

15 prevention and response, including proper mech16 anisms to report gender-based violence; and 

17 (B) promptly and appropriately respond to 

18 reports of violence against women and girls and 

19 treat survivors in accordance with best practices 

20 regarding confidentiality; and 

21 (2) carry out the activities described in sub22 section (a). 

23 (c) COORDINATION OF UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT

24 EFFORTS.—The Secretary of State shall regularly consult 

25 with the Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General to 


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1 coordinate design and implementation of programs relevant 

2 to the purposes of this section. 

3 (d) ENHANCING UNITED STATES LEADERSHIP AND

4 ADVOCACY IN THE UNITED NATIONS.— 

5 (1) STRENGTHENING UNITED NATIONS PROCE6 DURES.—The Secretary of State, in consultation with 

7 the USAID Administrator and the United States Per8 manent Representative to the United Nations, shall 

9 assist United Nations efforts to— 

10 (A) develop and implement appropriate 

11 training programs in prevention and response to 

12 violence against women and girls internationally 

13 for peacekeeping and humanitarian personnel; 

14 (B) meet staffing goals for women military 

15 and police peacekeepers, including all-women 

16 teams and units; 

17 (C) enhance the deployment of civilian 

18 women at all levels to serve in peacekeeping mis19 sions, including through innovative staffing for20 mulas; 

21 (D) institute effective protection mecha22 nisms in and around United Nations managed 

23 refugee and internally displaced persons camps; 


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1 (E) implement a zero tolerance policy for 

2 sexual exploitation and abuse in United Nations 

3 peacekeeping and humanitarian operations; 

4 (F) support troop and police contributing 

5 countries in— 

6 (i) taking appropriate actions to pre7 vent violence and abuse; 

8 (ii) providing materials for pre-deploy9 ment and in-theater awareness training; 

10 and 

11 (iii) taking other actions to promote 

12 full accountability in cases of abusive con13 duct involving the personnel of such coun14 tries; 

15 (G) continue to expand appropriate mecha16 nisms to permit individuals to safely bring alle17 gations of violence against women and girls 

18 internationally to the attention of United Na19 tions peacekeeping commanders and heads of hu20 manitarian missions; and 

21 (H) ensure the capacity of the United Na22 tions Office of Internal Oversight to investigate 

23 all credible allegations in a timely and efficient 

24 manner, while protecting the whistleblower. 


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1 (e) EMERGENCY RESPONSE TO WIDESPREAD REPORTS

2 OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN.— 

3 (1) EMERGENCY RESPONSE TO CREDIBLE RE4 PORTS OF CRITICAL OR WIDESPREAD VIOLENCE

5 AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS.—The Secretary of State, 

6 acting through the heads of relevant bureaus and of7 fices of the Department of State, shall— 

8 (A) identify critical or widespread incidents 

9 of violence against women and girls in situations 

10 of armed conflict when such incidents occur, 

11 through consultation with other Federal depart12 ments and agencies, the United Nations, inter13 national organizations, and nongovernmental or14 ganizations; 

15 (B) determine emergency response measures 

16 not later than 45 days after such identification; 

17 and 

18 (C) brief Congress, upon request, on the im19 plementation of such emergency response meas20 ures and outcomes not later than 90 days after 

21 such determination. 

22 (2) CONTENT.—The emergency measures devel23 oped under paragraph (1) shall include a description 

24 of bilateral diplomatic efforts with— 


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1 (A) the government of the country in which 

2 the violence is occurring; 

3 (B) governments in the region in which the 

4 violence is occurring; and 

5 (C) other donor governments. 

6 TITLE II—AUTHORIZATION OF 

7 APPROPRIATIONS 

8 SEC. 201. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

9 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as 

10 may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 2011 through 

11 2015 to carry out the duties and purposes of this Act. 

12 Amounts appropriated should not affect the amount appro13 priated for other humanitarian programs. 


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Calendar No. 725 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2982 

A BILL 

To combat international violence against women 

and girls. 

DECEMBER 21, 2010 

Reported with an amendment 


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