I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2232

To establish standards and guidelines for providing overseas assistance to

refugees and displaced persons.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 20, 1993

Ms. SNOWE (for herself and Mr. BERMAN) introduced the following bill; which

was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

A BILL

To establish standards and guidelines for providing overseas

assistance to refugees and displaced persons.

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Refugee Women and

5 Children Protection Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. UNITED STATES POLICY CONCERNING OVERSEAS

7 ASSISTANCE TO REFUGEES AND DISPLACED

8 PERSONS.

9 (a) STANDARDS FOR REFUGEE WOMEN AND CHIL10 DREN.—The United States Government, in providing for
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1 overseas assistance and protection of refugees and dis2 placed persons, shall seek to address the protection and

3 provision of basic needs of refugee women and children

4 who represent 80 percent of the world’s refugee popu5 lation. As called for in the 1991 United Nations High

6 Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) ‘‘Guidelines on the

7 Protection of Refugee Women,’’ whether directly, or

8 through international organizations and nongovernmental

9 voluntary organizations, the Secretary of State shall en10 sure—

11 (1) specific attention on the part of the United

12 Nations and relief organizations to recruit and em13 ploy female protection officers;

14 (2) implementation of gender awareness train15 ing for field staff including, but not limited to, secu16 rity personnel;

17 (3) the protection of refugee women and chil18 dren from violence and other abuses on the part of

19 governments or insurgent groups;

20 (4) full involvement of women refugees in the

21 planning and implementation of (A) the delivery of

22 services and assistance, and (B) the repatriation

23 process;

24 (5) incorporation of maternal and child health

25 needs into refugee health services and education,
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1 specifically to include education on and access to

2 services in reproductive health and birth spacing;

3 (6) the availability of counseling and other serv4 ices, grievance processes, and protective services to

5 victims of violence and abuse, including but not lim6 ited to rape and domestic violence;

7 (7) the provision of educational programs, par8 ticularly literacy and numeracy, vocational and in9 come-generation training, and other training efforts

10 promoting self-sufficiency for refugee women, with

11 special emphasis on women heads of household;

12 (8) education for all refugee children, ensuring

13 equal access for girls, and special services and family

14 tracing for unaccompanied refugee minors;

15 (9) the collection of data that clearly enumerate

16 age and gender so that appropriate health, edu17 cation, and assistance programs can be planned;

18 (10) the recruitment, hiring, and training of

19 more women program professionals in the inter20 national humanitarian field; and

21 (11) gender-specific training for program staff

22 of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refu23 gees (UNHCR) and nongovernmental voluntary or24 ganizations on implementation of the 1991 UNHCR

25 ‘‘Guidelines on the Protection of Refugee Women’’.
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1 (b) PROCEDURES.—The Secretary of State shall

2 adopt specific procedures to ensure that all recipients of

3 United States Government refugee and migration assist4 ance funds implement the standards outlined in subsection

5 (a).

6 (c) REQUIREMENTS FOR REFUGEE AND MIGRATION

7 ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary of State, in providing mi8 gration and refugee assistance, should support the protec9 tion efforts set forth under this Act by raising at the high10 est levels of government the issue of abuses against refu11 gee women and children by governments or insurgent

12 groups that engage in, permit, or condone—

13 (1) a pattern of gross violations of internation14 ally recognized human rights, such as torture or

15 cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or punish16 ment, prolonged detention without charges, or other

17 flagrant denial to life, liberty, and the security of

18 person;

19 (2) the blockage of humanitarian relief assist20 ance;

21 (3) gender-specific persecution such as system22 atic individual or mass rape, forced pregnancy,

23 forced abortion, enforced prostitution, any form of

24 indecent assault or act of violence against refugee

25 women, girls, and children; or
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1 (4) continuing violations of the integrity of the

2 person against refugee women and children on the

3 part of armed insurgents, local security forces, or

4 camp guards.

5 (d) INVESTIGATION OF REPORTS.—Upon receipt of

6 credible reports of abuses under subsection (c), the Sec7 retary of State should immediately investigate such re8 ports through emergency fact-finding missions or other

9 means of investigating such reports and help identify ap10 propriate remedial measures.

11 (e) MULTILATERAL ORGANIZATIONS.—The United

12 States Government shall use its voice and vote in the Unit13 ed Nations and its participation in other multilateral orga14 nizations, to promote policies which seek to protect and

15 address basic human rights and needs of refugee women

16 and children. The Secretary of State shall work to ensure

17 that multilateral organizations fully incorporate the needs

18 of refugee women and children into all elements of refugee

19 assistance programs.

20 (f) SENSE OF CONGRESS ON MULTILATERAL IMPLE21 MENTATION OF THE 1991 UNHCR ‘‘GUIDELINES ON THE

22 PROTECTION OF REFUGEE WOMEN’’.—It is the sense of

23 the Congress that the President should enter into bilateral

24 and multilateral negotiations to encourage other govern25 ments that provide refugee assistance to adopt refugee as-
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1 sistance policies designed to encourage full implementation

2 of the UNHCR’s 1991 ‘‘Guidelines on the Protection of

3 Refugee Women’’.

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