Encouraging all nations to end sexual violence against girls through in-country data-driven reforms.

Whereas the COVID–19 pandemic has had a well-documented adverse impact on already-alarming rates of violence against women and girls around the world; Whereas the 2006 United Nations World Report on Violence Against Children galvanized many nations in their commitment to face the challenge of ending all violence, including sexual violence, against children in stating, No violence is justifiable, and all violence is preventable. Whereas sexual violence against girls is a plague that spares no culture, country, race, religion, or ethnicity across the globe; Whereas data from United Nations Children’s Fund indicate up to 50 percent of sexual assaults worldwide are committed against girls under 16 years of age; Whereas sexual violence against girls and the lifelong consequences impede their potential contributions to society and present a major obstacle for nations in the journey to self-reliance with political and economic stability; Whereas sexual violence during childhood is associated with serious immediate and long-term health impacts including but not limited to higher rates of pregnancy, maternal mortality, suicide, depression, substance abuse, heart disease, obesity, and HIV/AIDS; Whereas girls and young women have the highest risk of experiencing sexual violence and currently account for around 74 percent of new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa, totaling 1,000 newly infected young women each day; Whereas complications of pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death among girls 15 to 19 years of age in sub-Saharan Africa where 90 percent of adolescent pregnancies are associated with child marriage; Whereas female genital mutilation/cutting (referred to in this resolution as FGM/C Whereas, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (referred to in this resolution as UNICEF Whereas FGM/C causes irreparable deformation, pain, bleeding, and increased risk of HIV infection, and can result in complications such as shock, fistulas, complications of childbirth, and death; Whereas sexual violence against children, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (referred to in this resolution as the CDC Whereas sexual violence against children encompasses a range of acts, including completed nonconsensual sex acts (such as rape), attempted nonconsensual sex acts, abusive sexual contact (such as unwanted touching), and noncontact sexual abuse (such as threatened sexual violence, exhibitionism, verbal sexual harassment, and use of explicit images); Whereas recognizing the need for data and evidence to guide actions to end violence against children, the CDC partnered with UNICEF Swaziland (now Eswatini) and the Government of Eswatini to develop and implement the scientifically sound surveillance tool, Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys (referred to in this resolution as VACS Whereas VACS are nationally representative household surveys designed to define the magnitude, nature, and consequences of sexual, physical, and emotional violence among children and adolescents; Whereas the governments of 23 nations (Botswana, Cambodia, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, El Salvador, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Kenya, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Malawi, Moldova, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) demonstrated leadership in addressing the pandemic of sexual violence against girls through the implementation of VACS as part of the Together for Girls partnership, with technical support from the CDC and coordination from multiple stakeholders, including UNICEF and others; Whereas published VACS data from 21 countries in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa revealed that— (1) as many as 38 percent of girls (in Zimbabwe and Eswatini) and 35 percent of boys (in Uganda) experienced sexual violence before the age of 18; (2) in sub-Saharan Africa— (A) for 1 in 4 girls, their first sexual intercourse experience was forced or coerced; (B) 1 of 3 girls who experienced unwanted sex became pregnant before the age of 18; (C) two-thirds of boys who experience sexual violence report mental distress later in life; and (D) sexual violence against children and adolescents was associated with a 370-percent increase in the incidence of HIV infection, a 350-percent increase in the incidence of unwanted pregnancies, and a 200-percent increase in attempted suicides; (3) the most common perpetrators of sexual violence are people known to the victims; (4) only about half of the victims of childhood sexual violence tell anyone; (5) in Colombia, 42 percent of boys experienced sexual, physical, or emotional violence in childhood and of those boys, none received help; (6) in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, 54 percent of boys reported experiencing physical violence before the age of 18; (7) children, adolescents, and youth experience different vulnerabilities at different ages; (8) in Moldova, among girls who experienced sexual violence, 8 percent experienced sexual violence for the first time at the age of 8 or younger, 22 percent experienced sexual violence for the first time from age 14 to 15, and 70 percent experienced sexual violence for the first time from age 16 to 17; (9) experiences of sexual violence often lead to increased risk of suicidal ideation; and (10) in Honduras, 41 percent of girls who experienced sexual violence reported thoughts of suicide, compared to 10 percent of girls who did not experience sexual violence; Whereas the formation of data-driven action plans utilizes INSPIRE, a World Health Organization technical package of proven strategies to reduce violence; Whereas INSPIRE guided action plans result in significant progress in strengthening protection for youth, including— (1) in response to a 38-percent prevalence of childhood sexual violence among girls, the Government of Eswatini drafted the first law in their country making sexual abuse of minors illegal; (2) across multiple countries around the world, governments, civil society organizations, and health, justice, and education practitioners have increased efforts to improve services for survivors and launched cross-sectoral efforts to end sexual violence against children; (3) countries such as Tanzania and Nigeria, where violence in schools was noted to be high, developed policies, codes, and protective guidelines for teachers and schools; (4) reforms in Uganda, such as expansion of the No Means No! program to 20,000 adolescent girls and implementation of the Coaching Boys into Men program, contributing to a significant decrease in the incidence of rape; and (5) Cambodia launching its National Action Plan to Prevent and Respond to Violence Against Children in 2017, which led to social protection interventions reaching an additional 10,000 children and child protection services reaching an additional 20,000 children; Whereas the follow-up household surveillance, VACS, thus far completed in Kenya and Zimbabwe, revealed a significant decrease in sexual violence among children and adolescents after data-driven reforms were instituted; Whereas sexual violence, common in the United States and around the globe at times of peace, occurs with increased incidence in settings of conflict, migration, internal displacement, and institutionalization, where it is known to be used to intimidate, subjugate, and instill fear; Whereas survivors in these adverse settings commonly experience collective abandonment and an entrenched impunity of their perpetrators; and Whereas the strong association between experiencing violence in childhood and later perpetrating violence highlights the importance of comprehensive interventions for both survivors and perpetrators: Now, therefore, be it That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States— (1) recognizes that sexual violence against girls remains a devastating global health, human rights, and economic problem that is both unjustifiable and preventable and impedes peace and security; (2) recognizes the leadership of nations that have used data-driven, in-country, government-led, multisector reform to end sexual violence against girls; (3) encourages the commitment of all nations to address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including goal 16.2, End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilations (4) encourages all nations to put into place proven methods and tools such as VACS, a proven household surveillance tool, and INSPIRE, an evidence-based technical package of strategies, to generate and implement government-led, data-driven, comprehensive, multisector response plans to end sexual violence against girls; (5) encourages the establishment of multidisciplinary and integrated systems in every country to ensure that laws are put into place to protect girls and that these laws are enforced by a trained and supported criminal justice system; (6) encourages increased global and domestic efforts to eliminate FGM/C; (7) encourages funding for further research on the global magnitude, scope, consequences including physical and mental health, social and economic burdens, and prevention of sexual violence among all children including more vulnerable populations such as children who are disabled, institutionalized, or homeless, children living as refugees, or internally displaced persons, and children living in areas of conflict; (8) encourages the establishment of safe, survivor-centered spaces, and advocacy centers for coordination of health, psychologic, and other services for survivors and their families; (9) encourages the adaptation and application of the VACS technique in humanitarian contexts to acquire relevant data for analysis to drive planning; and (10) encourages domestic use of the proven survey and technical tools VACS and INSPIRE to address sexual violence against girls in the United States.

Summary: This resolution recognizes sexual violence against girls as a serious global issue. The resolution encourages the implementation of certain measures to protect girls from abuse, including (1) increased international efforts to eliminate female genital mutilation and cutting, and (2) the widespread dissemination of surveys that measure levels of sexual violence.