I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4092 
To improve United States consideration of, and strategic support for, pro-
grams to prevent and respond to gender-based violence from the onset 
of humanitarian emergencies and build the capacity of humanitarian 
assistance to address the immediate and long-term challenges resulting 
from such violence, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 30, 2019 
Ms. MENG (for herself, Mr. STEWART, Ms. FRANKEL, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, and 
Ms. HOULAHAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To improve United States consideration of, and strategic 
support for, programs to prevent and respond to gender- 
based violence from the onset of humanitarian emer-
gencies and build the capacity of humanitarian assistance 
to address the immediate and long-term challenges re-
sulting from such violence, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe from the Start 
Act of 2019’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Displaced, refugee, and stateless women and 
girls in humanitarian emergencies, conflict settings, 
and natural disasters face extreme violence and 
threats, including— 
(A) rape and sexual assault; 
(B) domestic or intimate partner violence; 
(C) child, early, and forced marriage; 
(D) trafficking for the purposes of sexual 
exploitation and forced labor; 
(E) harmful traditional practices such as 
female genital mutilation or cutting; and 
(F) harassment, exploitation, and abuse by 
humanitarian personnel. 
(2) Gender-based violence is known to increase 
during humanitarian emergencies. Violent acts such 
as intimate partner violence and child marriage that 
take place during times of stability are often exacer-
bated during times of crisis. 
(3) Nearly one in five women report experi-
encing sexual violence during a humanitarian emer-
gency. For example, according to the United Nations 
Organization Stabilization Mission in the Demo-
cratic Republic of the Congo, there was an increase 
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of 56 percent in reported cases of conflict-related 
sexual violence between 2016 and 2017. 
(4) Intimate partner violence is pervasive and 
becomes increasingly common during times of con-
flict and crisis. Residence in a conflict-affected dis-
trict is associated with a 50-percent increase in risk 
of intimate partner violence, and women who have 
experienced 4–5 cumulative years of conflict are al-
most 90 percent more likely to experience such vio-
lence than women who are not living in conflict set-
tings. 
(5) Child, early, and forced marriages increase 
during humanitarian crises as tools of last resort to 
cope with economic hardship and to protect girls 
from increased violence. Conflict can exacerbate cul-
tural norms of child, early, and forced marriage or 
create harmful cultural behaviors where they had 
not previously existed. 
(6) Women and girls are especially vulnerable 
to trafficking during humanitarian crises, particu-
larly by non-State armed groups who abduct and 
traffic women and girls for sexual exploitation, do-
mestic servitude, and child, early, and forced mar-
riage, among other forms of exploitation. 
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(7) Crises create markets for exploitative serv-
ices that are too frequently abused by aid workers 
and peacekeepers, who seek sexual services from dis-
placed or vulnerable people. In 2018, the United Na-
tions received a total of 148 sexual exploitation and 
abuse allegations directly involving United Nations 
aid workers, and 111 involving staff from partner 
organizations implementing United Nations pro-
grams. 
(8) According to United Nations High Commis-
sioner for Refugees, marginalized populations are 
particularly at risk of gender-based violence in hu-
manitarian crises, including adolescent girls, older 
persons, persons with disabilities, sexual and gender 
minorities, and female heads of households. 
(9) Gender-based violence is under-reported, 
both in times of stability and during crises. While 
data may not be immediately available in each crisis 
or conflict, evidence shows that gender-based vio-
lence is consistently a major and pressing concern 
for women and girls facing humanitarian emergency 
contexts and should be assumed to be a protection 
concern in all humanitarian planning and risk as-
sessment. 
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(10) Men and boys play a critical role in pre-
venting gender-based violence, and engaging them 
alongside women and girls in the transformation of 
gender roles that lead to increased rates of gender- 
based violence at the onset of emergencies leads to 
lasting results. 
(11) Survivors of gender-based violence and 
their families in humanitarian emergencies require 
immediate, life-saving assistance, including post-rape 
care or access to other comprehensive medical and 
psychosocial services, to address the physical, psy-
chological, and social impacts of gender-based vio-
lence. They also require long-term support such as 
opportunities to earn livelihoods, build skills or re-
ceive an education, and access to justice and com-
munity-level reintegration. Early medical interven-
tions after incidents of rape can help to prevent in-
fections, HIV, and pregnancy. 
(12) Empowering women to assume leadership 
roles in delivering humanitarian response and mean-
ingfully engaging local organizations, including wom-
en’s rights, humanitarian, advocacy, and service-pro-
vider organizations, through training and directed 
resources to operate in emergency settings and pro-
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vide life-saving assistance is critical to supporting 
survivors or those at risk of gender-based violence. 
(13) The international community has priori-
tized addressing the issue of gender-based violence 
in humanitarian contexts by launching a Global Call 
to Action on Protection from Gender-Based Violence 
in Emergencies in 2013, which the United States 
operationalized through establishing a Safe from the 
Start initiative, implemented by the Department of 
State and the United States Agency for Inter-
national Development. 
(14) Safe from the Start aimed to prevent and 
respond to gender-based violence at the onset of an 
emergency and to provide resources to strengthen 
the core capacity of humanitarian assistance imple-
menters to address gender-based violence at the ear-
liest phases of an emergency, including through de-
veloping training, guidelines, toolkits, and other re-
sources to guide operations. 
(15) The Women’s Entrepreneurship and Eco-
nomic Empowerment Act (Public Law 115–428) re-
quires the United States ‘‘to strive to eliminate gen-
der-based violence and mitigate its harmful effects 
on individuals and communities’’ in its development 
cooperation policy. Recognizing the need to prevent 
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and respond to gender-based violence globally, Con-
gress has appropriated $150,000,000 annually from 
fiscal Years 2013–2019 for this purpose. 
(16) The United States has further committed 
to prevention and response to gender-based violence 
globally through the interagency United States 
Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based 
Violence Globally, the National Action Plan on 
Women, Peace, and Security, the U.S. Global Strat-
egy to Empower Adolescent Girls, U.S. Strategy to 
Support Women and Girls at Risk from Extremism 
and Conflict, and the U.S. Government Strategy on 
Advancing Protection and Care for Children in Ad-
versity. 
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States— 
(1) to take effective action to prevent, mitigate, 
and respond to gender-based violence in humani-
tarian emergencies around the world to promote re-
spect for basic human rights and gender equality, 
economic growth, improved public health, and peace 
and stability; 
(2) to systematically integrate and coordinate 
efforts to prevent and respond to gender-based vio-
lence in United States foreign policy and foreign as-
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sistance programs, including conflict prevention, hu-
manitarian relief and recovery, and peace-building 
efforts; 
(3) to promote accountability and access to jus-
tice for acts of gender-based violence; 
(4) to build local capacity in countries respond-
ing to humanitarian crises, including the capacity of 
governments at all levels and nongovernmental orga-
nizations, especially women-led organizations, to pre-
vent, mitigate, and respond to gender-based violence; 
(5) to consult, cooperate, coordinate, and col-
laborate with a wide variety of nongovernmental 
partners and international organizations, including 
women-led organizations, when designing and imple-
menting humanitarian response programs; 
(6) to support activities that prevent and miti-
gate the impacts of gender-based violence in humani-
tarian settings and that empower survivors or those 
at risk of gender-based violence, including through 
economic opportunities, access to education and 
skills building, and promotion of women’s leadership 
and participation in humanitarian response; 
(7) to ensure that international organizations 
and nongovernmental organizations receiving fund-
ing from the United States have the capacity and in-
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ternal protocols to identify gender-based violence, in-
cluding sexual exploitation and abuse committed by 
humanitarian personnel, integrate gender-based vio-
lence prevention and response initiatives into policies 
and programs, and report regularly on efforts to 
prevent and respond to gender-based violence; 
(8) to employ a multisectoral approach to pre-
venting and responding to gender-based violence 
globally, including through activities in the eco-
nomic, education, health, protection, nutrition, and 
legal sectors; 
(9) to ensure protection against sexual exploi-
tation and abuse by and against humanitarian ac-
tors; and 
(10) to include the active leadership and par-
ticipation of women and girls in humanitarian pro-
gram design, implementation, and evaluation. 
SEC. 4. SAFE FROM THE START AUTHORITY. 
(a) SAFE FROM THE START PROGRAMMING.—The 
Secretary of State, in consultation with the Assistant Sec-
retary of the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migra-
tion and in coordination with the Administrator of the 
United States Agency for International Development (in 
consultation with the Director of the Office of Foreign 
Disaster Assistance), shall direct and oversee all United 
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States foreign assistance that addresses humanitarian cri-
ses in a manner that implements a ‘‘Safe from the Start’’ 
programming focus on the following objectives: 
(1) Preventing and reducing the incidence of 
gender-based violence. 
(2) Ensuring quality protection for survivors of 
such crises beginning with the onset of the emer-
gency through timely and effective action. 
(3) Promoting standards and activities to pre-
vent, mitigate, and respond to gender-based violence. 
(4) Advance the empowerment of survivors and 
individuals at risk of gender-based violence. 
(b) STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES.—The Secretary 
shall develop guidelines, toolkits, reporting mechanisms, 
and other institutional response and accountability meas-
ures through the Safe from the Start programming de-
scribed in subsection (a) in order to incorporate effective 
gender-based violence prevention and response activities 
across all humanitarian assistance programs and projects, 
including through— 
(1) the promotion of minimum standards, indi-
cators, and metrics to assess the adequacy of inter-
ventions relating to gender-based violence, taking 
into consideration the Guidelines for Integrating 
Gender-Based Violence Interventions in Humani-
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tarian Action published by the United Nations Inter- 
Agency Standing Council in 2015, the assessment 
released by the Real-Time Accountability Partner-
ship on Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies in 
2016, and the Minimum Standards for Child Protec-
tion in Humanitarian Action published by the non- 
profit organization Sphere in 2012; 
(2) the establishment and implementation, in 
coordination with international organizations and 
nongovernmental organizations, of standards, proto-
cols, and accountability mechanisms for preventing 
and addressing sexual or other gender-based exploi-
tation or abuse perpetrated by personnel delivering 
humanitarian assistance; and 
(3) the development of monitoring tools across 
all humanitarian assistance programming to stand-
ardize monitoring and accountability relating to gen-
der-based violence prevention and response. 
(c) IMPROVEMENT OF PROTECTION MECHANISMS.— 
The Secretary shall improve the delivery and quality of 
United States assistance to protect survivors of gender- 
based violence, through the Safe from the Start program-
ming described in subsection (a), by improving activities 
in the following areas: 
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(1) Access to and quality of comprehensive 
medical services for survivors and at-risk populations 
in line with international standards, including— 
(A) post-rape and post-sexual assault med-
ical care; 
(B) psycho-social and mental health serv-
ices; and 
(C) hygiene and dignity kits. 
(2) Service delivery to hard-to-reach popu-
lations, prioritizing services that reach— 
(A) shelters for survivors of natural disas-
ters; 
(B) internally displaced person camps; 
(C) active conflict zones; and 
(D) refugees living in urban areas. 
(d) AUTHORIZATION OF ASSISTANCE TO LOCAL AC-
TORS.—The Secretary of State is authorized to provide 
assistance to organizations based outside the United 
States who are working to provide humanitarian relief in 
affected regions or countries, prioritizing such organiza-
tions that are led by refugees or displaced or stateless 
women and youth, through Safe from the Start program-
ming in accordance with subsection (a) for the following 
purposes: 
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(1) Building capacity to identify, prevent, and 
address gender-based violence in humanitarian set-
tings and to support survivors and those at risk, in-
cluding through training and deploying female hu-
manitarian aid workers. 
(2) Promoting women’s leadership and partici-
pation in the design, implementation, and evaluation 
of humanitarian responses. 
(3) Developing safe spaces for meaningful dia-
logue, psycho-social interventions, and culturally-spe-
cific support. 
(4) Developing technical skills for advocacy, 
monitoring, data collection, evaluation, and commu-
nications. 
(5) Performing on-the-ground gender analyses 
and otherwise rapidly assessing and communicating 
the needs of women, girls, and other populations 
that are vulnerable to gender-based violence in cri-
ses. 
(e) AUTHORIZATION
OF ASSISTANCE
TO INTER-
NATIONAL
NONGOVERNMENTAL
ORGANIZATIONS.—The 
Secretary of State is authorized to provide support to en-
hance the capacity of international nongovernmental orga-
nizations to achieve the following: 
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(1) Improving technical expertise and avail-
ability of dedicated gender advisors to prevent and 
respond to gender-based violence in humanitarian 
settings through the Gender Based Violence Area of 
Responsibility forum and across sectors of humani-
tarian action, including through training and sen-
sitization of humanitarian aid workers on identifica-
tion of and care for survivors of gender-based vio-
lence. 
(2) Promoting supportive partnerships with 
local humanitarian actors and nongovernmental or-
ganizations, including for women’s leadership and 
participation in humanitarian response. 
(3) Increasing and improving empowerment ac-
tivities, including women’s and girls’ access to eco-
nomic opportunities and livelihoods, education and 
skills, and leadership roles. 
(4) Training for international development im-
plementers during the onset and transformation of a 
humanitarian crisis so that such implementers are 
equipped to continue relief, recovery, and reconstruc-
tion work that is sensitive to the prevention and 
mitigation of gender-based violence after the imme-
diate humanitarian engagement has finished. 
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(1) displays the budget proposed, including any 
planned interagency or intra-agency transfer, for 
each of the principal Federal agencies that will be 
carrying out activities through the Safe from the 
Start programming focus described in section 4(a) of 
this Act in the fiscal year for which such budget is 
submitted; 
(2) separately reports the amount of funding to 
be provided pertaining to the Safe from the Start 
strategy under subsection (a), to the extent such 
plans are available; and 
(3) to the extent practicable, identifies all as-
sistance and research expenditures at the account 
level in each of the five previous fiscal years by the 
Federal Government using Federal funds for Safe 
from the Start activities. 
(c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE-
FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres-
sional committees’’ means— 
(1) the Committee on Appropriations and the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep-
resentatives; and 
(2) the Committee on Appropriations and the 
Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate. 
Æ 
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