I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3304
To authorize the provision of educational and health care assistance to the
women and children of Afghanistan.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOVEMBER 15, 2001
Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on International Relations
A BILL
To authorize the provision of educational and health care
assistance to the women and children of Afghanistan.
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 ‘‘Afghan Women and
Children Relief Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) In Afghanistan, Taliban restrictions on
women’s participation in society made it nearly im-
possible for women to exercise their basic human
rights. The Taliban restrictions on Afghan women’s
freedom of expression, association, and movement
denied women full participation in society and, con-
sequently, from effectively securing basic access to
work, education, and health care.
(2) Afghanistan has one of the highest infant
(165 of 1000) and child (257 of 1000) mortality
rates in the world.
(3) Only 5 percent of rural and 39 percent of
urban Afghans have access to safe drinking water.
(4) It is estimated that 42 percent of all deaths
in Afghanistan are due to diarrheal diseases caused
by contaminated food and water.
(5) Over one-third of Afghan children under 5
years of age suffer from malnutrition, 85,000 of
whom die annually.
(6) Seventy percent of the health care system in
Afghanistan is dependent on foreign assistance.
(7) As of May 1998, only 20 percent of hospital
medical and surgical beds dedicated to adults were
available for women, and thousands of Afghan
women and girls are routinely denied health care.
(8) Under the Taliban regime, women were for-
bidden to leave their homes without being escorted
by a male relative. This prevented many women
from seeking basic necessities like health care and
food for their children. Doctors, virtually all of
whom are male, were also not permitted to provide
certain types of care not deemed appropriate by the
Taliban.
(9) Before the Taliban took control of Kabul,
schools were coeducational, with women accounting
for 70 percent of the teaching force. Women rep-
resented about 50 percent of the civil service corps,
and 40 percent of the city’s physicians were women.
The Taliban prohibited women from working as
teachers, doctors, and in any other occupation.
(10) The Taliban prohibited girls and women
from attending school. In 1998, the Taliban ordered
the closing of more than 100 privately funded
schools where thousands of young women and girls
were receiving education and training in skills that
would have helped them support themselves and
their families.
(11) Of the many tens of thousands of war wid-
ows in Afghanistan, many are forced to beg for food
and to sell their possessions because they are not al-
lowed to work.
(12) Resistance movements courageously con-
tinued to educate Afghan girls in secrecy and in for-
eign countries against Taliban law.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF ASSISTANCE.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), the
President is authorized, on such terms and conditions as
the President may determine, to provide educational and
health care assistance for the women and children living
in Afghanistan and as refugees in neighboring countries.
(b) IMPLEMENTATION.—(1) In providing assistance
under subsection (a), the President shall ensure that such
assistance is provided in a manner that protects and pro-
motes the human rights of all people in Afghanistan, uti-
lizing indigenous institutions and nongovernmental orga-
nizations, especially women’s organizations, to the extent
possible.
(2) Beginning 6 months after the date of enactment
of this Act, and at least annually for the 2 years there-
after, the President shall submit a report to the Com-
mittee on Appropriations and the Committee on Foreign
Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Appropria-
tions and the Committee on International Relations of the
House of Representatives describing the activities carried
out under this Act and otherwise describing the condition
and status of women and children in Afghanistan and the
persons in refugee camps while United States aid is given
to displaced Afghans.
(c) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts made avail-
able under Acts making appropriations for foreign oper-
ations, export financing, and other related programs for
fiscal years after fiscal year 2001 under ‘‘Child Survival
and Health Programs Fund’’, ‘‘UNICEF’’, ‘‘Immuniza-
tions’’, ‘‘Safe Injections’’, ‘‘Maternal Health, Medical
Equipment, Women in Development Fund’’, ‘‘Children’s
Basic Education’’, and ‘‘Refugee Assistance’’, or other ap-
propriate programs, and amounts made available under
the 2001 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for
Recovery from and Response to Terrorist Attacks on the
United States, shall be available to carry out this Act.
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