I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3212 
To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to include in the Annual 
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices a section on conflict-related 
sexual and gender-based violence, to amend the Global Magnitsky Human 
Rights Accountability Act to authorize the President to impose economic 
sanctions and a visa ban on the leader of an organization that commits 
sexual or gender-based violence. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 11, 2019 
Ms. PINGREE (for herself, Ms. SPEIER, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, Ms. 
OMAR, Ms. MENG, and Ms. FRANKEL) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition 
to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to include 
in the Annual Country Reports on Human Rights Prac-
tices a section on conflict-related sexual and gender- 
based violence, to amend the Global Magnitsky Human 
Rights Accountability Act to authorize the President to 
impose economic sanctions and a visa ban on the leader 
of an organization that commits sexual or gender-based 
violence. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Accountability for Sex-
ual and Gender-based Violence as a Tool in Conflict Act 
of 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) The United States, as a permanent member 
of the United Nations Security Council, voted in 
favor of Security Council Resolutions 1325 (2000); 
1820 (2008); 1888 (2009); 1960 (2010); 2106 
(2013); 2242 (2015); and 2331 (2016), which state 
that acts of sexual violence and human trafficking 
threaten international peace and security and can 
constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, acts 
of genocide, and terrorism. 
(2) The United States is a signatory to the G8 
Declaration on Preventing Sexual Violence in Con-
flict, done in London April 11, 2013, and sponsored 
by the United Kingdom’s Foreign & Commonwealth 
Office’s Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative. The 
United States and its allies declared that concerns 
related to sexual violence in armed conflict must be 
part of peace and security efforts, post-conflict tran-
sition and reform measures, and accountability proc-
esses. 
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(3) Despite these advances in normative frame-
works, sexual and gender-based violence continues to 
be pervasive, and the responses from governments 
and the international community range from insuffi-
cient and inadequate to negligent and complicit, as 
documented in United Nations’ reports. 
(4) Gender-based violence, including sexual vio-
lence— 
(A) is a global pandemic that affects 1 in 
3 women during their lifetimes; and 
(B) occurs at higher rates in conflict-af-
fected areas. 
(5) Incidences of domestic violence, child, early, 
or forced marriages, human trafficking, and other 
forms of sexual and gender-based violence within 
displaced or conflict-affected communities— 
(A) increase during conflict due to exacer-
bated social tensions and underlying gender in-
equalities that existed in communities prior to 
such conflict; and 
(B) occur in parallel to sexual and gender- 
based violence perpetrated as a weapon of war. 
(6) Gender-based violence is underreported in 
all settings. Recorded cases of gender-based violence 
represent only a small fraction of the overall total. 
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A lack of available data should not be interpreted to 
mean that gender-based violence is not a major and 
pressing issue, but should be viewed as an indication 
of the challenges in gathering information. 
(7) Rape and sexual assault have been used as 
tactics of war and terror in conflict zones, including 
Burma, Central African Republic, Colombia, the 
Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Mali, Somalia, 
South Sudan, Sudan, and Syria. 
(8) Rape, sexual slavery, and other forms of 
sexual violence have been used by terrorist and ex-
tremist groups, such as the so-called Islamic State, 
Boko Haram, and the Lord’s Resistance Army, to 
intimidate and terrorize communities. 
(9) Sexual and gender-based violence in recent 
conflicts has been used in Iraq, Syria, and Burma 
as a form of ethnic or religious persecution or geno-
cide against Yazidis, Christians, Turkmen Shi’a, and 
Rohingya Muslims. 
(10) The Secretary-General of the United Na-
tions stated that sexual violence in conflict triggers 
mass migration and forced displacement. 
(11) Sexual and gender-based violence in con-
flict is primarily used against women and girls, but 
can also be used against men and boys. 
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(12) Sexual and gender-based violence is not in-
cidental to conflict and is a weapon of choice for 
armed actors seeking to destabilize societies, given 
that its stigma and trauma continue after the con-
flict has ended. 
(13) Existing laws often fail to protect sur-
vivors of conflict-related sexual or gender-based vio-
lence, especially when the perpetrators are represent-
atives of government entities, such as military offi-
cers, soldiers, or non-state actors operating in areas 
where governments have failed to keep the peace. 
(14) Under the doctrine of military command 
responsibility, leaders can be prosecuted for war 
crimes when they— 
(A) knew or should have known that their 
subordinates were committing war crimes; and 
(B) failed to take all necessary and reason-
able measures to prevent such crimes or inves-
tigate and prosecute those responsible for such 
crimes. 
(15) Courts with jurisdiction over war crimes 
may be nonexistent, may lack capacity, or may be 
subject to the same political failings that allowed 
conflict-related sexual or gender-based violence to 
take place. While the United Nations Security Coun-
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cil could refer a case to the International Criminal 
Court, it is constrained by the prospects of a veto. 
(16) Convicting and imprisoning top military 
leaders with command or superior responsibility for 
rape or other forms of sexual and gender-based vio-
lence in conflict is essential to deter future crimes of 
sexual violence. Further support to civil society, 
grassroots organizations, women-led organizations, 
and justice actors is necessary to combat sexual vio-
lence and provide services and support to survivors. 
The landmark decision on December 15, 2017, by 
military justice authorities in the Democratic Repub-
lic of the Congo for the conviction of a provincial 
parliamentarian and members of the ‘‘Army of 
Jesus’’ militia for the crimes against humanity of 
rape of dozens of children in Kavumu, Democratic 
Republic of the Congo is a significant step for end-
ing impunity for sexual violence. 
(17) The United Nations Office of the Special 
Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual 
Violence in Conflict and the United Nations Team of 
Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in 
Conflict were established by Security Council Reso-
lution 1888 (2009) to work toward providing sup-
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port to survivors of sexual violence in conflict and 
ending impunity for these heinous crimes. 
(18) The United Nations Secretary-General’s 
annual report to the United Nations Security Coun-
cil on conflict-related sexual violence lists ‘‘parties 
credibly suspected of committing or being respon-
sible for patterns of rape or other forms of sexual 
violence in situations of armed conflict on the agen-
da of the Security Council’’ in its annex. This listing 
mechanism is an essential tool to promote compli-
ance with the provisions of the United Nations Secu-
rity Council resolutions referred to in paragraph (1). 
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States— 
(1) to take effective action to prevent and to re-
spond to sexual and gender-based violence around 
the world, particularly when related to conflict, as a 
matter of promoting basic human rights; 
(2) to hold accountable leaders who fail to pre-
vent, respond to, investigate, and prosecute sexual 
and gender-based violence; and 
(3) to support survivors of conflict-related sex-
ual and general based violence. 
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SEC. 4. ANNUAL COUNTRY REPORTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS 
PRACTICES. 
(a) SAVINGS PROVISION.—The additional reporting 
requirements added under sections 116(d) and 502B(h) 
of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 
2151n(d) and 2304(h)) should not be considered as a sub-
stitute for comprehensive reporting on sexual and gender- 
based violence in non-conflict settings. Such information 
should continue to be robustly reported on in the annual 
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices with any 
linkages and connections between these areas of reporting 
drawn through internal references amongst the various 
sections of each individual Country Report. 
(b) COUNTRIES
RECEIVING
ECONOMIC
ASSIST-
ANCE.—Section 116(d) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 
1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d)) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (9), (10), (11), 
and (12) as paragraphs (10), (11), (12), and (13), 
respectively; and 
(2) by inserting after paragraph (8) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(9)(A) a description of sexual and gender- 
based violence, including conflict-related sexual and 
gender-based violence and sexual assault (as defined 
in section 40002 of the Violence Against Women Act 
of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12291)) or rape (as defined in 
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section 2441 of title 18, United States Code), as a 
tool of terror or war, in each foreign country; 
‘‘(B) consolidated information regarding the 
commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity, 
and evidence of acts that may constitute genocide 
(as defined in article 2 of the Convention on the 
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Geno-
cide and modified by section 2(a) of the Genocide 
Convention Implementation Act of 1987 (the Prox-
mire Act)); 
‘‘(C) with respect to each country in which 
there is sexual and gender-based violence, especially 
as a result of conflict or where rape or sexual vio-
lence has been used as a tool of terror or war by 
state or non-state actors, an assessment of the ef-
forts by the government of that country to combat 
such violence, including an assessment of— 
‘‘(i) whether governmental authorities in 
that country participate in, facilitate, or con-
done sexual and gender-based violence; 
‘‘(ii) the steps the government of that 
country has taken to prohibit government offi-
cials, including military officers and non-state 
actors from participating in, facilitating, or 
condoning sexual and gender-based violence, in-
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