I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6174 
To support the inclusive and meaningful participation of youth in peace 
building and conflict prevention, management, and resolution, as well 
as post-conflict relief and recovery efforts. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 10, 2020 
Ms. MENG (for herself, Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana, Mr. PHILLIPS, and Mr. 
CURTIS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To support the inclusive and meaningful participation of 
youth in peace building and conflict prevention, manage-
ment, and resolution, as well as post-conflict relief and 
recovery efforts. 
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 ‘‘Youth, Peace, and Se-
curity Act of 2020’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
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(1) There are currently 1.8 billion youth in the 
world, the largest number ever to have existed. 
(2) Youth represent the majority of the popu-
lation in many conflict-affected countries, where on 
average 50 percent of the population is below the 
age of 20, and in some countries more than 70 per-
cent of the population is below the age of 30. 
(3) Around the world, youth remain under-rep-
resented in peace building and conflict prevention, 
management, and resolution, and post-conflict relief 
and recovery efforts. 
(4) Violence impacts over 1 billion people glob-
ally each year. 
(5) Youth and youth-led groups and movements 
led by them have demonstrated the capacity to play 
critical roles in— 
(A) de-escalating conflict from spreading; 
(B) preventing recurring cycles of violence 
in communities; 
(C) effectively encouraging defection from 
armed groups; 
(D) improving the effectiveness and sus-
tainability of peace agreements; 
(E) improving social cohesion and resil-
ience to violence and recruitment; and 
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(F) strengthening a culture of peace and 
security. 
(6) Youth are critical actors in grassroots com-
munity development, despite operational risks and 
limited technical and financial support for their 
work. 
(7) Preventive and resilience-based approaches 
to youth are more effective at reducing violence than 
hard security responses and at-risk and remedial ap-
proaches, which are often counterproductive. 
(8) Youth who have participated in United 
States-supported civic engagement and development 
programs were less likely to participate in or support 
political violence. 
(9) Youth participation in the design and imple-
mentation of community development strategies is 
critical for effectively reducing violence and extre-
mism, and increasing peace. 
(10) United Nations Security Council Resolu-
tion 2250 on Youth, Peace, and Security, which was 
adopted on December 9, 2015, formalized an inter-
national framework to address the role of youth in 
building and sustaining peace and preventing con-
flict. 
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SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that the United States 
Government should— 
(1) promote the meaningful participation of 
youth in peace building and conflict prevention, 
management, and resolution, as well as post-conflict 
relief and recovery efforts, reinforced through diplo-
matic efforts and programs; 
(2) provide assistance to and build the capacity 
of youth-led organizations dedicated to advancing 
peace and review administrative and bureaucratic 
impediments to achieving this aim; 
(3) build on existing United States Government 
strategies addressing youth to ensure the meaningful 
and inclusive participation of youth in decision mak-
ing at all levels and, at a minimum, such decision 
making should be designed and assessed in consulta-
tion with diverse, representative youth; 
(4) integrate youth outreach and engagement 
into relevant conflict-resolution, leadership, and de-
mocracy and governance programs supported by the 
United States Government; and 
(5) include age- and gender-responsive policies 
and programming in the design, implementation, 
and evaluation of relevant United States foreign as-
sistance programs. 
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SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It shall be the policy of the United States to promote 
the inclusive and meaningful participation of youth in 
peace building and conflict prevention, management, and 
resolution, as well as post-conflict relief and recovery ef-
forts, reinforced through diplomatic efforts and assistance 
programs that— 
(1) elevate and incorporate mainstream, the 
perspectives and interests of affected youth into con-
flict-prevention, violence-reduction, and post-conflict 
peace building activities and strategies; 
(2) increase meaningful and inclusive youth 
participation in program planning and policy devel-
opment related to conflict-prevention and violence-re-
duction and security-sector initiatives funded by the 
United States Government; 
(3) promote the safety, economic security, and 
dignity of youth in conflict and other high-risk envi-
ronments; 
(4) provide technical and financial support to 
diverse youth-led groups, initiatives, and innovations 
working on issues of peace and security; 
(5) support the equal access of youth to United 
States foreign assistance aid distribution mecha-
nisms and services; 
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(6) encourage partner governments to adopt 
plans to increase meaningful youth participation in 
peace and security processes and decision-making in-
stitutions; and 
(7) recognize the unique context girls and 
young women experience in conflict settings by ad-
justing programs and policies that pertain to the 
achievement of the strategy and policy goals of this 
Act to protect girls and young women’s physical 
safety, economic security, and dignity, while sup-
porting their equal access to aid distribution and 
prioritizing programs to improve outcomes in gender 
equality and their empowerment. 
SEC. 5. ESTABLISHMENT OF YOUTH COORDINATOR. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall designate a 
current employee of the United States Agency for Inter-
national Development (USAID) serving in a career or 
non-career position in the Senior Executive Service or at 
the level of a Deputy Assistant Administrator or higher 
to serve concurrently as a coordinator for components of 
overseas conflict prevention, management, and resolution, 
and post-conflict relief and recovery efforts related to 
youth (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Coordinator’’). 
The position of the Coordinator shall be located in 
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USAID’s Bureau for Development, Democracy, and Inno-
vation. 
(b) DUTIES.—The Coordinator shall— 
(1) have the primary responsibility for the co-
ordination of all resources and international activi-
ties of the United States Government appropriated 
or used for overseas conflict prevention, manage-
ment, and resolution, and post-conflict relief and re-
covery efforts related to youth; 
(2) lead implementation of the strategy estab-
lished under section 6; 
(3) lead revision, not less frequently than once 
every 5 years, of the strategy established under sec-
tion 6; 
(4) establish an advisory group of experts to 
advise the Coordinator on the development and im-
plementation of the strategy established under sec-
tion 6— 
(A) which shall be composed of representa-
tives of relevant civil society, international orga-
nizations, and United States Government enti-
ties; 
(B) of which not less than 30 percent of 
such representatives should be youth; and 
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(C) which shall facilitate exchanges be-
tween a diverse range of youth leaders across 
the country to connect youth and government 
officials around the world on the youth, peace, 
and security agenda and use these exchanges to 
provide insight and improvements to the strat-
egy; 
(5) coordinate with relevant Federal agencies, 
including the Department of Defense, the Depart-
ment of State, and the National Security Agency, 
the United Nations Youth Envoy and Envoy on 
Children in Armed Conflict, the private sector and 
relevant partner entities as appropriate, to carry out 
the strategy established under section 6 and to align 
current and future investments with effective, evi-
dence based interventions; 
(6) provide direction to the design and oversight 
of grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements 
with nongovernmental organizations and private sec-
tor entities for the purpose of carrying out the strat-
egy established under section 6; and 
(7) support the designation of a Youth Point of 
Contact (YPOC) in diplomatic overseas missions and 
United States Agency for International Development 
bureaus, as selected by the Coordinator. 
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(c) RESTRICTION
ON
ADDITIONAL
OR
SUPPLE-
MENTAL COMPENSATION.—The Coordinator shall receive 
no additional or supplemental compensation as a result of 
carrying out responsibilities and duties under this section. 
SEC. 6. STRATEGY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, 
in coordination with the USAID Administrator, shall co-
ordinate the development and implementation of a United 
States whole-of-government strategy to accomplish the 
policy objective set forth in section 4, which shall— 
(1) prioritize funding programs that provide 
training and technical assistance to youth engaged 
in peace building, violence prevention, mediation, 
and negotiation and peacekeeping to the extent prac-
ticable; 
(2) integrate youth consultation in program de-
sign and implementation as assessment criteria with-
in the procurement process during the United States 
foreign assistance and acquisition application proc-
ess; 
(3) create standards for collecting and ana-
lyzing age and gender data for the purpose of devel-
oping and enhancing early warning and response 
systems for conflict, mass violence, and atrocities; 
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(4) support youth peace builders to participate 
in communities of practice and virtual mentorships 
programs aimed at improving monitoring, evalua-
tion, reporting, and program management capacities; 
(5) encourage the development of youth-inclu-
sive transitional justice and accountability mecha-
nisms, disengagement, and reintegration programs; 
(6) support inclusive education with a focus on 
context-specific critical thinking skills, socioemotion-
al learning, and conflict resolution; 
(7) identify and address barriers through age- 
disaggregated analysis to youth participation in pro-
grams described in paragraph (1) and improve pro-
gram design and targeting; 
(8) include youth in assessments of United 
States peace and security initiatives; and 
(9) support the use of quotas for the direct and 
gender-equitable participation of youth in all phases 
of formal peace and political transition processes, 
from pre-negotiation to implementation, including in 
national dialogues, constitution-making, transitional 
justice, and other political processes related to peace 
and security. 
(b) AGENCY-SPECIFIC PLANS.—The strategy shall 
include specific implementation plans from each relevant 
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Federal agency that describes the anticipated technical, fi-
nancial, and in-kind contributions to integrate the strategy 
into ongoing planning processes. 
(c) REGIONAL PLANS.—The strategy shall include 
specific implementation plans and consideration in con-
sultation with each regional bureau within the United 
States Agency for International Development, the Depart-
ment of State, and the Department of Defense as part 
of ongoing planning processes including relevant Country 
Development Cooperation Strategies and Joint Regional 
Strategies. 
SEC. 7. DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE TO EXPAND TRAINING, 
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, AND GRANTS MAN-
AGED AND CONTROLLED BY YOUTH LEAD-
ERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 252 of the Foreign Assist-
ance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211a) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)— 
(A) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 
the end; 
(B) in paragraph (6), by striking the pe-
riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘(7) assistance to expand training, technical as-
sistance, and grant management managed and con-
trolled by youth leaders.’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(d) DEFINITION.—In subsection (a)(7), the term 
‘youth’ means individuals who have attained the age of 
16 but have not attained the age of 30.’’. 
(b) YOUTH, PEACE, AND SECURITY FUND.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Coordinator is author-
ized to provide grants, emergency assistance, and 
technical assistance to eligible youth-led civil society 
organizations and youth peace building implementers 
who seek to achieve the following: 
(A) Peace building. 
(B) Conflict prevention. 
(C) Conflict management. 
(D) Conflict resolution. 
(E) Post-conflict relief and recovery ef-
forts. 
(F) Assistance for those who require im-
mediate support in the face of legal and safety 
concerns due to their participation in the activi-
ties described in subparagraph (A), (B), (C), 
(D), or (E). 
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(2) AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIATIONS.— 
There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 
as may be necessary to carry out this subsection. 
Amounts appropriated pursuant to the authorization 
of appropriations under this paragraph may be re-
ferred to as the ‘‘Youth, Peace, and Security Fund’’. 
SEC. 8. YOUTH DEFINED. 
In this Act, the term ‘‘youth’’ means individuals who 
have attained the age of 16 but have not attained the age 
of 30. 
Æ 
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