298 
SEC. 1106. LIMITATION ON ASSISTANCE FOR WEATHER CO-
OPERATION ACTIVITIES TO COUNTRIES IN 
THE AMERICAS. 
(a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress 
that the United States should facilitate international co-
operation on hurricane preparedness because— 
(1) hundreds of millions of people in the Amer-
icas live in coastal communities and are susceptible 
to the immense risks posed by hurricanes; 
(2) the need for hurricane tracking overflights 
and other weather cooperation activities to track and 
monitor hurricanes in the Americas is acute; and 
(3) accurate hurricane forecasts can help prevent 
the loss of life and injury and reduce property loss 
and economic disruption. 
(b) REPORT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 
State shall transmit to the appropriate congressional 
committees a report on the status of United States co-
operation with other countries in the Americas on 
hurricane preparedness and other weather cooperation 
activities. 
(2) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report re-
quired under paragraph (1) shall include— 
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(A) a list of countries in the Americas that 
do not cooperate with the United States on hur-
ricane preparedness and other weather coopera-
tion activities; and 
(B) the status of any negotiations regarding 
hurricane preparedness and other weather co-
operation activities between the United States 
and countries listed in subparagraph (A). 
(c) LIMITATION ON ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary of 
State may not provide assistance for weather cooperation 
activities to countries listed in the report under subsection 
(b)(2)(A). 
(d) WAIVER.—The Secretary of State may waive the 
limitation on assistance requirements under subsection (c) 
if the Secretary of State certifies to the appropriate congres-
sional committees that the waiver is in the national interest 
of the United States. 
SEC. 1107. STATEMENT OF CONGRESS REGARDING AFGHAN 
WOMEN. 
Congress— 
(1) supports the decision by President Hamid 
Karzai of Afghanistan to submit for review the Shi’ite 
Personal Status Law and strongly urges him not to 
publish such law on the grounds that such law vio-
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lates the basic human rights of women and is incon-
sistent with the Constitution of Afghanistan; 
(2) urges President Karzai, the Ministry of Jus-
tice, and other parties involved in reviewing the law 
to formally declare as unconstitutional the provisions 
of such law regarding marital rape and restrictions 
on women’s freedom of movement; 
(3) reiterates its strong sense that the provisions 
in such law which restrict the rights of women should 
be removed, and that an amended draft of the Shi’ite 
Personal Status Law should be submitted for par-
liamentary review; 
(4) encourages the Secretary of State, the Special 
Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, the 
Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, and 
the United States Ambassador to Afghanistan to con-
sider and address the status of women’s rights and se-
curity in Afghanistan to ensure that such rights are 
not being eroded through unjust laws, policies, or in-
stitutions; and 
(5) encourages the Government of Afghanistan to 
solicit information and advice from the Ministry of 
Justice, the Ministry for Women’s Affairs, the Afghan-
istan Independent Human Rights Commission, and 
women-led nongovernmental organizations to ensure 
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that current and future legislation and official poli-
cies protect and uphold the equal rights of women, in-
cluding through national campaigns to lead public 
discourse on the importance of women’s status and 
rights to the overall stability of Afghanistan. 
SEC. 1108. GLOBAL PEACE OPERATIONS INITIATIVE PRO-
GRAMS AND ACTIVITIES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Over 100,000 military and civilian personnel 
are engaged in 18 United Nations peacekeeping oper-
ations around the world. Peacekeeping operations are 
critical to maintaining a peaceful and stable inter-
national environment. 
(2) The United States has a vital interest in en-
suring that United Nations peacekeeping operations 
are successful. Countries undergoing conflict threaten 
the national and economic security of the United 
States, risk becoming safe havens for terrorist organi-
zations, and often feature levels of human rights 
abuses and human deprivation that are an affront to 
the values of the American people. 
(3) Over the years, United Nations peacekeeping 
has evolved to meet the demands of different conflicts 
and a changing political landscape. Today’s peace-
keeping mission is most often ‘‘multidimensional’’ 
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and includes a wide variety of complex tasks such as 
civilian protection, helping to build sustainable insti-
tutions of governance, human rights monitoring, secu-
rity sector reform, facilitating delivery of humani-
tarian relief and disarmament, demobilization and 
reintegration of former combatants. 
(4) United Nations peacekeeping operations 
allow the United States to respond to global crises 
within a multilateral framework with costs shared 
among nations. A 2007 Government Accountability 
Office report found that in general a United States 
peacekeeping operation is likely to be ‘‘much more ex-
pensive’’ than a United Nations peacekeeping oper-
ation, regardless of location. 
(5) In many missions due to vast swaths of ter-
rain and limited infrastructure, ongoing low-inten-
sity fighting, and the presence of ‘‘peace spoilers’’, 
United Nations peacekeepers cannot carry out the 
complex tasks with which they are charged without 
critical enablers, and in particular air assets. 
(6) The United Nations Secretary-General has 
repeatedly noted the deleterious impact of insufficient 
helicopters for peacekeeping missions in Darfur and 
the Democratic Republic of the Congo. History has 
shown that under-resourced peacekeeping troops are 
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not only unable to carry out their mandates, they 
erode the credibility of the United Nations and are 
themselves likely to come under attack. 
(7) Senate Resolution 432 and House Resolution 
1351 of the 110th Congress— 
(A) urged members of the international 
community, including the United States, that 
possessed the capability to provide tactical and 
utility helicopters needed for the United Nations- 
African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) to 
do so as soon as possible; and 
(B) urged the President to intervene person-
ally by contacting other heads of state and ask-
ing them to contribute the aircraft and crews to 
the Darfur mission. 
(8) The current framework of relying on member 
countries to provide air assets on a volunteer basis 
has not yielded sufficient results. The United Nations 
still faces a shortfall of over 50 helicopters for 
UNAMID, 
the 
Democratic 
Republic 
of 
Congo 
(MONUC), and the Republic of Chad (MINURCAT). 
A review of trend lines suggests that any new United 
Nations peacekeeping missions authorized within the 
next five to seven years would face similar shortfalls. 
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(9) Numerous studies and reports have deter-
mined that there is no global shortage of air assets. 
It is inexcusable to allow authorized United Nations 
peacekeeping missions to founder for the lack of crit-
ical mobility capabilities. 
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of assistance authorized 
by this section is to help protect civilians by training and 
equipping peacekeepers worldwide, to include financing the 
refurbishment of helicopters. 
(c) USE OF FUNDS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State is au-
thorized to use amounts authorized to be appropriated 
to carry out this section to provide funding to carry 
out and expand Global Peace Operations Initiative 
programs and activities. Such programs and activi-
ties shall include— 
(A) training and equipping peacekeepers 
worldwide, with a particular focus on Africa; 
(B) enhancing the capacity of regional and 
sub-regional organizations to plan, train for, 
manage, conduct, sustain and obtain lessons- 
learned from peace support operations; 
(C) carrying out a clearinghouse function to 
exchange information and coordinate G–8 efforts 
to enhance peace operations; 
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(D) providing transportation and logistics 
support for deploying peacekeepers; 
(E) developing a cached equipment program 
to procure and warehouse equipment for use in 
peace operations globally; 
(F) providing support to the international 
Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units 
(COESPU) in Italy to increase the capabilities 
and interoperability of stability police to partici-
pate in peace operations; 
(G) conducting sustainment and self-suffi-
ciency activities in support of the objectives de-
scribed in subparagraphs (A) through (F) with a 
focus on assisting partners to sustain proficien-
cies gained in training programs; and 
(H) financing the refurbishment of heli-
copters in preparation for their deployment to 
United Nations peacekeeping operations or to re-
gional peacekeeping operations which have been 
approved by the United Nations Security Coun-
cil. 
(2) SENSE
OF
CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 
Congress that failure on the part of the international 
community to take all steps necessary to deploy and 
maintain fully capacitated United Nations peace-
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306 
keeping operations will result in continued loss of life 
and human suffering. Therefore, in carrying out this 
section, the Secretary of State should prioritize the re-
furbishment of helicopters with a goal of partici-
pating in the financing of no fewer than three heli-
copter refurbishments by the end of fiscal year 2011. 
(3) SUPPORT FROM OTHER COUNTRIES.—In pro-
viding funding under paragraph (1), the Secretary of 
State shall to the greatest extent possible seek to lever-
age such funding with financing from other countries. 
(d) REPORT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act and one year 
thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit to the 
appropriate congressional committees a report on the 
activities of the United States Government to carry 
out the provisions of this section. 
(2) CONTENTS.—The report required under 
paragraph (1) shall include— 
(A) a description of the Global Peace Oper-
ations Initiative programs and activities under-
taken, by country; 
(B) a description of the funds obligated and 
expended in each country, by program and fiscal 
year; 
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(C) a description of the coordination of 
these efforts within the United States Govern-
ment interagency process and with other nations 
along with any recommendations for improve-
ments; 
(D) a description of the GPOI’s activities 
concerning the refurbishment of air assets for 
United Nations peacekeeping operations and re-
gional peacekeeping operations that have been 
approved by the United Nations Security Coun-
cil; 
(E) data measuring the quality of the train-
ing and proficiency of the trainees program- 
wide; 
(F) data on the training and deployment 
activities of graduates of the international Cen-
ter of Excellence for Stability Police Units 
(COESPU) in their home countries; 
(G) a description of vetting activities for all 
GPOI training to ensure that all individuals in 
composite units are vetted for human rights vio-
lations; 
(H) data measuring the timeliness of equip-
ment delivery and recommendations for improve-
ment as appropriate; and 
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