IIB 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2140 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JUNE 11, 2019 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 
AN ACT 
To prevent child marriage in refugee settlements 
administered by the United Nations, and for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Preventing Child Mar-
riage in Displaced Populations Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) According to UNICEF, 12 million girls 
marry before the age of 18 every year. 
(2) Early marriage denies children, especially 
girls, their right to make vital decisions about their 
well-being, including relating to their health, family, 
and career. Child brides are less likely to finish their 
education, and are at higher risk for abuse, con-
tracting HIV, and dying while pregnant or giving 
birth. 
(3) Child marriage also imposes substantial eco-
nomic costs to developing countries, impeding devel-
opment and prosperity gains. 
(4) Displaced populations are particularly vul-
nerable to child marriage, in communities where pov-
erty, instability, and displacement put pressure on 
families to marry children, particularly young girls, 
off at a young age. 
(5) One United Nations (UN) study found that 
child marriage rates were 4 times higher among dis-
placed Syrian refugees than among Syrians before 
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the crisis. This indicates that displacement, insta-
bility, and poverty are driving child marriages. 
(6) 
United 
Nations 
agencies, 
including 
UNICEF and UNHCR, have acknowledged the dan-
gers of child marriage and taken steps to address its 
risk in the populations they serve. 
(7) The UN Joint Program on Child Marriage 
supports this work by building the resilience of pop-
ulations to indirectly prevent child marriage and by 
generating new data and evidence on the prevalence 
of child marriage in humanitarian and fragile set-
tings. For example, in Uganda, the UN Joint Pro-
gram on Child Marriage helped 27,000 adolescent 
girls strengthen critical skills through school clubs 
and Go Back to School campaigns, as well as life- 
skills and financial literacy training. 
(8) After the UN Joint Program on Child Mar-
riage identified Yemen as one of its focus countries, 
65,000 people, of whom 45,000 are adolescents, 
were reached with awareness raising activities on the 
harms of child marriage in 2018 alone. As a result, 
local council representatives, elders, and community 
leaders from six districts signed a pledge to support 
advocacy efforts to end child marriage. 
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SEC. 3. PREVENTING CHILD MARRIAGE IN DISPLACED POP-
ULATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall direct the 
United States Permanent Representative to the United 
Nations to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United 
States at the United Nations to call for an adoption of 
an agreed-upon definition of ‘‘child marriage’’ across 
United Nations agencies. 
(b) STRATEGY.—The President shall direct the 
United States Permanent Representative to the United 
Nations to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United 
States at the United Nations to call for the development 
of a comprehensive strategy to address child marriage in 
refugee settlements administered by the United Nations. 
Such strategy should include the following: 
(1) A mandate to regularly collect and report 
data related to the number of known or suspected 
child marriages taking place inside each such settle-
ment. 
(2) Protocols for United Nations personnel re-
garding prevention and monitoring of child mar-
riages inside each such settlement. 
(3) A description of United Nations programs 
administered at such settlements that include— 
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(A) physical, mental, and emotional reha-
bilitation and support to children who have ex-
tricated themselves from child marriage; and 
(B) alternatives to child marriage, such as 
education initiatives. 
(4) Protocols regarding how United Nations 
personnel should— 
(A) report adults participating in illegal 
child marriages in each such settlement; and 
(B) monitor the prosecution of such adults 
by the authorities of the country in which the 
settlement at issue is located. 
(c) RESEARCH.—The President shall direct the 
United States Permanent Representative to the United 
Nations to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United 
States at the United Nations to advocate for the United 
Nations and its appropriate agencies to include, as appro-
priate, in all of its research into child marriage the rela-
tionship between child marriage and violence against girls, 
including young children and infants. 
(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) CHILD MARRIAGE.—The term ‘‘child mar-
riage’’ means a formal marriage or informal union 
involving at least one person younger than age 18. 
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(2) ILLEGAL CHILD MARRIAGE.—The term ‘‘il-
legal child marriage’’ means a child marriage that is 
illegal under the laws of the country in which the 
child marriage occurs. 
Passed the House of Representatives June 10, 2019. 
Attest: 
CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 
Clerk. 
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