IV 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 714 
Encouraging all nations to end sexual violence against girls through in- 
country data-driven reforms. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 8, 2021 
Ms. WILD (for herself, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. PAPPAS, Mr. KEATING, 
Ms. NORTON, Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida, Ms. ESCOBAR, and Mr. 
COSTA) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Edu-
cation and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
RESOLUTION 
Encouraging all nations to end sexual violence against girls 
through in-country data-driven reforms. 
Whereas the COVID–19 pandemic has had a well-docu-
mented adverse impact on already-alarming rates of vio-
lence against women and girls around the world; 
Whereas the 2006 United Nations World Report on Violence 
Against Children galvanized many nations in their com-
mitment to face the challenge of ending all violence, in-
cluding sexual violence, against children in stating, ‘‘No 
violence is justifiable, and all violence is preventable.’’; 
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•HRES 714 IH 
Whereas sexual violence against girls is a plague that spares 
no culture, country, race, religion, or ethnicity across the 
globe; 
Whereas data from United Nations Children’s Fund indicate 
up to 50 percent of sexual assaults worldwide are com-
mitted against girls under 16 years of age; 
Whereas sexual violence against girls and the lifelong con-
sequences impede their potential contributions to society 
and present a major obstacle for nations in the journey 
to self-reliance with political and economic stability; 
Whereas sexual violence during childhood is associated with 
serious immediate and long-term health impacts including 
but not limited to higher rates of pregnancy, maternal 
mortality, suicide, depression, substance abuse, heart dis-
ease, obesity, and HIV/AIDS; 
Whereas girls and young women have the highest risk of ex-
periencing sexual violence and currently account for 
around 74 percent of new HIV infections in sub-Saharan 
Africa, totaling 1,000 newly infected young women each 
day; 
Whereas complications of pregnancy and childbirth are the 
leading cause of death among girls 15 to 19 years of age 
in sub-Saharan Africa where 90 percent of adolescent 
pregnancies are associated with child marriage; 
Whereas female genital mutilation/cutting (referred to in this 
resolution as ‘‘FGM/C’’), an invasive procedure with no 
medical necessity, represents a form of gender-based dis-
crimination, is recognized internationally as a violation of 
the human rights of girls and women and can be recog-
nized as sexual violence; 
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Whereas, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund 
(referred to in this resolution as ‘‘UNICEF’’), over 
200,000,000 women and girls living today endured the ir-
reversible procedure FGM/C and according to the World 
Health Organization, over 3,000,000 additional girls 
around the globe are at risk of suffering FGM/C each 
year; 
Whereas FGM/C causes irreparable deformation, pain, bleed-
ing, and increased risk of HIV infection, and can result 
in complications such as shock, fistulas, complications of 
childbirth, and death; 
Whereas sexual violence against children, as defined by the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (referred to 
in this resolution as the ‘‘CDC’’), includes all forms of 
sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children; 
Whereas sexual violence against children encompasses a 
range of acts, including completed nonconsensual sex acts 
(such as rape), attempted nonconsensual sex acts, abu-
sive sexual contact (such as unwanted touching), and 
noncontact sexual abuse (such as threatened sexual vio-
lence, exhibitionism, verbal sexual harassment, and use of 
explicit images); 
Whereas recognizing the need for data and evidence to guide 
actions to end violence against children, the CDC 
partnered with UNICEF Swaziland (now Eswatini) and 
the Government of Eswatini to develop and implement 
the scientifically sound surveillance tool, Violence Against 
Children and Youth Surveys (referred to in this resolu-
tion as ‘‘VACS’’); 
Whereas VACS are nationally representative household sur-
veys designed to define the magnitude, nature, and con-
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•HRES 714 IH 
sequences of sexual, physical, and emotional violence 
among children and adolescents; 
Whereas the governments of 23 nations (Botswana, Cam-
bodia, Colombia, Coˆte d’Ivoire, El Salvador, Eswatini, 
Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Kenya, Lao Peo-
ple’s Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Malawi, Moldova, 
Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, 
Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) demonstrated leader-
ship in addressing the pandemic of sexual violence 
against girls through the implementation of VACS as 
part of the Together for Girls partnership, with technical 
support from the CDC and coordination from multiple 
stakeholders, including UNICEF and others; 
Whereas published VACS data from 21 countries in Latin 
America, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and sub-Saha-
ran Africa revealed that— 
(1) as many as 38 percent of girls (in Zimbabwe and 
Eswatini) and 35 percent of boys (in Uganda) experi-
enced sexual violence before the age of 18; 
(2) in sub-Saharan Africa— 
(A) for 1 in 4 girls, their first sexual inter-
course experience was forced or coerced; 
(B) 1 of 3 girls who experienced unwanted sex 
became pregnant before the age of 18; 
(C) two-thirds of boys who experience sexual vi-
olence report mental distress later in life; and 
(D) sexual violence against children and adoles-
cents was associated with a 370-percent increase in 
the incidence of HIV infection, a 350-percent in-
crease in the incidence of unwanted pregnancies, and 
a 200-percent increase in attempted suicides; 
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(3) the most common perpetrators of sexual violence 
are people known to the victims; 
(4) only about half of the victims of childhood sexual 
violence tell anyone; 
(5) in Colombia, 42 percent of boys experienced sex-
ual, physical, or emotional violence in childhood and of 
those boys, none received help; 
(6) in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, 54 
percent of boys reported experiencing physical violence 
before the age of 18; 
(7) children, adolescents, and youth experience dif-
ferent vulnerabilities at different ages; 
(8) in Moldova, among girls who experienced sexual 
violence, 8 percent experienced sexual violence for the 
first time at the age of 8 or younger, 22 percent experi-
enced sexual violence for the first time from age 14 to 
15, and 70 percent experienced sexual violence for the 
first time from age 16 to 17; 
(9) experiences of sexual violence often lead to in-
creased risk of suicidal ideation; and 
(10) in Honduras, 41 percent of girls who experi-
enced sexual violence reported thoughts of suicide, com-
pared to 10 percent of girls who did not experience sex-
ual violence; 
Whereas the formation of data-driven action plans utilizes 
INSPIRE, a World Health Organization technical pack-
age of proven strategies to reduce violence; 
Whereas INSPIRE guided action plans result in significant 
progress in strengthening protection for youth, includ-
ing— 
(1) in response to a 38-percent prevalence of child-
hood sexual violence among girls, the Government of 
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•HRES 714 IH 
Eswatini drafted the first law in their country making 
sexual abuse of minors illegal; 
(2) across multiple countries around the world, gov-
ernments, civil society organizations, and health, justice, 
and education practitioners have increased efforts to im-
prove services for survivors and launched cross-sectoral 
efforts to end sexual violence against children; 
(3) countries such as Tanzania and Nigeria, where 
violence in schools was noted to be high, developed poli-
cies, codes, and protective guidelines for teachers and 
schools; 
(4) reforms in Uganda, such as expansion of the No 
Means No! program to 20,000 adolescent girls and imple-
mentation of the Coaching Boys into Men program, con-
tributing to a significant decrease in the incidence of 
rape; and 
(5) Cambodia launching its National Action Plan to 
Prevent and Respond to Violence Against Children in 
2017, which led to social protection interventions reach-
ing an additional 10,000 children and child protection 
services reaching an additional 20,000 children; 
Whereas the follow-up household surveillance, VACS, thus far 
completed in Kenya and Zimbabwe, revealed a significant 
decrease in sexual violence among children and adoles-
cents after data-driven reforms were instituted; 
Whereas sexual violence, common in the United States and 
around the globe at times of peace, occurs with increased 
incidence in settings of conflict, migration, internal dis-
placement, and institutionalization, where it is known to 
be used to intimidate, subjugate, and instill fear; 
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Whereas survivors in these adverse settings commonly experi-
ence collective abandonment and an entrenched impunity 
of their perpetrators; and 
Whereas the strong association between experiencing violence 
in childhood and later perpetrating violence highlights the 
importance of comprehensive interventions for both sur-
vivors and perpetrators: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that the United States— 
(1) recognizes that sexual violence against girls 
remains a devastating global health, human rights, 
and economic problem that is both unjustifiable and 
preventable and impedes peace and security; 
(2) recognizes the leadership of nations that 
have used data-driven, in-country, government-led, 
multisector reform to end sexual violence against 
girls; 
(3) encourages the commitment of all nations to 
address the United Nations Sustainable Develop-
ment Goals, including goal 16.2, ‘‘End abuse, exploi-
tation, trafficking and all forms of violence against 
and torture of children’’, goal 5, ‘‘Achieve gender 
equality and empower all women and girls’’, and 
goal 5.3, ‘‘Eliminate all harmful practices, such as 
child, early and forced marriage and female genital 
mutilations’’; 
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(4) encourages all nations to put into place 
proven methods and tools such as VACS, a proven 
household surveillance tool, and INSPIRE, an evi-
dence-based technical package of strategies, to gen-
erate and implement government-led, data-driven, 
comprehensive, multisector response plans to end 
sexual violence against girls; 
(5) encourages the establishment of multidisci-
plinary and integrated systems in every country to 
ensure that laws are put into place to protect girls 
and that these laws are enforced by a trained and 
supported criminal justice system; 
(6) encourages increased global and domestic 
efforts to eliminate FGM/C; 
(7) encourages funding for further research on 
the global magnitude, scope, consequences including 
physical and mental health, social and economic bur-
dens, and prevention of sexual violence among all 
children including more vulnerable populations such 
as children who are disabled, institutionalized, or 
homeless, children living as refugees, or internally 
displaced persons, and children living in areas of 
conflict; 
(8) encourages the establishment of safe, sur-
vivor-centered spaces, and advocacy centers for co-
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ordination of health, psychologic, and other services 
for survivors and their families; 
(9) encourages the adaptation and application 
of the VACS technique in humanitarian contexts to 
acquire relevant data for analysis to drive planning; 
and 
(10) encourages domestic use of the proven sur-
vey and technical tools VACS and INSPIRE to ad-
dress sexual violence against girls in the United 
States. 
Æ 
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