Title: Office of International Disability Rights Act
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Office of International Disability Rights Act
This bill establishes the Office of International Disability Rights within the Department of State's Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.
The office shall (1) act as the State Department's principal advisor on the rights of persons with disabilities, (2) represent the United States internationally in matters related to such rights, and (3) ensure that State Department practices promote the inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities.
The State Department shall (1) require disability inclusion training for certain personnel, and (2) develop and adopt a formal disability inclusion policy.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3373 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3373

  To establish the Office of International Disability Rights, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 20, 2019

 Ms. Titus (for herself and Mr. Young) introduced the following bill; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To establish the Office of International Disability Rights, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Office of International Disability 
Rights Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The United States has shown leadership domestically on 
        disability rights with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and 
        this leadership should be leveraged to support international 
        disability rights.
            (2) There are more than one billion persons with 
        disabilities around the world, and 80 percent live in 
        developing countries.
            (3) 60 percent of persons with disabilities are women.
            (4) Women with disabilities are more likely to experience 
        sexual violence than women without disabilities.
            (5) There are more than 90 million children with 
        disabilities worldwide.
            (6) Children with disabilities are more likely to be 
        malnourished than children without disabilities.
            (7) Persons with disabilities are subject to economic and 
        social marginalization. The World Bank has estimated the Gross 
        Domestic Product loss due to disability to be between $1.71 
        trillion and $2.23 trillion annually.
            (8) The inclusion of persons with disabilities is a 
        fundamental part of democracy and essential to the full 
        realization of human rights.
            (9) The political participation and leadership of persons 
        with disabilities, including those who acquired a disability 
        through conflict, is crucial to sustaining democratic 
        institutions.
            (10) Persons with disabilities face disadvantages in 
        educational attainment, labor market outcomes, financial 
        stability, housing, and standard of living conditions.
            (11) Issues related to disability rights cut across all 
        sectors, including democracy, human rights, labor, global 
        health, education, and disaster relief.
            (12) Persons with disabilities are members of all 
        marginalized groups, including women, young people, the LGBTI 
        community, ethnic and religious minorities, internally 
        displaced people, and refugees.
            (13) The public presence of the Special Advisor for 
        International Disability Rights at the Department of State, 
        first appointed in 2010, helped raise the visibility of persons 
        with disabilities in Department policies and programs and 
        improved the inclusion of disabilities in the Department's 
        annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices and 
        Trafficking in Persons reports.
            (14) There is currently no mandate that all Department of 
        State programming be disability inclusive and the Department 
        does not have a formal, publicly available disability policy.

SEC. 3. OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL DISABILITY RIGHTS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of State shall establish an Office 
of International Disability Rights (referred to in this section as the 
``Office''), which should be placed within the Bureau for Democracy, 
Human Rights, and Labor (DRL).
    (b) Purpose.--The Office shall coordinate efforts of the United 
States Government, as directed by the Secretary, regarding human rights 
for persons with disabilities and advancing the status of persons with 
disabilities in United States foreign policy.
    (c) Duties.--The Office shall carry out the following:
            (1) Serve as the principal advisor to the Department of 
        State on all matters related to international rights for 
        persons with disabilities.
            (2) Represent the United States in diplomatic and 
        multilateral fora on matters relevant to the rights of persons 
        with disabilities and work to raise the profile of disability 
        across a broader range of organizations contributing to 
        international development efforts.
            (3) Work to ensure that disability inclusive practices and 
        empowerment of persons with disabilities are fully integrated 
        into all United States foreign operations.
            (4) Conduct regular consultation with civil society 
        organizations working to advance international disability 
        rights and empower persons with disabilities internationally.
            (5) Consult with other relevant offices at the Department 
        of State that are responsible for drafting annual reports 
        documenting progress on human rights to include references to 
        instances of discrimination, prejudice, or abuses of persons 
        with disabilities wherever applicable.
            (6) Advise the Department of State's Bureau of Human 
        Resources Development on the hiring and recruitment and 
        overseas practices of civil service employees and foreign 
        service officers with disabilities and their family members 
        with chronic medical conditions or disabilities.
    (d) Supervision.--The Office shall be headed by a Special Advisor 
for International Disability Rights. The Special Advisor should be a 
person of recognized distinction in the field of disability rights.
    (e) Consultation.--The Secretary shall direct Ambassadors at Large, 
Representatives, Special Envoys, and coordinators working on human 
rights to consult with the Office to promote the human rights and full 
participation in international development activities of all persons 
with disabilities.

SEC. 4. TRAINING.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of State shall require online or in-
person mandatory disability inclusion training for all civil service 
and foreign service personnel of the Department of State and chiefs of 
mission, including on--
            (1) how to develop solicitations, programming, budgets, and 
        policies that are inclusive;
            (2) how to ensure a disability-inclusive work environment;
            (3) how to conduct disability-inclusive analyses of laws 
        and programming;
            (4) how to support local disabled people's organizations; 
        and
            (5) how to ensure nongovernmental organizations that 
        receive funding from the Department mainstream disability 
        rights throughout all programs.
    (b) Foreign Service Officers.--The Secretary shall ensure that 
training for foreign service officers under subsection (a) should 
include country-specific and cultural considerations.

SEC. 5. DISABILITY INCLUSION IN FOREIGN POLICY.

    (a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that, since 
international disability rights is foundational to development, 
national security, and economic outcomes, disability inclusion should 
be mainstreamed through all foreign assistance and programming.
    (b) Formal Policy for Disability Inclusion.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall develop 
        and adopt a formal policy for disability inclusion in the 
        Department of State.
            (2) Matters to be included.--Such policy should include 
        information and guidance on the Department's approach to 
        disability inclusion in United States foreign assistance 
        programming, including--
                    (A) recruiting and hiring, employment, overseas 
                assignments, accessibility, foreign assistance, program 
                monitoring and evaluation, and reporting; and
                    (B) access and inclusion at the Department's 
                headquarters and United States diplomatic posts.
            (3) Consultation.--In developing and adopting such policy, 
        the Secretary shall consult with--
                    (A) disabled person's organizations and 
                international nongovernmental organizations working on 
                disability rights; and
                    (B) the Administrator of the United States Agency 
                for International Development (USAID) to promote 
                coherence of such policy with USAID's formal disability 
                policy.
            (4) Public availability.--The Secretary shall publish such 
        policy on a publicly available website of the Department.

SEC. 6. REPORT AND BRIEFING REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State 
shall submit a report and provide a briefing to the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Foreign Relations of the Senate on the steps taken to implement this 
Act.
    (b) Matters To Be Included.--The report and briefing required by 
subsection (a) shall include--
            (1) an explanation of policies and programs to fulfill--
                    (A) the duties of the Office of International 
                Disability Rights under section 3; and
                    (B) the training requirements under section 4;
            (2) the status of efforts to mainstream disability rights 
        throughout Department of State programming without regard to 
        whether such programming is specifically directed toward 
        persons with disabilities;
            (3) explanation of disability-specific programming across 
        the Department;
            (4) any policy, programming, or human resources gaps to 
        mainstreaming disability rights throughout the Department and 
        plans to address gaps through appropriate mechanisms;
            (5) progress made on the realization of the rights of 
        persons with disabilities as a result of Department policies 
        and programming; and
            (6) recommendations for legislative actions to fully 
        implement the matters described in paragraphs (1) through (5).
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