International Violence Against Women Act of 2019
A BILL
To prevent international violence against women, and for other purposes.
2. Findings
Congress makes the following findings:
An estimated one out of every three women throughout the world will be beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime.
Up to 70 percent of women in some countries report experiencing gender-based violence at some point in their lives.
Intimate partner violence is the most prevalent form of violence against women, preventing them from playing more active roles in the social, economic, and political development of their communities.
Sexual violence among adolescents and pre-adolescents is alarmingly high. National surveys in Swaziland, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Haiti have found that between 28 and 38 percent of girls and between 9 and 18 percent of boys report experiencing sexual violence before reaching 18 years of age.
Adult male respondents in six countries who had experienced violence as children were significantly more likely to report perpetrating intimate partner violence themselves according to the International Men and Gender Equality Survey dataset. Analysis by the International Center for Research on Women further shows that men who witnessed violence against their mothers are consistently and significantly more likely to report perpetrating sexual violence. Further, sexually aggressive behaviors start young for these men, and overlap significantly with other forms of physical violence.
Gender-based violence harms economies and the workers that fuel them. Despite under-reporting, striking statistics document prevalent forms of gender-based violence globally that affect the world of work. Worldwide, women are concentrated in low-wage, insecure jobs in workplaces where they lack bargaining power, protections against gender-based violence, safe and confidential reporting systems, recourse to justice, and access to legal, medical, and psychosocial services.
Women living in poverty are particularly vulnerable to gender-based violence. Lack of economic opportunities often compel women to use desperate and dangerous means to provide for themselves and their families, risking significant exposure to sexual exploitation and abuse. These women often cannot afford critical social and medical services.
Research conducted in India, Colombia, South Africa, and Uganda indicates that when women have greater control of assets, they are less likely to experience intimate partner violence. Additionally, when women participate in the economy, they are able to develop a wider support network, which allows them to more easily escape intimate partner violence.
Gender-based violence impacts livelihoods and food security by reducing work capacity and productivity, including the ability to grow food for consumption. Studies have shown that women affected by gender-based violence are exposed to illnesses and injuries that hamper their ability to work productively and care for their families. Diminished food production consequently increases hunger and women’s vulnerability to further violence.
Country studies indicate that the risk of HIV among women who have experienced violence may be up to three times higher than among those who have not experienced violence. The World Health Organization found that women who experience intimate partner violence are at more than 50 percent greater risk of HIV infection, and in some instances their risk of HIV infection increases four-fold. Women living with HIV are more likely to experience violence than other women, and fear of violence can prevent women from accessing HIV/AIDS information and receiving treatment and counseling.
Addressing gender norms and inequities is essential to reducing HIV risk and increasing access to HIV prevention, care, and treatment services for women and men.
Prevalence of sexual and physical violence is higher among persons with disabilities, particularly for adolescents and intimate partners with disabilities, and for men and women with intellectual impairments living in institutions. The World Health Organization reports that rates of gender-based violence are between 4 and 10 times greater among persons with disabilities compared to non-disabled persons.
Displaced, refugee, and stateless women and girls in humanitarian emergencies, conflict settings, and natural disasters face extreme violence and threats, including—
being forced to exchange sex for food and humanitarian supplies; and
being at increased risk of rape, sexual exploitation, and abuse.
Rape and sexual assault against women and girls are used to torture, intimidate, and terrorize communities. Rape and sexual assault are used as tools of war in conflict zones, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, El Salvador, and South Sudan. UNFPA, the United Nation’s reproductive health and rights agency, leads the Gender Based Violence Area of Responsibility, which is responsible for global coordination and collaboration on GBV prevention and response in humanitarian settings and is a leading provider of post-rape care and other reproductive health services and commodities in humanitarian settings.
Child and forced marriage of girls—
is a harmful practice that deprives girls of their dignity and rights and creates barriers to development for communities and countries;
is projected to affect more than 150,000,000 girls who will become brides between 2019 and 2030;
can prematurely end girls’ education, increase vulnerability to gender-based violence, and significantly raise the risk of maternal and infant morbidity or mortality, including the risk of obstetric fistula and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS;
is perpetuated by poverty, a lack of educational or employment opportunities for girls, a lack of legal policies and enforcement of laws, and religious, cultural, and social factors related to girls’ perceived lack of value, factors which become particularly acute in conflict and disaster settings where fears of sexual violence and overstretched coping mechanisms often drive child and forced marriage; and
child marriage is estimated to contribute, on average, to a loss in earnings of about nine percent for women who married early, which translates into a loss of about one percent in earnings for the entire labor force when factoring in all working adults.
Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is carried out most often on girls between infancy and 15 years of age and has impacted more than 200,000,000 girls and women who are alive today. FGM/C can cause long-term health problems, including infertility, complications in childbirth, increased risk of newborn deaths, and psychological trauma. Mental health is one of the least explored domains of impact of gender-based violence; indeed, self-harm and suicide is the leading cause of death globally for adolescent girls aged 15–19.
World Bank data shows that gender inequality directly corresponds to increased levels of political and economic instability within states. Gender-based violence impedes women’s meaningful participation in social, political, and economic spheres, which is essential to the stability and democratization of a country. Since women disproportionately experience gender-based violence during conflict and post-conflict reconstruction, they can play a pivotal role in preventing, mitigating, and resolving conflict, and countering extremism.
Gender-based violence is a contributing factor to human trafficking. Experts in the field have reported that women and girls who have experienced gender-based violence and live in societies that tolerate severe gender discrimination appear to be more vulnerable to being trafficked. Comprehensive efforts to reduce human trafficking must include efforts to prevent and respond to gender-based violence due to the intertwined relationship of the two crimes.
Health services are among the first places survivors of violence seek assistance. Health-focused nongovernmental organizations and United Nations agencies like UNFPA, the Reproductive Health and Rights Agency, have critical opportunities to reach affected women and girls.
Gender-based violence also manifests online; gender-based cyberviolence is a growing concern, with women and girls disproportionately affected and targeted based on their appearance, activism, and sexuality.
Taking meaningful action to address gender-based violence is an imperative acknowledgment of a woman’s agency and personal right to leading a dignified life.
Addressing gender norms and inequities is essential to reducing HIV risk and increasing access to HIV prevention, care, and treatment services for women and men.
3. Statement of policy
It is the policy of the United States—
to take effective action to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls around the world as a matter of basic human rights and to promote gender equality, economic growth, and improved public health;
to systematically integrate and coordinate efforts to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls internationally into United States foreign policy and foreign assistance programs, including peace-building efforts and humanitarian relief and recovery;
to support and build local capacity in developing countries, including the capacity of governments at all levels and nongovernmental organizations, especially women-led organizations to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls;
to consult, cooperate, coordinate, and collaborate with a wide variety of nongovernmental partners with demonstrated experience in preventing and responding to violence against women and girls, including faith-based organizations and women-led organizations;
to employ a multisectoral approach to preventing and responding to violence against women and girls internationally, including activities in the economic, education, health, nutrition, legal, and judicial sectors;
to work at all levels, from the individual to the family, community, local, national, and international levels, to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls around the world;
to enhance training by United States personnel of professional foreign military and police forces and judicial officials, including specific and thorough instruction on preventing and responding to violence against women and girls around the world;
to engage men and boys as partners, as an essential element of making sustained reductions in violence against women and girls;
to include the prevention of child and forced marriage as an important part of United States Government efforts to prevent violence against girls and promote gender equality and global health;
to require that all United States contractors and grantees establish appropriate policies and take effective measures to prevent violence against women and girls and sexual exploitation and abuse within their workforce;
to exert sustained international leadership to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls, including in bilateral and multilateral fora; and
to implement the United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally.
4. Definitions
In this Act:
Ambassador-at-Large— The term Ambassador-at-Large means the Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues at the Department of State appointed by the President pursuant to section 201(a).
Appropriate congressional committees— The term appropriate congressional committees means—
the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives; and
the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate.
Gender analysis— The term gender analysis means the examination of the differential impact of policies on different genders.
Gender-based violence— The term gender-based violence—
means any harmful threat or act directed at an individual or group based on actual or perceived biological sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or lack of adherence to varying socially constructed norms around masculinity and femininity;
is rooted in structural gender inequalities, patriarchy, and power imbalances; and
includes the use or threat of physical, psychological, sexual, economic, legal, political, social and other forms of control or abuse.
Office— The term Office means the Office of Global Women’s Issues established by the Secretary of State pursuant to section 201(a).
Senior Coordinator— The term Senior Coordinator means the Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment at the United States Agency for International Development appointed pursuant to section 202.
Violence against women and girls— The term violence against women and girls—
means any act of violence against women or girls that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or psychological harm or suffering to women or girls, including threats of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life; and
includes—
physical, sexual, and psychological violence occurring in the family, including battering, sexual abuse of female children in the household, dowry-related violence, marital rape, female genital cutting and mutilation, forced child marriage, and other harmful practices to women and girls, nonspousal violence, and violence related to exploitation;
physical, sexual, and psychological violence occurring within the general community, including rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women and girls, and forced prostitution; and
physical, sexual, and psychological violence perpetrated or condoned by the state, wherever it occurs.