On May 23, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved, by voice vote, a bill (S. 559) to increase U. S. efforts to protect vulnerable populations, especially women and children, during humanitarian emergencies. The House approved a similar bill (H.R. 912) on March 2, 2005 (see The Source, 3/4/05).
Sponsored by Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), the legislation identifies “civilians, particularly women and children,” as “the vast majority of those adversely affected by humanitarian emergencies” and emphasizes that they “increasingly are targeted by combatants and armed elements for murder, abduction, forced military conscription, involuntary servitude, displacement, sexual abuse and slavery, mutilation, and loss of freedom.”
S. 559 notes the increase in the use of rape as a military tactic and highlights the security risks for refugee women and girls: “Refugee women and girls face particular threats because of power inequities, including being forced to exchange sex for food and humanitarian supplies, and being at increased risk of rape and sexual exploitation and abuse due to poor security in refugee camps…Refugee and displaced women face heightened risks of developing complications during pregnancy, suffering a miscarriage, dying, being injured during childbirth, becoming infected with HIV or another sexually transmitted infection, or suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder.” The measure points out that these risks and special needs often have been overlooked by relief organizations.
Under the bill, the secretary of state would be directed to create a comprehensive strategy to protect at risk populations, especially women and children, affected by a humanitarian emergency. Additionally, the secretary would be required to report the strategy to the appropriate congressional committees and to appoint an individual within the State Department or the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to coordinate its implementation.
S. 559 would require the coordinator to “develop and maintain a database of historical information about occurrences of sexual exploitation and abuse, and other exploitation, of children during a humanitarian emergency;” to streamline the distribution of reports on “sexual exploitation and abuse and exploitation of children during a humanitarian emergency;” to assist U.S. diplomatic missions to gather and submit information on vulnerable populations who are targeted or “at substantial risk of violence or exploitation in humanitarian emergencies;” to help U.S. diplomatic missions develop responses to such situations; and to ensure that organizations funded by the State Department and USAID “respond to the health needs of vulnerable populations, especially women and children, as soon as practicable and not later than 30 days after the onset of a humanitarian emergency.” The health needs specifically include: preventing sexual violence and dealing with its consequences; reducing the transmission of HIV, providing obstetric care, and devising a plan to incorporate women’s health services into the health care services provided during a humanitarian emergency.
According to the bill, the secretary also would be directed to submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees on current State Department or USAID programs designed to assist foreign countries with law enforcement to protect women and children and to “improve accountability for sexual exploitation and abuse.”
The measure would amend the Microenterprise for Self Reliance and International Anti-Corruption Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-309) by inserting language stating that “women displaced by armed conflict are particularly at risk, lacking access to traditional livelihoods and means for generating income.”
S. 559 would express the sense of Congress that the UN secretary general should improve the ability of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations to “protect civilians, especially women and children, from sexual exploitation and abuse by personnel in peace operations.” The secretary general would be directed to improve the communication of “credible reports from civilians of sexual exploitation and abuse” to the UN; to ensure that there is a mechanism to handle credible allegations expeditiously; to develop rapid response teams to investigate such allegations; to improve educational programs for UN personnel that address their “responsibility not to engage in acts of sexual exploitation and abuse and the sanctions for such actions;” to identify countries that contribute troops but “refuse to investigate allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by [their] nationals serving in peacekeeping missions;” to exclude permanently persons who “have engaged in sexual abuse or exploitation” from future UN peacekeeping missions; and to insist that countries contributing troops “thoroughly investigate cases in which their nationals have been alleged to have engaged in sexual abuse or exploitation” during UN peacekeeping missions and punish “those found guilty of such misconduct.”
The bill would urge the UN to suspend payment of peacekeeping funds to countries where evidence of sexual exploitation and abuse by their troops exists and no investigation or punishment for that conduct has been undertaken by those governments. The measure also would direct the secretary of state to cut off military assistance to countries that do not investigate allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by their troops who are serving as UN peacekeepers and that do not “hold perpetrators of such abuse and exploitation accountable.”
Under the measure, the president would be authorized to provide assistance for programs for the protection and assistance of women and children affected by a humanitarian emergency. This would include “initiatives to prevent, detect, and report exploitation of children and sexual exploitation and abuse,” educational programs that provide activities for girls in “safe spaces,” social and medical support for the rehabilitation of former combatants and survivors of a humanitarian emergency, registries to find relatives and assist with family reunification, “interim care and placement for separated children and orphans,” legal services for victims of “sexual exploitation, abuse, or torture,” training in human rights law for local law enforcement personnel in areas affected by a humanitarian emergency, “particularly as it relates to the protection of women and children.”
In the same mark-up session, the committee approved, by voice vote, a resolution (S. Res. 359) urging the government of Romania to amend its child welfare and adoption laws and allow intercountry adoptions by persons other than biological grandparents. The House approved an identical resoultion (H. Res. 578) on April 6 (see The Source, 4/07/06).
