Encouraging all nations to end sexual violence against girls through in-country data-driven reforms as demonstrated by multiple African nations.

IV 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. RES. 723 Encouraging all nations to end sexual violence against girls through in- country data-driven reforms as demonstrated by multiple African nations. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 20, 2019 Ms. WILD (for herself, Ms. FRANKEL, Ms. NORTON, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. PAPPAS, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr. KEATING, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. TRONE, Ms. ESCOBAR, Mrs. DINGELL, 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 as demonstrated by multiple African nations. 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.’’; VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 Nov 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR723.IH HR723 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HRES 723 IH Whereas sexual violence against girls is a domestic and inter- national plague that spares no culture, country, race, reli- gion, or ethnicity; 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 the African population is predicted to double by the year 2050, resulting in the increased potential of an esti- mated population of 2,500,000,000 with more than 50 percent of the population 18 years of age or younger; Whereas realizing the full potential of all Africans requires eliminating gender inequities in education; Whereas sexual violence against children and adolescents per- petuates intergenerational poverty through factors includ- ing increased school absenteeism, decreased years in school, and early childbearing; Whereas the economic growth of Africa is around 3 percent per year, and 4 of the top 10 countries with the fastest growing economies are on the African continent including Ethiopia, Ghana, Coˆte d’Ivoire, and Mozambique; Whereas Africa could realize a 2 percent to 2.5 percent growth in the annual per capita gross domestic product through a 1-year increase in the average education at- tained per child; 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 Nov 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR723.IH HR723 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HRES 723 IH mortality, suicide, depression, substance abuse, heart dis- ease, obesity, and HIV/AIDS; Whereas girls ages 15 through 19 have the highest risk of experiencing sexual violence and currently account for 75 percent of new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa to- taling 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; Whereas over 200,000,000 women and girls living today en- dured the irreversible procedure FGM/C and according to the World Health Organization, over 3,900,000 addi- tional girls 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. This en- compasses a range of acts, including completed non- consensual sex acts (such as rape), attempted nonconsen- sual sex acts, abusive sexual contact (such as unwanted VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 Nov 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR723.IH HR723 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HRES 723 IH touching), and noncontact sexual abuse (such as threat- ened sexual violence, exhibitionism, verbal sexual harass- ment, 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 United Nations Children’s Fund (referred to in this resolution as ‘‘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 resolution as ‘‘VACS’’); Whereas VACS are nationally representative household sur- veys designed to define the magnitude, nature, and con- sequences of sexual, physical, and emotional violence among children and adolescents; Whereas the governments of 22 nations including 14 African nations (Botswana, Coˆte d’Ivoire, Eswatini, Kenya, Leso- tho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) dem- onstrated leadership in addressing the pandemic of sexual violence against girls through the implementation of VACS with technical support from the CDC and coordi- nation from multistakeholders including UNICEF, To- gether for Girls, and others; Whereas VACS data from over 30,000 respondents in Africa revealed— (1) over 25 percent of girls and 10 percent of boys experienced sexual violence before the age of 18 years; (2) for 1 in 4 girls, their first sexual intercourse ex- perience was forced or coerced; (3) the most common perpetrators of sexual violence are people known to the victims; VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Nov 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR723.IH HR723 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HRES 723 IH (4) only about half of the victims of childhood sexual violence tell anyone; (5) fewer than 10 percent of assaulted girls and 7 percent of assaulted boys sought care services and re- ceived them; (6) 1 of 3 girls who experienced unwanted sex be- came pregnant before the age of 18 years; (7) two-thirds of boys who experience sexual violence report mental distress later in life; and (8) sexual violence against children and adolescents was associated with a 370-percent increase in the inci- dence of HIV infection, a 350-percent increase in the in- cidence of unwanted pregnancies, and a 200-percent in- crease in attempted suicide; Whereas country-specific surveillance data from VACS were analyzed by scientists at the CDC and presented to the government-led, public and private multistakeholder, in- country team to catalyze the formation of the individual nationwide action plans; Whereas the formation of data-driven action plans utilizes INSPIRE, a World Health Organization technical pack- age of proven strategies to reduce violence, including— (1) implementation and enforcement of laws; (2) norms and values; (3) safe environments; (4) parent and caregiver support; (5) income and economic strengthening; (6) response and support services; and (7) education and life skills; Whereas INSPIRE guided action plans resulting in signifi- cant progress in strengthening protection for youth in- cluded— VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 Nov 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR723.IH HR723 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HRES 723 IH (1) in response to a 38-percent prevalence of child- hood sexual violence among girls, the Government of Eswatini drafted the first law in their country making sexual abuse of minors illegal; (2) several countries used the data to improve serv- ices for victims by establishing advocacy centers where health, legal, and social services could be accessed; (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; and (4) reforms in Uganda, including expansion of the No Means No! program to 20,000 adolescent girls and implementation of the Coaching Boys into Men program, contributed to a significant decrease in the incidence of rape; Whereas the followup 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; 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 Nov 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR723.IH HR723 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HRES 723 IH Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep- 1 resentatives that the United States— 2 (1) recognizes that sexual violence against girls 3 remains a devastating global health, human rights, 4 and economic problem that is both unjustifiable and 5 preventable and impedes peace and security; 6 (2) recognizes the leadership of African nations 7 using data-driven, in-country, government-led, multi- 8 sector reform to end sexual violence against girls; 9 (3) encourages the commitment of all nations to 10 address the United Nations Sustainable Develop- 11 ment Goals including goal 16.2, ‘‘End abuse, exploi- 12 tation, trafficking and all forms of violence against 13 and torture of children’’, goal 5, ‘‘Achieve gender 14 equality and empower all women and girls’’, and 15 goal 5.3, ‘‘Eliminate all harmful practices, such as 16 child, early and forced marriage and female genital 17 mutilations’’; 18 (4) encourages all nations to put into place 19 proven methods and tools such as VACS, a proven 20 household surveillance tool, and INSPIRE, an evi- 21 dence-based technical package of strategies, to gen- 22 erate and implement government-led, data-driven, 23 comprehensive, multisector response plans to end 24 sexual violence against girls; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 Nov 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR723.IH HR723 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HRES 723 IH (5) encourages the establishment of multidisci- 1 plinary and integrated systems in every country to 2 ensure that laws are put into place to protect girls 3 and that these laws are enforced by a trained and 4 supported criminal justice system; 5 (6) encourages increased global and domestic 6 efforts to eliminate FGM/C; 7 (7) encourages funding for further research on 8 the global magnitude, scope, consequences including 9 health, social and economic burdens, and prevention 10 of sexual violence among all children including more 11 vulnerable populations such as children who are dis- 12 abled, institutionalized, or homeless, children living 13 as refugees, or internally displaced persons, and chil- 14 dren living in areas of conflict; 15 (8) encourages the establishment of safe, sur- 16 vivor-centered spaces, and advocacy centers for co- 17 ordination of health, psychologic, and other services 18 for survivors and their families; 19 (9) encourages the adaptation and application 20 of the VACS technique in humanitarian contexts to 21 acquire relevant data for analysis to drive planning; 22 and 23 (10) encourages domestic use of the proven sur- 24 vey and technical tools VACS and INSPIRE to ad- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 Nov 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR723.IH HR723 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HRES 723 IH dress sexual violence against girls in the United 1 States. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 Nov 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HR723.IH HR723 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS