Expressing the continued commitment of the House of Representatives to condemn and prevent the use of sexual and gender-based violence in armed conflict as a weapon of war and fully implement the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda.

IV 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. RES. 894 Expressing the continued commitment of the House of Representatives to condemn and prevent the use of sexual and gender-based violence in armed conflict as a weapon of war and fully implement the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 10, 2020 Mr. KEATING submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs RESOLUTION Expressing the continued commitment of the House of Rep- resentatives to condemn and prevent the use of sexual and gender-based violence in armed conflict as a weapon of war and fully implement the Women, Peace, and Secu- rity Agenda. Whereas, in April 2019, the Republic of Germany submitted a draft version of United Nations Security Council Reso- lution 2467, reaffirming its commitment to the continu- ation and full implementation of resolutions 1325 (2000), 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009), 1960 (2010), 2106 (2013), 2122 (2013), and 2242 (2015) on women, peace, and security; Whereas, as reported by the Guardian and other news out- lets, the United States delegation opposed the original VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:55 Mar 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR894.IH HR894 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HRES 894 IH draft language on the grounds that ambiguity in the lan- guage could be interpreted as supporting abortion, and threatened to veto the resolution unless the paragraph was eliminated entirely; Whereas this is not the first instance in which the Trump ad- ministration has attempted to dilute human rights lan- guage and reporting related to reproductive health; Whereas the resolution was intended to be a declaration of global opposition to the use of sexual and gender-based violence in armed conflict; Whereas the resolution was intended to strengthen the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda in the lead up to October 2020, the 20th anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace, and security, which recognized the disproportional impact that armed conflict has had on women and girls and called for the inclusion of a gender perspective in conflict resolution; Whereas United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 was the first recommendation by the United Nations Se- curity Council to parties involved in an armed conflict to prevent the use of sexual and gender-based violence in armed conflict as well as ensure the inclusion of women in peace negotiations and postconflict reconstruction; Whereas the initial draft resolution submitted by Germany in April 2019 urged ‘‘United Nations entities and donors to provide nondiscriminatory and comprehensive health serv- ices, including sexual and reproductive health, psycho- social, legal, and livelihood support and other multisec- toral services for survivors of sexual violence, taking into account the specific needs of persons with disabilities.’’; VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:55 Mar 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR894.IH HR894 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HRES 894 IH Whereas the language included in the initial draft resolution was previously agreed by consensus in the United Na- tions Security Council and was intended to send a clear message of the need to support survivors and that the use of rape as a weapon of war is not condoned by the global community; Whereas the inclusion of reproductive health care data as an indicator of a broader human rights assessment signals the purposeful inclusion of women and girls, as well as their health, in the global human rights conversation; Whereas, in spring 2019, for the second year in a row, the Trump administration omitted data on reproductive health care previously included in the Department of State’s annual report on human rights globally; Whereas, in September 2019, the United States led a joint statement delivered at the United Nations High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage attacking sexual and reproductive health and rights, misrepresenting the term as an attack on ‘‘the family’’; Whereas women’s security has been a priority of the House of Representatives of the 116th Congress, having recently reintroduced the International Violence Against Women Act; Whereas the work of human rights defenders, including women human rights defenders, in promoting civil, polit- ical, economic, social, and cultural rights positively im- pacts the lives of women and girls around the world; Whereas women human rights defenders are at risk of and suffer from violations and abuses, including systematic violations and abuses of their fundamental rights to life, liberty, and security of person, to psychological and phys- VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:55 Mar 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR894.IH HR894 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HRES 894 IH ical integrity, to privacy and respect for private and fam- ily life, and to freedom of opinion and expression, asso- ciation, and peaceful assembly, and in addition these de- fenders can experience gender-based violence, rape, and other forms of sexual violence, harassment, and verbal abuse and attacks on reputation, online and offline, by state actors, including law enforcement personnel and se- curity forces, and nonstate actors, such as those related to family and community, in both public and private spheres; Whereas historical and structural inequalities in power rela- tions and discrimination against women, as well as var- ious forms of extremism, have direct implications for the status and treatment of women; and Whereas, as documented in the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, the rights of women human rights defenders, including those working on sexual and reproductive health and rights, have been violated or abused and their work stigmatized owing to discrimina- tory practices and social norms or patterns that serve to condone violence against women or perpetuate practices involving such violence: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep- 1 resentatives that— 2 (1) it is the policy of the United States to en- 3 sure and promote the full, equal, meaningful, and ef- 4 fective participation of women in all aspects of over- 5 seas conflict prevention, management, and resolu- 6 tion, and postconflict relief and recovery efforts; 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:55 Mar 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR894.IH HR894 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HRES 894 IH (2) it is the policy of the United States to work 1 toward preventing the use of gender-based violence 2 in armed conflict and work toward ensuring account- 3 ability for victims and survivors of gender-based vio- 4 lence; 5 (3) it is the policy of the United States to pro- 6 mote the principles espoused in United Nations Se- 7 curity Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on women, 8 peace, and security, and all subsequent United Na- 9 tions Security Council resolutions on women, peace, 10 and security; 11 (4) the United States should adopt, as a pre- 12 condition for the achievement of our wider foreign 13 development, assistance, and security policy objec- 14 tives, a feminist foreign policy, defined as a strategy 15 that places the promotion of gender equality and the 16 empowerment of women and girls at the center of its 17 initiatives and investment and that focuses on pro- 18 moting the rights of women and girls, challenging 19 gender-based discrimination, and fighting gender in- 20 equality, which includes preventing gender-based vio- 21 lence and all forms of conflict-related sexual vio- 22 lence; and 23 (5) the United States should— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:55 Mar 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR894.IH HR894 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HRES 894 IH (A) respect, protect, and fulfill the rights 1 of women and girls to bodily autonomy; 2 (B) support all future efforts by inter- 3 national institutions and organizations to en- 4 sure universal access to comprehensive sexual 5 and reproductive health information and serv- 6 ices, free of discrimination, coercion, and vio- 7 lence; 8 (C) update and implement the United 9 States National Action Plan on Women, Peace, 10 and Security, to include an increased focus on 11 the full health of women and girls, including 12 sexual and reproductive health and rights; 13 (D) actively support and promote inter- 14 national efforts to prioritize the rights and 15 needs of women and girls and ensure their full, 16 equal, meaningful, and effective participation in 17 all areas that affect them; and 18 (E) create an enabling environment to— 19 (i) ensure that women and girls 20 human rights defenders can perform their 21 important role of holding the government 22 accountable to its legal obligations under 23 international law, including under inter- 24 national human rights law; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:55 Mar 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR894.IH HR894 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HRES 894 IH (ii) prevent violations, abuses, threats, 1 harassment, and violence against women 2 and girls human rights defenders, who face 3 particular risk because of their gender and 4 their work; 5 (iii) combat impunity by ensuring that 6 those responsible for violations and abuses, 7 including gender-based violence and 8 threats against women and girls human 9 rights defenders, committed by state and 10 nonstate actors, including online, are 11 promptly brought to justice through impar- 12 tial investigations; and 13 (iv) ensure accountability by respect- 14 ing, protecting, and fulfilling victims’ and 15 survivors’ right to an effective remedy. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:55 Mar 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HR894.IH HR894 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS