Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB242 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 242
5	5	To require that activities carried out by the United States in South Sudan
6	6	relating to governance, reconstruction and development, and refugee relief
7	7	and assistance support the basic human rights of women and women’s
8	8	participation and leadership in these areas.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	JANUARY10, 2023
11	11	Ms. J
12	12	ACKSONLEEintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
13	13	Committee on Foreign Affairs
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To require that activities carried out by the United States
16	16	in South Sudan relating to governance, reconstruction
17	17	and development, and refugee relief and assistance sup-
18	18	port the basic human rights of women and women’s
19	19	participation and leadership in these areas.
20	20	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
21	21	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
22	22	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
23	23	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Equal Rights and Ac-4
24	24	cess for the Women of South Sudan Act’’. 5
25	25	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
26	26	Congress makes the following findings: 7
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29	29	•HR 242 IH
30	30	(1) Despite the 2011 referendum for secession 1
31	31	that established the independent state of South 2
32	32	Sudan, South Sudanese women continue to experi-3
33	33	ence brutal violation of their human rights. 4
34	34	(2) Strong and continued United States support 5
35	35	can ensure that the advances made by South Suda-6
36	36	nese women since July 2011 when the Republic of 7
37	37	South Sudan gained its independence will continue 8
38	38	and grow, rather than recede. 9
39	39	(3) The United States has made a substantial 10
40	40	contribution to the emergency relief and humani-11
41	41	tarian efforts for South Sudan. Completing the 12
42	42	United States mission in South Sudan will also re-13
43	43	quire significant and long-term investments in devel-14
44	44	opment and reconstruction assistance. 15
45	45	(4) An inadequate healthcare system has re-16
46	46	sulted in high maternal and infant mortality rates. 17
47	47	The maternal mortality rate is 1,054 deaths per 18
48	48	100,000 live births, making it one of the highest in 19
49	49	the world. 20
50	50	(5) South Sudan faces many difficulties with its 21
51	51	lack of infrastructure and lacks significant human 22
52	52	development factors, which can further marginalize 23
53	53	women. 24
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56	56	•HR 242 IH
57	57	(6) Over 80 percent of women and girls in 1
58	58	South Sudan are illiterate, and thus it is imperative 2
59	59	to both secure and inform women’s rights within the 3
60	60	national development. 4
61	61	(7) With the assistance of internal aid and the 5
62	62	proliferation of local women’s organizations, wom-6
63	63	en’s equality can be integrated into South Sudan’s 7
64	64	nation-building efforts. 8
65	65	(8) South Sudan has made gains in incor-9
66	66	porating women into the new regime with efforts 10
67	67	such as inclusion in the legislative assembly, thus 11
68	68	additional support from the United States serves to 12
69	69	reinforce these ideals and implementations. 13
70	70	(9) The women of South Sudan are taking the 14
71	71	initiative to reach across the conflict divide and fos-15
72	72	ter peace. Women’s perspectives and experiences in 16
73	73	seeking solutions to conflicts are necessary to ensure 17
74	74	lasting peace. 18
75	75	(10) Adequate security in both urban and rural 19
76	76	areas, particularly on military borders, is essential if 20
77	77	women and girls are to exercise their human rights, 21
78	78	work, attend school, and otherwise participate in and 22
79	79	benefit from humanitarian and development pro-23
80	80	grams sponsored by the United States. 24
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83	83	•HR 242 IH
84	84	SEC. 3. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO UNITED STATES AC-1
85	85	TIVITIES RELATING TO SOUTH SUDAN. 2
86	86	(a) I
87	87	NGENERAL.—Activities described in subsections 3
88	88	(b) through (e) that are carried out by the United States 4
89	89	in South Sudan shall comply with the applicable require-5
90	90	ments contained in such subsections. 6
91	91	(b) G
92	92	OVERNANCE OF SOUTHSUDAN.—With respect 7
93	93	to the governance of South Sudan, the applicable require-8
94	94	ments are the following: 9
95	95	(1) Include the perspectives and advice from 10
96	96	South Sudanese women’s organizations, networks, 11
97	97	and leaders in United States policymaking related to 12
98	98	the governance of South Sudan. 13
99	99	(2) Promote the inclusion of a significant num-14
100	100	ber of women in the National Legislature and future 15
101	101	legislative bodies to ensure that women’s full range 16
102	102	of human rights are included and upheld in any con-17
103	103	stitution or legal structures of South Sudan. 18
104	104	(3) Promote the continuation and strengthening 19
105	105	of the rights of women as the South Sudan Govern-20
106	106	ment transitions to a long-term government struc-21
107	107	ture, and encourage the appointment of women to 22
108	108	high-level positions within South Sudanese Govern-23
109	109	ment. 24
110	110	(c) P
111	111	OST-CONFLICTRECONSTRUCTION AND DEVEL-25
112	112	OPMENT.—With respect to activities relating to post-con-26
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115	115	•HR 242 IH
116	116	flict stability in South Sudan, the applicable requirements 1
117	117	are the following: 2
118	118	(1) Ensure that a significant portion of United 3
119	119	States development, humanitarian, and relief assist-4
120	120	ance is channeled to local and United States-based 5
121	121	South Sudanese organizations, particularly South 6
122	122	Sudanese women’s organizations. Provide technical 7
123	123	assistance, training, and capacity-building for local 8
124	124	organizations to ensure that United States-funded 9
125	125	efforts will be both effective and sustainable. 10
126	126	(2) Encourage United States organizations that 11
127	127	receive funds authorized by this Act to partner with 12
128	128	or create South Sudanese-led counterpart organiza-13
129	129	tions and provide these organizations with signifi-14
130	130	cant financial resources, technical assistance, and 15
131	131	capacity building. 16
132	132	(3) Provide direct financial and programmatic 17
133	133	assistance to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs ade-18
134	134	quate to ensure that the Ministry is able to fulfill its 19
135	135	mandate. 20
136	136	(4) Promote multiyear women-centered eco-21
137	137	nomic development programs, including programs to 22
138	138	assist widows, female heads of household, women in 23
139	139	rural areas, and disabled women. 24
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142	142	•HR 242 IH
143	143	(5) Increase women’s access to or ownership of 1
144	144	productive assets such as land, water, agricultural 2
145	145	inputs, credit, and property. 3
146	146	(6) Provide long-term financial assistance for 4
147	147	primary, secondary, higher, nontraditional, and voca-5
148	148	tional education for South Sudanese girls, women, 6
149	149	boys, and men. 7
150	150	(7) Provide financial assistance to build the 8
151	151	health infrastructure and to deliver high-quality 9
152	152	comprehensive health care programs, including pri-10
153	153	mary, maternal, child, reproductive, and mental 11
154	154	health care. 12
155	155	(8) Integrate education and training programs 13
156	156	for former combatants with economic development 14
157	157	programs to encourage their reintegration into soci-15
158	158	ety and to promote post-conflict stability. 16
159	159	(9) Provide assistance to rehabilitate children 17
160	160	affected by the conflict, particularly child soldiers. 18
161	161	(10) Support educational efforts to increase 19
162	162	awareness with respect to landmines, facilitate the 20
163	163	removal of landmines, and provide services to indi-21
164	164	viduals with disabilities caused by landmines. 22
165	165	(11) Include programs to prevent trafficking in 23
166	166	persons, assist victims, and apprehend and prosecute 24
167	167	traffickers in persons. 25
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170	170	•HR 242 IH
171	171	(d) SOUTHSUDANESEMILITARY ANDPOLICE.— 1
172	172	With respect to training for military and police forces in 2
173	173	South Sudan, the applicable requirements are the fol-3
174	174	lowing: 4
175	175	(1) Include training on the protection, rights, 5
176	176	and the particular needs of women and emphasize 6
177	177	that violations of women’s rights are intolerable and 7
178	178	should be prosecuted. 8
179	179	(2) Encourage such trainers who will carry out 9
180	180	the activities in paragraph (1) to consult with wom-10
181	181	en’s organizations in South Sudan to ensure that 11
182	182	training content and materials are adequate, appro-12
183	183	priate, and comprehensive. 13
184	184	(e) R
185	185	ELIEF, RESETTLEMENT, ANDREPATRIATION OF 14
186	186	R
187	187	EFUGEES AND THE INTERNALLYDISPLACED.—With re-15
188	188	spect to the relief, resettlement, and repatriation of refu-16
189	189	gees and internally displaced in South Sudan, the applica-17
190	190	ble requirements are the following: 18
191	191	(1) Take all necessary steps to ensure that 19
192	192	women refugees and internally displaced in camps, 20
193	193	urban areas, and villages are directly receiving food 21
194	194	aid, shelter, relief supplies, and other services from 22
195	195	United States-sponsored programs. 23
196	196	(2) Take all necessary steps to ensure that 24
197	197	women refugees in camps, urban areas, and villages 25
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200	200	•HR 242 IH
201	201	are accessing high-quality health and medical serv-1
202	202	ices, including primary, maternal, child, and mental 2
203	203	health services. 3
204	204	(3) Take all necessary steps to ensure that 4
205	205	women and children in refugee camps are protected 5
206	206	from sexual exploitation. 6
207	207	(4) Take all necessary steps to ensure refugees 7
208	208	and internally displaced persons that seek to return 8
209	209	to their place of origin can do so voluntarily, safely, 9
210	210	and with the full protection of their rights. United 10
211	211	States-sponsored efforts shall not coerce refugees or 11
212	212	internally displaced persons to return to their places 12
213	213	of origin. 13
214	214	SEC. 4. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 14
215	215	Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment 15
216	216	of this Act, and annually thereafter, the President shall 16
217	217	prepare and transmit to Congress a report that contains 17
218	218	documentation of the progress in implementing the re-18
219	219	quirements of section 3. All data shall be disaggregated 19
220	220	by sex. 20
221	221	Æ
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