I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 242
To require that activities carried out by the United States in South Sudan
relating to governance, reconstruction and development, and refugee relief
and assistance support the basic human rights of women and women’s
participation and leadership in these areas.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY10, 2023
Ms. J
ACKSONLEEintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs
A BILL
To require that activities carried out by the United States
in South Sudan relating to governance, reconstruction
and development, and refugee relief and assistance sup-
port the basic human rights of women and women’s
participation and leadership in these areas.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Equal Rights and Ac-4
cess for the Women of South Sudan Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress makes the following findings: 7
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(1) Despite the 2011 referendum for secession 1
that established the independent state of South 2
Sudan, South Sudanese women continue to experi-3
ence brutal violation of their human rights. 4
(2) Strong and continued United States support 5
can ensure that the advances made by South Suda-6
nese women since July 2011 when the Republic of 7
South Sudan gained its independence will continue 8
and grow, rather than recede. 9
(3) The United States has made a substantial 10
contribution to the emergency relief and humani-11
tarian efforts for South Sudan. Completing the 12
United States mission in South Sudan will also re-13
quire significant and long-term investments in devel-14
opment and reconstruction assistance. 15
(4) An inadequate healthcare system has re-16
sulted in high maternal and infant mortality rates. 17
The maternal mortality rate is 1,054 deaths per 18
100,000 live births, making it one of the highest in 19
the world. 20
(5) South Sudan faces many difficulties with its 21
lack of infrastructure and lacks significant human 22
development factors, which can further marginalize 23
women. 24
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(6) Over 80 percent of women and girls in 1
South Sudan are illiterate, and thus it is imperative 2
to both secure and inform women’s rights within the 3
national development. 4
(7) With the assistance of internal aid and the 5
proliferation of local women’s organizations, wom-6
en’s equality can be integrated into South Sudan’s 7
nation-building efforts. 8
(8) South Sudan has made gains in incor-9
porating women into the new regime with efforts 10
such as inclusion in the legislative assembly, thus 11
additional support from the United States serves to 12
reinforce these ideals and implementations. 13
(9) The women of South Sudan are taking the 14
initiative to reach across the conflict divide and fos-15
ter peace. Women’s perspectives and experiences in 16
seeking solutions to conflicts are necessary to ensure 17
lasting peace. 18
(10) Adequate security in both urban and rural 19
areas, particularly on military borders, is essential if 20
women and girls are to exercise their human rights, 21
work, attend school, and otherwise participate in and 22
benefit from humanitarian and development pro-23
grams sponsored by the United States. 24
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SEC. 3. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO UNITED STATES AC-1
TIVITIES RELATING TO SOUTH SUDAN. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Activities described in subsections 3
(b) through (e) that are carried out by the United States 4
in South Sudan shall comply with the applicable require-5
ments contained in such subsections. 6
(b) G
OVERNANCE OF SOUTHSUDAN.—With respect 7
to the governance of South Sudan, the applicable require-8
ments are the following: 9
(1) Include the perspectives and advice from 10
South Sudanese women’s organizations, networks, 11
and leaders in United States policymaking related to 12
the governance of South Sudan. 13
(2) Promote the inclusion of a significant num-14
ber of women in the National Legislature and future 15
legislative bodies to ensure that women’s full range 16
of human rights are included and upheld in any con-17
stitution or legal structures of South Sudan. 18
(3) Promote the continuation and strengthening 19
of the rights of women as the South Sudan Govern-20
ment transitions to a long-term government struc-21
ture, and encourage the appointment of women to 22
high-level positions within South Sudanese Govern-23
ment. 24
(c) P
OST-CONFLICTRECONSTRUCTION AND DEVEL-25
OPMENT.—With respect to activities relating to post-con-26
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flict stability in South Sudan, the applicable requirements 1
are the following: 2
(1) Ensure that a significant portion of United 3
States development, humanitarian, and relief assist-4
ance is channeled to local and United States-based 5
South Sudanese organizations, particularly South 6
Sudanese women’s organizations. Provide technical 7
assistance, training, and capacity-building for local 8
organizations to ensure that United States-funded 9
efforts will be both effective and sustainable. 10
(2) Encourage United States organizations that 11
receive funds authorized by this Act to partner with 12
or create South Sudanese-led counterpart organiza-13
tions and provide these organizations with signifi-14
cant financial resources, technical assistance, and 15
capacity building. 16
(3) Provide direct financial and programmatic 17
assistance to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs ade-18
quate to ensure that the Ministry is able to fulfill its 19
mandate. 20
(4) Promote multiyear women-centered eco-21
nomic development programs, including programs to 22
assist widows, female heads of household, women in 23
rural areas, and disabled women. 24
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(5) Increase women’s access to or ownership of 1
productive assets such as land, water, agricultural 2
inputs, credit, and property. 3
(6) Provide long-term financial assistance for 4
primary, secondary, higher, nontraditional, and voca-5
tional education for South Sudanese girls, women, 6
boys, and men. 7
(7) Provide financial assistance to build the 8
health infrastructure and to deliver high-quality 9
comprehensive health care programs, including pri-10
mary, maternal, child, reproductive, and mental 11
health care. 12
(8) Integrate education and training programs 13
for former combatants with economic development 14
programs to encourage their reintegration into soci-15
ety and to promote post-conflict stability. 16
(9) Provide assistance to rehabilitate children 17
affected by the conflict, particularly child soldiers. 18
(10) Support educational efforts to increase 19
awareness with respect to landmines, facilitate the 20
removal of landmines, and provide services to indi-21
viduals with disabilities caused by landmines. 22
(11) Include programs to prevent trafficking in 23
persons, assist victims, and apprehend and prosecute 24
traffickers in persons. 25
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(d) SOUTHSUDANESEMILITARY ANDPOLICE.— 1
With respect to training for military and police forces in 2
South Sudan, the applicable requirements are the fol-3
lowing: 4
(1) Include training on the protection, rights, 5
and the particular needs of women and emphasize 6
that violations of women’s rights are intolerable and 7
should be prosecuted. 8
(2) Encourage such trainers who will carry out 9
the activities in paragraph (1) to consult with wom-10
en’s organizations in South Sudan to ensure that 11
training content and materials are adequate, appro-12
priate, and comprehensive. 13
(e) R
ELIEF, RESETTLEMENT, ANDREPATRIATION OF 14
R
EFUGEES AND THE INTERNALLYDISPLACED.—With re-15
spect to the relief, resettlement, and repatriation of refu-16
gees and internally displaced in South Sudan, the applica-17
ble requirements are the following: 18
(1) Take all necessary steps to ensure that 19
women refugees and internally displaced in camps, 20
urban areas, and villages are directly receiving food 21
aid, shelter, relief supplies, and other services from 22
United States-sponsored programs. 23
(2) Take all necessary steps to ensure that 24
women refugees in camps, urban areas, and villages 25
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are accessing high-quality health and medical serv-1
ices, including primary, maternal, child, and mental 2
health services. 3
(3) Take all necessary steps to ensure that 4
women and children in refugee camps are protected 5
from sexual exploitation. 6
(4) Take all necessary steps to ensure refugees 7
and internally displaced persons that seek to return 8
to their place of origin can do so voluntarily, safely, 9
and with the full protection of their rights. United 10
States-sponsored efforts shall not coerce refugees or 11
internally displaced persons to return to their places 12
of origin. 13
SEC. 4. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 14
Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment 15
of this Act, and annually thereafter, the President shall 16
prepare and transmit to Congress a report that contains 17
documentation of the progress in implementing the re-18
quirements of section 3. All data shall be disaggregated 19
by sex. 20
Æ
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