S.Amdt. 3715

1. Adds SEC. 1213. SUPPORT FOR SECURITY OF AFGHAN WOMEN AND GIRLS at the end of subtitle A of title XII

   Adds a section

   In S. 2410 · Placed on Calendar Senate

   (2) both the People's Republic of China and Taiwan should be afforded the opportunity to participate in the humanitarian assistance and disaster relief portions of future multilateral exercises, such as Pacific Partnership, Pacific Angel, or the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), to increase their capacity to effectively respond to these types of disasters.

   Inserted: SEC. 1213. SUPPORT FOR SECURITY OF AFGHAN WOMEN AND GIRLS.

   Inserted: (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:

   Inserted: (1) Through the sacrifice and dedication of members of the Armed Forces and civilian personnel, as well the American people's generous investment, oppressive Taliban rule has given way to a nascent democracy in Afghanistan. It is in our national security interest to help prevent Afghanistan from ever again becoming a safe haven and training ground for international terrorism and to solidify and preserve the gains our men and women in uniform fought so hard to establish.

   Inserted: (2) The United States through its National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security has made firm commitments to support the human rights of the women and girls of Afghanistan. The National Action Plan states that "the engagement and protection of women as agents of peace and stability will be central to United States efforts to promote security, prevent, respond to, and resolve conflict, and rebuild societies".

   Inserted: (3) As stated in the Department of Defense's July 2013 1230 Report on Progress Toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan (in this section, the "1230 Report"), the United States Government "recognizes that promoting security for Afghan women and girls must remain a top foreign policy priority". The November 2013 1230 Report also highlights this priority and further states, "A major focus of DoD and others working to improve the conditions of women in Afghanistan is now to maintain the gains made in the last twelve years after the ISAF mission ends."

   Inserted: (4) According to the November 1230 Report, female recruitment and retention rates for the Afghan National Security Forces fell short of the Ministry of Defense (MoD) and Ministry of the Interior (MoI) female recruitment goals. In regards to women serving in the ANP, the November 1230 report also states, "Low female recruitment is due in part to the MoI's passive female recruitment efforts, which has no specific female recruitment strategy or plan."

   Inserted: (5) According to the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) April 2014 report, despite more women showing an interest in joining the security forces, women still make up less than 1 percent of the ANA and AAF. Also, according to the SIGAR report, "As in prior quarters, the number of women in the ANP is increasing, but progress has been slow toward reaching the goal to have 5,000 women in the ANP by the end of 2014. This quarter, ANP personnel included 1,743 women-226 officers, 728 NCOs, and 789 enlisted personnel-according to CSTC-A. This is an increase of 539 women since August 22, 2011."

   Inserted: (6) According to Shaheen Chughtai, Oxfam's deputy head of policy and campaigns, "This lack of policewomen, and effective policewomen, is one of the main reasons why violence and threats against women and girls in Afghanistan are under-reported. It's why prosecutions are so rare and it's why the culture of impunity continues."

   Inserted: (7) According to the Afghan Ministry of Women's Affairs report released in January 2014, of 4,505 cases of violence against women in 2013, which include issues such as forced marriage, fewer than 10 percent were resolved through the legal process.

   Inserted: (8) According to the International Crisis Group, there are not enough female police officers to staff all provincial Family Response Units (FRUs). United Nations Assistance Mission Afghanistan and the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees found that "in the absence of Family Response Units or visible women police officers, women victims almost never approach police stations willingly, fearing they will be arrested, their reputations stained or worse".

   Inserted: (9) FRUs are a core component of strategies for how to both strengthen the roles of women in the police force and ensure attention to crimes of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). However, FRUs have been under-resourced and under-utilized, making it difficult for them to fulfill their mandate.

   Inserted: (10) The Government of Afghanistan, with support from United States-led coalition forces, recruited, trained, and contracted over 13,000 female searchers for the 2014 presidential election thereby ensuring many women-only polling centers would be operational on election day.

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   Inserted: (11) The Presidential election on April 5, 2014, saw unprecedented levels of female voter participation. According to the SIGAR quarterly report published on April 30, 2014, approximately 35 percent of those votes were cast by women.

   Inserted: (b) Sense of Congress on Promotion of Security of Afghan Women.--It is the sense of Congress that--

   Inserted: (1) it is in the United States Government's national security interests to prevent Afghanistan from again becoming a safe haven and training ground for international terrorism;

   Inserted: (2) as an important part of a strategy to achieve this objective and to help Afghanistan achieve its full potential, the United States Government should continue to regularly press the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to commit to the meaningful inclusion of women in the political, economic, and security transition process and to ensure that women's concerns are fully reflected in relevant negotiations, such as the upcoming NATO summit and the Afghanistan Development Conference of 2014 in London;

   Inserted: (3) the United States Government and the Government of Afghanistan should reaffirm their commitment to supporting Afghan civil society, including women's organizations, as agreed to during the meeting between the International Community and the Government of Afghanistan on the Tokyo Mutual Accountability Framework (TMAF) in July 2013; and

   Inserted: (4) the United States Government should continue to support and encourage efforts to recruit and retain women in the Afghan National Security Forces, who are critical to the success of NATO's Resolute Support Mission.

   Inserted: (c) Plan to Promote Security of Afghan Women.--

   Inserted: (1) Reporting requirement.--The Secretary of Defense, in conjunction with the Secretary of State, shall include in the report required under section 1227--

   Inserted: (A) an assessment of the security of Afghan women and girls, including information regarding efforts to increase the recruitment and retention of women in the ANSF; and

   Inserted: (B) an assessment of the implementation of the authority under section 1531 of the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2014 (Public Law 113-66; 127 Stat. 937), as extended by section 1523 of this Act, for the recruitment, integration, retention, training, and treatment of women in the ANSF, including the challenges associated with such implementation and the steps being taken to address those challenges.

   Inserted: (2) Plan to promote security of afghan women.--

   Inserted: (A) In general.--The Secretary of Defense shall, to the extent practicable, support the efforts of the Government of Afghanistan to promote the security of Afghan women and girls during and after the security transition process through the development and implementation by the Government of Afghanistan of an Afghan-led plan that should include the elements described in this paragraph.

   Inserted: (B) Training.--The Secretary of Defense, working with the International Security Force (ISAF) and NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan (NTM-A), should encourage the Government of Afghanistan to develop--

   Inserted: (i) an evaluation of the effectiveness of existing training for Afghan National Security Forces on this issue;

   Inserted: (ii) a plan to increase the number of female security officers specifically trained to address cases of gender-based violence, including ensuring the Afghan National Police's Family Response Units (FRUs) have the necessary resources and are available to women across Afghanistan;

   Inserted: (iii) a plan to address the development of accountability mechanisms for ANA and ANP personnel who violate codes of conduct related to the human rights of women and girls, including female members of the ANSF; and

   Inserted: (iv) a plan to develop training for the ANA and the ANP to increase awareness and responsiveness among ANA and ANP personnel regarding the unique security challenges women confront when serving in those forces.

   Inserted: (C) Enrollment and treatment.--The Secretary of Defense, in cooperation with the Afghan Ministries of Defense and Interior, shall seek to assist the Government of Afghanistan in including as part of the plan developed under subparagraph (A) the development and implementation of a plan to increase the number of female members of the ANA and ANP and to promote their equal treatment, including through such steps as providing appropriate equipment, modifying facilities, and ensuring literacy and gender awareness training for female recruits and male counterparts.

   Inserted: (D) Allocation of funds.--The $25,000,000 allocated from the Afghan Security Forces Fund pursuant to section 1523(b) for the recruitment, integration, retention, training, and treatment of women in the ANSF, may be available for activities, including the provision of--

   Inserted: (i) appropriate equipment for female security and police forces;

   Inserted: (ii) modification and refurbishment of facilities to support the recruitment and retention of women within the forces;

   Inserted: (iii) security provisions for high-profile female police and army officers;

   Inserted: (iv) mechanisms to address sexual harassment within the forces;

   Inserted: (v) support for ANP Family Response Units; and

   Inserted: (vi) training to include literacy training for women recruits as well as gender awareness training for male counterparts.

   Inserted: (3) Staffing at polling stations.--The Secretary of Defense should assist the Afghan MOD and MOI in maintaining the female searcher capabilities that were established for the April 2014 presidential elections for the 2015 parliamentary elections, which may include--

   Inserted: (A) providing assistance in the development of a recruitment and training program for female searchers and security officers to staff voting stations during the 2015 parliamentary elections;

   Inserted: (B) working with the Ministry of Interior to ensure that female ANP officers and previously recruited searchers' training is maintained and that those searchers already recruited and trained are reassigned to provide security for polling stations; and

   Inserted: (C) allotting the appropriate amount of funds from the funds allocated to the Afghan Security Forces Fund to hire any additional temporary female personnel required to staff polling stations.

   Original wording

   At the end of subtitle A of title XII, add the following:

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As printed