S.Amdt. 4082

SA 4082. Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Ms. Ernst, Mr. Cornyn, and Ms.
Collins) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA
3867 submitted by Mr. Reed and intended to be proposed to the bill H.R.
4350, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2022 for military
activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and
for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe
military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other
purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

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

SEC. 1216. STATUS OF WOMEN AND GIRLS IN AFGHANISTAN.

(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) Since May 2021, the escalation of violent conflict in
Afghanistan has forcibly displaced an estimated 655,000
civilians, and 80 percent of those forced to flee are women
and children.
(2) Since regaining control of Afghanistan in August 2021,
the Taliban have taken actions reminiscent of their brutal
rule in the late 1990s. They have cracked down on protesters,
reportedly detained and beaten journalists, and reestablished
their Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of
Vice, which under previous Taliban rule enforced prohibitions
on behavior deemed un-Islamic. The Taliban's acting higher
education minister said women will be permitted to study at
universities in gender-segregated classrooms while wearing
Islamic attire. The new Taliban government is being filled
with hard-liners from the former Taliban regime. The Taliban
are imposing harsh rule despite pledges to respect the rights
of women and minority communities and provide amnesty for
people who supported United States efforts in Afghanistan.
(3) Until the Taliban assumed control of the country in
August 2021, the women and girls of Afghanistan had achieved
much since 2001, even as insecurity, poverty,
underdevelopment, and patriarchal norms continued to limit
their rights and opportunities in much of Afghanistan.
(4) Through strong support from the United States and the
international community--
(A) female enrollment in public schools in Afghanistan
continued to increase through 2015 with an estimated high of
50 percent of school age girls attending; and
(B) by 2019--
(i) women held political leadership positions, and women
served as ambassadors; and
(ii) women served as professors, judges, prosecutors,
defense attorneys, police, military members, health
professionals, journalists, humanitarian and developmental
aid workers, and entrepreneurs.
(5) Women's and girls' rights and empowerment continue to
serve the interests of Afghanistan and the United States
because women are sources of peace and economic progress in
Afghanistan.
(6) With the return of Taliban control, the United States
has little ability to preserve the rights of women and girls
in Afghanistan, and those women and girls may again face the
intimidation and marginalization they faced under the last
Taliban regime.
(7) Women and girls in Afghanistan are again facing gender-
based violence, including--
(A) forced marriage;
(B) intimate partner and domestic violence;
(C) sexual harassment;
(D) sexual violence, including rape;
(E) gender-based denial of resources; and
(F) emotional and psychological violence.
(8) Gender-based violence has always been a significant
problem in Afghanistan and is expected to become more
widespread with the Taliban in control. In 2020, even before
the Taliban assumed control of the country, Human Rights
Watch projected that 87 percent of Afghan women and girls
will experience at least one form of gender-based violence in
their lifetime, with 62 percent experiencing multiple
incidents of such violence.

[[Page S7547]]

(9) Prior to the Taliban takeover in August 2021,
approximately 7,000,000 people in Afghanistan lacked or had
limited access to essential health services as a result of
inadequate public health coverage, weak health systems, and
conflict-related interruptions in care. Women and girls faced
additional challenges, as their access to life-saving
services (for example, emergency obstetric services) was
limited due to a shortage of female medical staff, cultural
barriers, stigma and fears of reprisals following sexual
violence, or other barriers to mobility, including security
fears.
(10) Only approximately 50 percent of pregnant women and
girls in Afghanistan deliver their children in a health
facility with a professional attendant, which increases the
risk of complications in childbirth and preventable maternal
mortality. Food insecurity in Afghanistan is also posing a
variety of threats to women and girls as malnutrition weakens
their immune systems, making them more susceptible to
infections, complications during pregnancy, and risks during
childbirth.
(11) Adolescent girls are particularly at risk due to the
lack of safe and accessible reproductive health services.
(12) With the combined impacts of ongoing conflict and
COVID-19, Afghan households increasingly resort to child
marriage, forced marriage, and child labor to address food
insecurity and other effects of extreme poverty.
(13) In Afghanistan, the high prevalence of anemia among
adolescent girls reduces their ability to survive childbirth,
especially when coupled with high rates of child marriage and
forced marriage and barriers to accessing safe health
services and information.
(b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) since 2001, women's rights organizations and girl-led
groups and networks have been important engines of social,
economic, and political development in Afghanistan;
(2) any future political order in Afghanistan should secure
the political, economic, and social gains made by Afghan
women and work to increase the equal treatment of women and
girls and improve the safe access for women and girls to
essential services and information through laws and policies
pertaining to public and private life;
(3) respecting the human rights of all people is essential
to securing lasting peace and sustainable development in
Afghanistan;
(4) in cooperation with international partners, the United
States must endeavor to preserve the hard-won gains made in
Afghanistan during the past two decades, particularly as
related to the political and economic role, social rights,
and protection of women and girls in society;
(5) the continuing humanitarian assistance to the Afghan
people is critical to support women and girls, for their
protection, continued education, and well-being;
(6) immediate and ongoing humanitarian needs in Afghanistan
can only be met by a humanitarian response that includes
formal agreements between local nongovernmental organizations
and international partners that promotes the safe access and
participation of female staff at all levels and across
functional roles among all humanitarian actors; and
(7) a lack of aid and essential services would result in a
humanitarian crisis and serve to reinforce gender
inequalities and power imbalances in Afghanistan.
(c) Policy of the United States Regarding the Rights of
Women and Girls of Afghanistan.--
(1) In general.--It is the policy of the United States--
(A) to continue to support the rights of women and girls in
Afghanistan following the withdrawal of the United States
Armed Forces from Afghanistan, including through mechanisms
to hold all parties publicly accountable for violations of
international humanitarian law and human rights violations
against women and girls;
(B) to strongly oppose any weakening of the rights of women
and girls in Afghanistan;
(C) to instruct representatives of the United States
Government to use the voice, foreign assistance, and
influence of the United States directly with the Taliban and
at the United Nations, including with United Nations
agencies, through participation in United Nations bodies, and
with representatives of other United Nations Member States,
to promote, respect, and uphold the human rights of the women
and girls of Afghanistan, including the right to safely work;
(D) to continue providing aid and assistance necessary to
preserve the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan so that
they may continue to pursue educational and professional
opportunities and be equal members of Afghan society;
(E) to identify individuals who violate the basic rights of
women and girls in Afghanistan, as those rights are defined
by international human right standards, such as by committing
murder, lynching, and grievous domestic violence against
women, and to press for bringing those individuals to
justice;
(F) to systematically consult with Afghan women and girls
on their needs and priorities in the development,
implementation, and monitoring of humanitarian action,
including women and girls who are part of the Afghan diaspora
community; and
(G) to ensure all humanitarian action is informed by--
(i) a gender and power analysis conducted by the Department
of State that identifies forms of inequality and oppression;
and
(ii) the collection, analysis, and use of data
disaggregated by sex and age.
(2) Definition of afghan society.--In this subsection, the
term ``Afghan society'' means the range of formal and
informal organizations in Afghanistan, including Afghan local
nongovernmental organizations as well as international
nongovernmental organizations, that reflect community
interests and deliver some essential services.
(d) Humanitarian Aid Positions for Women in Afghanistan.--
The Administrator of the United States Agency for
International Development shall promote that Afghanistan-
based humanitarian assistance-related positions that the
United States Agency for International Development is seeking
to fill are offered to women who are citizens of Afghanistan
to the extent practicable.
(e) Report on Women and Girls in Afghanistan.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, and every 180 days thereafter
through 2024, the Secretary of State shall submit to the
appropriate committees of Congress a report that includes the
following:
(A) An assessment of the conditions of women's and girls'
rights in Afghanistan in relation to humanitarian needs and
key development outcomes following the departure of United
States and partner military forces, including the access of
those women and girls to primary and secondary education,
jobs, health care, and equal status in society as compared to
men.
(B) An assessment of the political and civic participation
of women and girls in Afghanistan.
(C) An assessment of the prevalence of gender-based
violence in Afghanistan.
(D) A report on United States funding obligated or expended
during the period covered by the report in furtherance of
gender equality and women's and girls' rights in Afghanistan,
including how much funding has directly supported women's
rights organizations at the local level in Afghanistan.
(2) Assessment.--
(A) Input.--The assessment described in paragraph (1)(A)
shall include the input of--
(i) Afghan women and girls;
(ii) organizations employing and working with Afghan women
and girls; and
(iii) humanitarian organizations providing assistance in
Afghanistan.
(B) Safety and confidentiality.--In carrying out the
assessment described in paragraph (1)(A), the Secretary
shall, to the maximum extent practicable, ensure the safety
and confidentiality of personal information of each
individual who provides information from within Afghanistan.
(3) Definition of appropriate committees of congress.--In
this subsection, the term ``appropriate committees of
Congress'' means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on
Appropriations of the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives.
______