Sec. 2015. Addressing violence against women and girls in humanitarian relief, peacekeeping, conflict, and post-conflict settings
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The Secretary and the Administrator are authorized to— provide assistance to programs carried out by international organizations, international and local nongovernmental organizations, and governments, as appropriate, that— prevent and respond to violence against women and girls in humanitarian relief, in a country or region at risk of, in, or in transition from, conflict or civil strife; build the capacity of humanitarian organizations and government authorities, as appropriate, to address the special protection needs of women and children; support efforts to provide immediate assistance to survivors of violence and reintegrate such individuals through education, psychosocial assistance, trauma counseling, family and community reinsertion and reunification, medical assistance, and economic opportunity programs; and provide legal services for women and girls who are victims of violence; work to incorporate activities to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls internationally into any multilateral or bilateral disarmament, demobilization, rehabilitation, and reintegration efforts by— providing protection and suitable separate facilities in demobilization and transit centers for women and girls formerly involved in, or associated with, fighting forces; ensuring equitable reintegration activities and opportunities for such women and girls, including access to schooling, vocational training, employment, and childcare; providing essential medical care and psychosocial support for such women and girls who are victims of violence; and incorporating prevention and response to violence against women and girls into programs for former combatants; designate and deploy specialists in violence against women and girls, as appropriate, as an integral part of the Agency’s Disaster Assistance Response Teams to ensure the integration of prevention and response to violence against women and girls internationally in strategies and programming; and strive to ensure that all private partners and others carrying out humanitarian relief in a country or region at risk of, in, or in transition from conflict or civil strife— train all humanitarian workers in preventing and responding to violence against women and girls, including in the use of mechanisms to report violence against women and girls; conduct appropriate public outreach to make known to the host community the mechanisms to report violence against women and girls; and promptly and appropriately respond to reports of violence against women and girls and treat survivors in accordance with best practices regarding confidentiality.
The Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General shall coordinate with the Secretary of State and the Administrator when carrying out programs relevant to the purposes of this section. The Secretary, in consultation with the Administrator and the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations, is authorized to promote United Nations efforts to— develop and implement appropriate training programs for peacekeeping and humanitarian personnel in prevention and response to violence against women and girls internationally; meet staffing goals for women military and police peacekeepers, including all-women teams and units; enhance the deployment of civilian women at all levels to serve in peacekeeping missions, including through innovative staffing formulas; institute effective protection mechanisms in and around United Nations-managed refugee and internally displaced persons camps; implement a zero tolerance policy for sexual exploitation and abuse in United Nations peacekeeping and humanitarian operations; support countries that contribute troops and police in— taking appropriate actions to prevent violence and abuse; providing materials for pre-deployment and in-theater awareness training; and taking other actions to promote full accountability in cases of abusive conduct involving the personnel of such countries; continue to expand appropriate mechanisms to permit individuals to safely bring to the attention of United Nations peacekeeping commanders and heads of humanitarian missions allegations of violence against women and girls internationally; and ensure the capacity of the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight to investigate in a timely and efficient manner all credible allegations of violence against women and girls internationally, while protecting the whistleblower.
Not later than 45 days after receiving a credible report of serious or widespread incidents of violence against women and girls in a situation of armed conflict or civil strife, the Secretary and the Administrator shall, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, identify and implement emergency response measures. For the purposes of paragraph (1), the term relevant stakeholders includes, as appropriate— affected populations; international, multilateral, and nongovernmental organizations operating in the affected area; the government of the country in which the violence is occurring; governments in the region in which the violence is occurring; and donor governments.
The Secretary shall brief the appropriate congressional committees not less than quarterly on the status of incidents of violence against women and girls in situations of armed conflict or civil strife, emergency response measures taken, and consultations with relevant stakeholders.