[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3646 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
112th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3646
To require the Department of Defense to develop a strategy to promote
the security of Afghan women and girls during the security transition
process.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
November 28, 2012
Mr. Casey (for himself, Mrs. Hutchison, Ms. Mikulski, Mrs. Feinstein,
Mrs. Gillibrand, Ms. Murkowski, Ms. Snowe, and Mr. Lautenberg)
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Department of Defense to develop a strategy to promote
the security of Afghan women and girls during the security transition
process.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Afghan Women and Girls Security
Promotion Act of 2012''.
SEC. 2. STRATEGY FOR PROMOTING THE SECURITY OF AFGHAN WOMEN AND GIRLS
DURING THE SECURITY TRANSITION PROCESS.
(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) According to the Department of Defense's April 2012
Report on Progress Toward Security and Stability in
Afghanistan:
(A) ``U.S. and coalition forces will continue to
degrade the Taliban-led insurgency in order to provide
time and space to increase the capacity of the Afghan
National Security Forces and the Afghan Government so
they can assume full responsibility for Afghanistan's
security by the end of 2014.''.
(B) ``Transition to Afghan security lead began in
July 2011 and transition to full Afghan security
responsibility will be complete country-wide by the end
of 2014.''.
(C) ``The security of the Afghan people and the
stability of the government are used to judge
provincial readiness to move to each successive stage
of transition implementation.''.
(D) For each area designated for transition, a
transition implementation plan is developed by the
Government of Afghanistan, NATO, and ISAF and approved
by the Joint Afghan-NATO Inteqal Board (JANIB). JANIB
is also responsible for recommending areas to enter and
exit the transition process.
(2) According to a 2002 study on Women, Peace and Security
submitted by the Secretary-General of the United Nations
pursuant to Security Council resolution 1325 (2000), ``the
suspension of or restriction on women's enjoyment of their
human rights'' can act as an early-warning indicator of
impending or renewed conflict. In Afghanistan, restrictions on
women's mobility and rights can signal the presence of
extremist or insurgent elements in a community.
(3) The security of Afghan women and girls in areas
undergoing security transitions will be an important gauge of
the transition strategy's success. Indicators by which to
measure women's security include the mobility of women and
girls, the participation of women in local government bodies,
the rate of school attendance for girls, women's access to
government services, and the prevalence of violence against
women.
(4) Maintaining and improving physical security for Afghan
women and girls throughout the country is critical in order for
women and girls to take advantage of opportunities in
education, commerce, politics, and other areas of public life,
which in turn is essential for the future stability and
prosperity of Afghanistan.
(5) Women who serve as public officials at all levels of
the Government of Afghanistan face serious threats to their
personal security and that of their families. Many female
officials have been the victims of violent crimes, but they are
generally not afforded official protection by the Government of
Afghanistan or security forces.
(6) Protecting the security and human rights of Afghan
women and girls requires the involvement of Afghan men and boys
through education about the important benefits of women's full
participation in social, economic, and political life. Male
officials and security personnel can play a particularly
important role in supporting and protecting women and girls.
(7) The Chicago Summit Declaration issued by NATO in May
2012 states: ``As the Afghan National Police further develop
and professionalize, they will evolve towards a sustainable,
credible, and accountable civilian law enforcement force that
will shoulder the main responsibility for domestic security.
This force should be capable of providing policing services to
the Afghan population as part of the broader Afghan rule of law
system.''.
(8) Women face significant barriers to full participation
in the ANA and ANP, including a discriminatory or hostile work
environment and the lack of separate facilities designed for
female personnel.
(9) As of September 2012, female recruitment and retention
rates for the Afghan National Security Forces are far below
published targets, as follows:
(A) Approximately 1,700 women serve in the Afghan
National Security Forces, or less than half of one
percent of the total force.
(B) In 2010, President Hamid Karzai announced plans
to recruit and train 5,000 women in the Afghan National
Police, or approximately 3 percent of the force, by
2014. Currently, there are approximately 1,370 women in
the ANP, or 0.87 percent of the police force.
(C) Approximately 350 women currently serve in the
Afghan National Army, representing only 0.17 percent of
the force. The Government of Afghanistan has said that
its goal is to achieve a force that is 10 percent
female. As of May 2012, approximately 3 percent of new
ANA recruits were women.
(10) Male security personnel often do not respond to
threats or incidences of violence against women, particularly
at the local level. They largely lack the training and
understanding needed to respond appropriately and effectively
to situations involving women. According to the Department of
Defense's April 2012 Report on Progress Toward Security and
Stability in Afghanistan:
(A) The Afghan Ministry of Defense ``lacks the
combination of policies, procedures, and execution to
promote opportunity and fair and respectful treatment
of women in the force''.
(B) The Afghan Ministry of Interior ``faces
significant challenges in fully integrating and
protecting women in the ANP workforce, especially among
operational units at the provincial and district
levels''.
(C) In the Afghan National Police, ``Many
Provincial Headquarters Commanders do not accept
policewomen, as they prefer male candidates and lack
adequate facilities to support females.''.
(D) ``While women are greatly needed to support
police operations, a combination of cultural
impediments, weak recruitment, and uneven application
of policies hinder significant progress.''.
(E) ``Although stronger documentation,
implementation, and enforcement of policies,
procedures, and guidance to better integrate women will
help, time will be needed to change the cultural mores
that form the basis of many of the current
impediments.''.
(11) The United States, the North American Treaty
Organization, and United States coalition partners have made
firm commitments to support the human rights of the women and
girls of Afghanistan, as evidenced by the following actions:
(A) According to the United States National Action
Plan on Women, Peace and Security, ``integrating women
and gender considerations into peace-building processes
helps promote democratic governance and long-term
stability,'' which are key United States strategic
goals in Afghanistan.
(B) The National Action Plan also 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.'' This policy applies
to United States Government efforts in Afghanistan,
where addressing the security vulnerabilities of Afghan
women and girls during the period of security
transition is an essential step toward long-term
stability.
(C) The Chicago Summit Declaration issued by NATO
in May 2012 states: ``We emphasize the importance of
full participation of all Afghan women in the
reconstruction, political, peace and reconciliation
processes in Afghanistan and the need to respect the
institutional arrangements protecting their rights. We
remain committed to the implementation of United
Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on
women, peace and security. We recognize also the need
for the protection of children from the damaging
effects of armed conflict as required in relevant
UNSCRs.''.
(12) The Strategic Partnership Agreement signed between the
United States and Afghanistan by President Obama and President
Karzai in June 2012 states, ``Consistent with its Constitution
and international obligations, Afghanistan shall ensure and
advance the essential role of women in society, so that they
may fully enjoy their economic, social, political, civil and
cultural rights.''.
(b) Strategy To Promote Security of Afghan Women.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 60 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, in
concurrence with the Secretary of State, shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees a strategy to be
implemented by the Department of Defense, working with the NATO
Training Mission Afghanistan (NTM-A) and Afghan partners, to
promote the security of Afghan women during the security
transition process.
(2) Elements.--The strategy required under paragraph (1)
shall include the following elements:
(A) A strategy to monitor and respond to changes in
women's security conditions in areas undergoing
transition, including the following actions:
(i) Seeking to designate a Civilian Impact
Advisor on the Joint Afghan-NATO Inteqal Board
(JANIB) to assess the impact of transition on
male and female civilians and ensure that
efforts to protect women's rights and security
are included in each area's transition
implementation plan.
(ii) Reviewing existing indicators against
which sex-disaggregated data is collected and,
if necessary, developing additional indicators,
to ensure the availability of data that can be
used to measure women's security, such as--
(I) the mobility of women and
girls;
(II) the participation of women in
local government bodies;
(III) the rate of school attendance
for girls;
(IV) women's access to government
services; and
(V) the prevalence of violence
against women; and incorporating those
indicators into ongoing efforts to
assess overall security conditions
during the transition period.
(iii) Integrating assessments of women's
security into current procedures used to
determine an area's readiness to proceed
through the transition process.
(iv) Working with Afghan partners,
coalition partners, and relevant United States
Government departments and agencies to take
concrete action to support women's rights and
security in cases of deterioration in women's
security conditions during the transition
period.
(B) A strategy to increase gender awareness and
responsiveness among Afghan National Army and Afghan
National Police personnel, including the following
actions:
(i) Working with Afghan and coalition
partners to utilize training curricula and
programming that addresses the human rights of
women and girls, appropriate responses to
threats against women and girls, and
appropriate behavior toward female colleagues
and members of the community; assessing the
quality and consistency of this training across
regional commands; and assessing the impact of
this training on trainee behavior.
(ii) Working with national and local ANA
and ANP leaders to develop and utilize
enforcement and accountability mechanisms for
ANA and ANP personnel who violate codes of
conduct related to the human rights of women
and girls.
(iii) Working with Afghan and coalition
partners to implement the above tools and
develop uniform methods and standards for
training and enforcement among coalition
partners and across regions.
(C) A strategy to increase the number of female
members of the ANA and ANP, including the following
actions:
(i) Providing, through consultation with
Afghan partners, realistic and achievable
objectives for the recruitment and retention of
women to the ANA and ANP by the end of the
security transition period in 2014.
(ii) Working with national and local ANA
and ANP leaders and coalition partners to
address physical and cultural challenges to the
recruitment and retention of female ANA and ANP
personnel, including through targeted
recruitment campaigns, expanded training and
mentorship opportunities, parity in pay and
promotion rates with male counterparts, and
availability of facilities for female
personnel.
(iii) Working with national and local ANA
and ANP leaders to increase understanding about
the unique ways in which women members of the
security forces improve the force's overall
effectiveness.
(iv) Working with national and local ANA
and ANP leaders to develop a plan for
maintaining and increasing the recruitment and
retention of women in the ANA and ANP following
the completion of the security transition.
(3) Report.--The Secretary of Defense shall include in each
report on progress toward security and stability in Afghanistan
that is submitted to Congress under sections 1230 and 1231 of
the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008
(Public Law 110-181; 122 Stat. 385, 390) a section describing
actions taken to implement the strategy required under this
subsection.
(c) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this section,
the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(1) the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on
Foreign Relations of the Senate; and
(2) the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on
Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives.
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