Section was enacted as part of the Protecting Girls’ Access to Education in Vulnerable Settings Act, and not as part of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 which comprises this chapter.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Findings
Pub. L. 115–442, § 2, Jan. 14, 2019, 132 Stat. 5590, provided that: “Congress finds the following:
“(1)
As of June 2018, more than 68,000,000 people have been displaced by disasters and conflicts around the world, the highest number recorded since the end of World War II, of which more than 25,000,000 people are refugees.
“(2)
More than half of the population of refugees are children and, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, nearly 4,000,000 school-aged refugee children lack access to primary education.
“(3)
Education offers socioeconomic opportunities, psychological stability, and physical protection for displaced people, particularly for women and girls, who might otherwise be vulnerable to severe forms of trafficking in persons (as such term is defined in section 103(9) [now 103(11)] of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102(9) [now 7102(11)]), child marriage, sexual exploitation, or economic disenfranchisement.
“(4)
Displaced children face considerable barriers to accessing educational services and, because the duration of such displacement is, on average, 26 years, such children may spend the entirety of their childhood without access to such services.
“(5)
Despite the rising need for educational services, as of 2016, less than two percent of humanitarian aid was directed toward educational services.”
Statement of Policy
Pub. L. 115–442, § 4, Jan. 14, 2019, 132 Stat. 5591, provided that: “It is the policy of the United States to—
“(1)
partner with and encourage other countries, public and private multilateral institutions, and nongovernmental and civil society organizations, including faith-based organizations and organizations representing parents and children, to support efforts to ensure that displaced children have access to safe primary and secondary education;
“(2)
work with donors to enhance training and capacity-building for the governments of countries hosting significant numbers of displaced people to design, implement, and monitor programs to effectively address barriers to such education; and
“(3)
coordinate with the governments of countries hosting significant numbers of displaced people to—
“(A)
promote the inclusion of displaced children into the educational systems of such countries; and
“(B)
in circumstances in which such inclusion is difficult, develop innovative approaches to providing safe primary and secondary educational opportunities, such as encouraging schools to permit children to be educated by extending the hours of schooling or expanding the number of teachers.”