Office of International Disability Rights Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3373 To establish the Office of International Disability Rights, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 20, 2019 Ms. TITUS (for herself and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To establish the Office of International Disability Rights, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Office of International 4 Disability Rights Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 (1) The United States has shown leadership do- 8 mestically on disability rights with the Americans 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:44 Jun 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3373.IH H3373 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 3373 IH with Disabilities Act, and this leadership should be 1 leveraged to support international disability rights. 2 (2) There are more than one billion persons 3 with disabilities around the world, and 80 percent 4 live in developing countries. 5 (3) 60 percent of persons with disabilities are 6 women. 7 (4) Women with disabilities are more likely to 8 experience sexual violence than women without dis- 9 abilities. 10 (5) There are more than 90 million children 11 with disabilities worldwide. 12 (6) Children with disabilities are more likely to 13 be malnourished than children without disabilities. 14 (7) Persons with disabilities are subject to eco- 15 nomic and social marginalization. The World Bank 16 has estimated the Gross Domestic Product loss due 17 to disability to be between $1.71 trillion and $2.23 18 trillion annually. 19 (8) The inclusion of persons with disabilities is 20 a fundamental part of democracy and essential to 21 the full realization of human rights. 22 (9) The political participation and leadership of 23 persons with disabilities, including those who ac- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:44 Jun 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3373.IH H3373 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 3373 IH quired a disability through conflict, is crucial to sus- 1 taining democratic institutions. 2 (10) Persons with disabilities face disadvan- 3 tages in educational attainment, labor market out- 4 comes, financial stability, housing, and standard of 5 living conditions. 6 (11) Issues related to disability rights cut 7 across all sectors, including democracy, human 8 rights, labor, global health, education, and disaster 9 relief. 10 (12) Persons with disabilities are members of 11 all marginalized groups, including women, young 12 people, the LGBTI community, ethnic and religious 13 minorities, internally displaced people, and refugees. 14 (13) The public presence of the Special Advisor 15 for International Disability Rights at the Depart- 16 ment of State, first appointed in 2010, helped raise 17 the visibility of persons with disabilities in Depart- 18 ment policies and programs and improved the inclu- 19 sion of disabilities in the Department’s annual Coun- 20 try Reports on Human Rights Practices and Traf- 21 ficking in Persons reports. 22 (14) There is currently no mandate that all De- 23 partment of State programming be disability inclu- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:44 Jun 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3373.IH H3373 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 3373 IH sive and the Department does not have a formal, 1 publicly available disability policy. 2 SEC. 3. OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL DISABILITY RIGHTS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall es- 4 tablish an Office of International Disability Rights (re- 5 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘Office’’), which should 6 be placed within the Bureau for Democracy, Human 7 Rights, and Labor (DRL). 8 (b) PURPOSE.—The Office shall coordinate efforts of 9 the United States Government, as directed by the Sec- 10 retary, regarding human rights for persons with disabil- 11 ities and advancing the status of persons with disabilities 12 in United States foreign policy. 13 (c) DUTIES.—The Office shall carry out the fol- 14 lowing: 15 (1) Serve as the principal advisor to the De- 16 partment of State on all matters related to inter- 17 national rights for persons with disabilities. 18 (2) Represent the United States in diplomatic 19 and multilateral fora on matters relevant to the 20 rights of persons with disabilities and work to raise 21 the profile of disability across a broader range of or- 22 ganizations contributing to international develop- 23 ment efforts. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:23 Jun 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3373.IH H3373 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 3373 IH (3) Work to ensure that disability inclusive 1 practices and empowerment of persons with disabil- 2 ities are fully integrated into all United States for- 3 eign operations. 4 (4) Conduct regular consultation with civil soci- 5 ety organizations working to advance international 6 disability rights and empower persons with disabil- 7 ities internationally. 8 (5) Consult with other relevant offices at the 9 Department of State that are responsible for draft- 10 ing annual reports documenting progress on human 11 rights to include references to instances of discrimi- 12 nation, prejudice, or abuses of persons with disabil- 13 ities wherever applicable. 14 (6) Advise the Department of State’s Bureau of 15 Human Resources Development on the hiring and 16 recruitment and overseas practices of civil service 17 employees and foreign service officers with disabil- 18 ities and their family members with chronic medical 19 conditions or disabilities. 20 (d) SUPERVISION.—The Office shall be headed by a 21 Special Advisor for International Disability Rights. The 22 Special Advisor should be a person of recognized distinc- 23 tion in the field of disability rights. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:44 Jun 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3373.IH H3373 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 3373 IH (e) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary shall direct Am- 1 bassadors at Large, Representatives, Special Envoys, and 2 coordinators working on human rights to consult with the 3 Office to promote the human rights and full participation 4 in international development activities of all persons with 5 disabilities. 6 SEC. 4. TRAINING. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall re- 8 quire online or in-person mandatory disability inclusion 9 training for all civil service and foreign service personnel 10 of the Department of State and chiefs of mission, includ- 11 ing on— 12 (1) how to develop solicitations, programming, 13 budgets, and policies that are inclusive; 14 (2) how to ensure a disability-inclusive work en- 15 vironment; 16 (3) how to conduct disability-inclusive analyses 17 of laws and programming; 18 (4) how to support local disabled people’s orga- 19 nizations; and 20 (5) how to ensure nongovernmental organiza- 21 tions that receive funding from the Department 22 mainstream disability rights throughout all pro- 23 grams. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:44 Jun 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3373.IH H3373 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 3373 IH (b) FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICERS.—The Secretary 1 shall ensure that training for foreign service officers under 2 subsection (a) should include country-specific and cultural 3 considerations. 4 SEC. 5. DISABILITY INCLUSION IN FOREIGN POLICY. 5 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 6 gress that, since international disability rights is 7 foundational to development, national security, and eco- 8 nomic outcomes, disability inclusion should be 9 mainstreamed through all foreign assistance and program- 10 ming. 11 (b) FORMAL POLICY FOR DISABILITY INCLUSION.— 12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 13 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec- 14 retary of State shall develop and adopt a formal pol- 15 icy for disability inclusion in the Department of 16 State. 17 (2) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—Such policy 18 should include information and guidance on the De- 19 partment’s approach to disability inclusion in United 20 States foreign assistance programming, including— 21 (A) recruiting and hiring, employment, 22 overseas assignments, accessibility, foreign as- 23 sistance, program monitoring and evaluation, 24 and reporting; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:23 Jun 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3373.IH H3373 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 3373 IH (B) access and inclusion at the Depart- 1 ment’s headquarters and United States diplo- 2 matic posts. 3 (3) CONSULTATION.—In developing and adopt- 4 ing such policy, the Secretary shall consult with— 5 (A) disabled person’s organizations and 6 international nongovernmental organizations 7 working on disability rights; and 8 (B) the Administrator of the United States 9 Agency for International Development (USAID) 10 to promote coherence of such policy with 11 USAID’s formal disability policy. 12 (4) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary 13 shall publish such policy on a publicly available 14 website of the Department. 15 SEC. 6. REPORT AND BRIEFING REQUIREMENTS. 16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 17 date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 18 the Secretary of State shall submit a report and provide 19 a briefing to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 20 House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign 21 Relations of the Senate on the steps taken to implement 22 this Act. 23 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report and 24 briefing required by subsection (a) shall include— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:23 Jun 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3373.IH H3373 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 3373 IH (1) an explanation of policies and programs to 1 fulfill— 2 (A) the duties of the Office of Inter- 3 national Disability Rights under section 3; and 4 (B) the training requirements under sec- 5 tion 4; 6 (2) the status of efforts to mainstream dis- 7 ability rights throughout Department of State pro- 8 gramming without regard to whether such program- 9 ming is specifically directed toward persons with dis- 10 abilities; 11 (3) explanation of disability-specific program- 12 ming across the Department; 13 (4) any policy, programming, or human re- 14 sources gaps to mainstreaming disability rights 15 throughout the Department and plans to address 16 gaps through appropriate mechanisms; 17 (5) progress made on the realization of the 18 rights of persons with disabilities as a result of De- 19 partment policies and programming; and 20 (6) recommendations for legislative actions to 21 fully implement the matters described in paragraphs 22 (1) through (5). 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:44 Jun 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3373.IH H3373 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS