Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 115 Part 1.djvu/833

 PUBLIC LAW 107-81—DEC. 12, 2001 115 STAT. 811 Public Law 107-81 107th Congress An Act To authorize the provision of educational and health care assistance to the women and children of Afghanistan. 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 Children Relief Act of 2001". SEC. 2. FINDINGS. Congress makes the following findings: (1) In Afghanistan, Taliban restrictions on women's participation in society make it nearly impossible for women to exercise their basic human rights. The Taliban restrictions on Afghan women's freedom of expression, association, and movement deny women full participation in society and, consequently, from effectively securing basic access to work, education, and health care. (2) Afghanistan has one of the highest infant (165 of 1000) and child (257 of 1000) mortality rates in the world. (3) Only 5 percent of rural and 39 percent of urban Afghans have access to safe drinking water. (4) It is estimated that 42 percent of all deaths in Afghanistan are due to diarrheal diseases caused by contaminated food and water. (5) Over one-third of Afghan children under 5 years of age suffer from malnutrition, 85,000 of whom die annually. (6) Seventy percent of the health care system in Afghanistan is dependent on foreign assistance. (7) As of May 1998, only 20 percent of hospital medical and surgical beds dedicated to adults were available for women, and thousands of Afghan women and girls are routinely denied health care. (8) Women are forbidden to leave their homes without being escorted by a male relative. This prevents many women from seeking basic necessities like health care and food for their children. Doctors, virtually all of whom are male, are also not permitted to provide certain types of care not deemed appropriate by the Taliban. Dec. 12, 2001 [S. 1573] Afghan Women and Children Relief Act of 2001. 22 USC 2374 note. 89-194O -03 - 27 QL3 Part 1

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