22 U.S.C. § 2507d — Establishment of Sexual Assault Advi-

Page 1006 TITLE 22—FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE § 2507c 1 So in original. Probably should be ‘‘Victim’’. for providing the services described in subsection (c)’’ before semicolon at end. Subsec. (a)(7) to (10). Pub. L. 115–256, § 303(2)–(4), added pars. (7) to (10). § 2507c. Office of Victim Advocacy (a) Establishment of Office of Victims 1 Advocacy (1) In general The President shall establish an Office of Victim Advocacy in Peace Corps headquarters headed by a full-time Victim’s Advocate who shall report directly to the Director. The Of- fice of Victim Advocacy may deploy personnel abroad when necessary to help assist victims. (2) Prohibition Peace Corps Medical Officers, Safety and Se- curity Officers, and program staff may not serve as Victim’s Advocates. The Victim’s Ad- vocate referred to in paragraph (1) may not have any other duties in the Peace Corps that are not reasonably connected to victim advo- cacy. (3) Exemption The Victim’s Advocate and any additional Victim’s Advocates shall be exempt from the limitations specified in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (2) and paragraph (5) under section 2506(a) of this title. (b) Responsibilities (1) Victims of sexual assault The Office of Victim Advocacy shall help de- velop and update the sexual assault risk-re- duction and response training described in sec- tion 2507a of this title and the sexual assault policy described in section 2507b of this title, ensure that volunteers who are victims of sex- ual assault receive services specified in sec- tion 2507b(c) of this title, and facilitate their access to such services. (2) Other crimes In addition to assisting victims of sexual as- sault in accordance with paragraph (1), the Of- fice of Victim Advocacy shall assist volunteers who are victims of crime by making such vic- tims aware of the services available to them and facilitating their access to such services. (3) Priority The Office of Victim Advocacy shall give pri- ority to cases involving serious crimes, includ- ing sexual assault and stalking. (c) Status updates The Office of Victim Advocacy shall provide to volunteers who are victims regular updates on the status of their cases if such volunteers have opted to pursue prosecution. (d) Transition The Office of Victim Advocacy shall assist vol- unteers who are victims of crime and whose service has terminated in receiving the services specified in section 2507b(c) of this title re- quested by such volunteer. (e) Policymaking The Director of the Peace Corps shall include the head of the Office of Victim Advocacy in agency-wide policymaking processes in the same manner and to the same extent as the directors or associate directors of other offices within the Peace Corps. (Pub. L. 87–293, title I, § 8C, as added Pub. L. 112–57, § 2, Nov. 21, 2011, 125 Stat. 739; amended Pub. L. 115–256, title III, § 304, Oct. 9, 2018, 132 Stat. 3658.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 2018—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 115–256, § 304(1), (2), sub- stituted ‘‘Victim’s Advocate’’ for ‘‘victim advocate’’ and ‘‘Victim’s Advocates’’ for ‘‘victim advocates’’ wherever appearing. Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 115–256, § 304(3), amended subsec. (e) generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: ‘‘This section shall cease to be effective on October 1, 2018.’’ § 2507d. Establishment of Sexual Assault Advi- sory Council (a) Establishment There is established a Sexual Assault Advisory Council (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Council’’). (b) Membership The Council shall be composed of not fewer than 8 and not more than 14 individuals selected by the President who are returned volunteers (including volunteers who were victims of sexual assault and volunteers who were not victims of sexual assault) and governmental and non- governmental experts and professionals in the sexual assault field. At least one member should be licensed in the field of mental health and have prior experience working as a counselor or therapist providing mental health care to sur- vivors of sexual assault in a victim services agency or organization. No Peace Corps em- ployee shall be a member of the Council. The number of governmental experts appointed to the Council shall not exceed the number of non- governmental experts. (c) Functions; meetings The Council shall meet not less often than an- nually to review the sexual assault risk-reduc- tion and response training developed under sec- tion 2507a of this title, the sexual assault policy developed and implemented under section 2507b of this title, and such other matters related to sexual assault the Council views as appropriate, to ensure that such training and policy conform to the extent practicable to best practices in the sexual assault field. To carry out this sub- section, the Council may conduct case reviews and is authorized to have access, including through interviews, to current and former vol- unteers (to the extent that such volunteers pro- vide the Peace Corps express consent to be inter- viewed by the Council), to volunteer surveys under section 2507e of this title, to all data col- lected from restricted reporting, and to any other information necessary to conduct case re- views, except that the Council may not have ac- cess to any personally identifying information associated with such surveys, data, or informa- tion. Page 1007 TITLE 22—FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE § 2507e 1 So in original. (d) Reports On an annual basis for 5 years after November 21, 2011, and at the discretion of the Council thereafter, the Council shall submit to the President and the Committee on Foreign Rela- tions and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Af- fairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives a report on its findings based on the reviews conducted pursu- ant to subsection (c). (e) Employee status Members of the Council shall not be consid- ered employees of the United States Govern- ment for any purpose and shall not receive com- pensation other than reimbursement of travel expenses and per diem allowance in accordance with section 5703 of title 5. (f) Nonapplicability of chapter 10 of title 5 Chapter 10 of title 5 shall not apply to the Council. (g) Sunset This section shall cease to be effective on Oc- tober 1, 2023. (Pub. L. 87–293, title I, § 8D, as added Pub. L. 112–57, § 2, Nov. 21, 2011, 125 Stat. 740; amended Pub. L. 115–256, title III, § 305, Oct. 9, 2018, 132 Stat. 3658; Pub. L. 117–286, § 4(a)(168), Dec. 27, 2022, 136 Stat. 4324.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 2022—Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 117–286 substituted ‘‘chapter 10 of title 5’’ for ‘‘FACA’’ in heading and ‘‘Chapter 10 of title 5’’ for ‘‘The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.)’’ in text. 2018—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 115–256, § 305(1), substituted ‘‘not fewer than 8 and not more than 14 individuals se- lected by the President’’ for ‘‘not less than 8 individ- uals selected by the President, not later than 180 days after November 21, 2011,’’ and inserted ‘‘At least one member should be licensed in the field of mental health and have prior experience working as a counselor or therapist providing mental health care to survivors of sexual assault in a victim services agency or organiza- tion.’’ after ‘‘sexual assault field.’’ Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 115–256, § 305(2), inserted ‘‘and im- plemented’’ after ‘‘sexual assault policy developed’’ and inserted at end ‘‘To carry out this subsection, the Council may conduct case reviews and is authorized to have access, including through interviews, to current and former volunteers (to the extent that such volun- teers provide the Peace Corps express consent to be interviewed by the Council), to volunteer surveys under section 2705e of this title, to all data collected from re- stricted reporting, and to any other information nec- essary to conduct case reviews, except that the Council may not have access to any personally identifying in- formation associated with such surveys, data, or infor- mation.’’ Subsec. (g). Pub. L. 115–256, § 305(3), substituted ‘‘2023’’ for ‘‘2018’’. § 2507e. Volunteer feedback and Peace Corps re- view (a) Monitoring and evaluation Not later than 1 year after November 21, 2011, the President shall establish goals, metrics, and monitoring and evaluation plans for all Peace Corps programs. Monitoring and evaluation plans shall incorporate best practices from mon- itoring and evaluation studies and analyses. (b) Performance plans and elements The President shall establish performance plans with performance elements and standards for Peace Corps representatives, ensure that each such plan includes a consideration of the results, with respect to each such representative and the country of service of each such rep- resentative, of each survey conducted under sub- section (c),,1 and review the performance of Peace Corps representatives not less than annu- ally to determine whether they have met these performance elements and standards. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as limiting the discretion of the President to remove a Peace Corps representative. (c) Annual volunteer surveys Annually through September 30, 2023, the President shall conduct a confidential survey of volunteers regarding the effectiveness of Peace Corps programs and staff and the safety of vol- unteers. The results shall be provided in aggre- gate form without identifying information to the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Com- mittee on Appropriations of the House of Rep- resentatives. Results from the annual volunteer survey shall be considered in reviewing the per- formance of Peace Corps representatives under subsection (b). The President shall publish, on a publicly available website of the Peace Corps, a report summarizing the results of each survey related to volunteer satisfaction in each country in which volunteers serve, and the early termi- nation rate of volunteers serving in each such country. The information published shall be posted in an easily accessible place near the de- scription of the appropriate country and shall be written in an easily understood manner. (d) Peace Corps Inspector General The Inspector General of the Peace Corps shall— (1) submit to the Committee on Foreign Re- lations and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives— (A) a report, not later than one year after November 21, 2011, and biennially through September 30, 2018, on reports received from volunteers relating to misconduct, mis- management, or policy violations of Peace Corps staff, any breaches of the confiden- tiality of volunteers, and any actions taken to assure the safety of volunteers who pro- vide such reports; (B) a report, not later than two years and five years after November 21, 2011, evalu- ating the effectiveness and implementation of the sexual assault risk-reduction and re- sponse training developed under section 2507a of this title and the sexual assault pol- icy developed under section 2507b of this title, including a case review of a statis- tically significant number of cases; and