<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><BillSummaries>
<item congress="115" measure-type="hres" measure-number="421" measure-id="id115hres421" originChamber="HOUSE" orig-publish-date="2017-06-28" update-date="2017-09-28">
<title>Urging the Administration to develop more effective and timely responses to famine in Africa, especially efforts to end the conflicts in South Sudan, Nigeria, and other countries that cause or exacerbate famine.</title>
<summary summary-id="id115hres421v00" currentChamber="HOUSE" update-date="2017-09-28">
<action-date>2017-06-28</action-date>
<action-desc>Introduced in House</action-desc>
<summary-text><![CDATA[<p>Calls for the U.S. government to:</p> <ul> <li> use all available leverage to achieve lasting, comprehensive cease-fires in cases of conflict in Africa; </li> <li> work with governments to facilitate disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of combatants; </li> <li> use the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act to sanction individuals or entities responsible for initiating or prolonging conflict, endangering humanitarian aid workers, or preventing delivery of humanitarian aid; </li> <li>apply all available weather and crop information to more accurately predict incipient drought and to determine the likelihood of famine in conflict areas; </li> <li> collaborate with other donor nations to accelerate the provision of food, clean water, medicine, and shelter to those in need; </li> <li> expand the prepositioning of aid commodities in safe zones close to the famine region; </li> <li> provide assistance to farmers, herders, and fishermen; and </li> <li> use cash transfers to more quickly provide food aid where local markets exist and to support the functioning of local markets.</li> </ul> <p>Urges governments in affected African countries to:</p> <ul> <li> establish effective cease-fires and use force thereafter only when government forces or facilities or civilians are under attack; </li> <li>identify and take actions against individuals and entities that actively threaten peace and safety; </li> <li> work with civil society to help end conflict at the grassroots level and effect reconciliation;</li> <li>take specifed actions to promote the delivery of food, clean water, medicine, and shelter; </li> <li> protect humanitarian aid workers; and </li> <li>safeguard agricultural areas and farm personnel.</li> </ul>]]></summary-text>
</summary>
</item>
<dublinCore xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">
<dc:format>text/xml</dc:format>
<dc:language>EN</dc:language>
<dc:rights>Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.</dc:rights>
<dc:contributor>Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress</dc:contributor>
<dc:description>This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.</dc:description>
</dublinCore>
</BillSummaries>
