[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 172 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 172

Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the urgent need to provide 
    emergency humanitarian assistance and development assistance to 
  civilians in Afghanistan, including Afghan refugees in surrounding 
                               countries.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 18, 2001

Mr. Wellstone submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                   the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the urgent need to provide 
    emergency humanitarian assistance and development assistance to 
  civilians in Afghanistan, including Afghan refugees in surrounding 
                               countries.

Whereas, well before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Afghanistan 
        was the site of the greatest crisis of hunger and displacement in the 
        world;
Whereas, after more than 20 years of conflict, 3 years of severe drought, and 
        the repressive policies of the Taliban regime, 4,000,000 Afghans had 
        sought refuge in neighboring countries, and Afghan women have one of the 
        highest maternal mortality rates in the world, and one in four children 
        dies before the child's fifth birthday;
Whereas the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that 
        1,500,000 additional Afghans could seek to flee the country in coming 
        months due to the ongoing military conflict;
Whereas all 6 countries neighboring Afghanistan have closed their borders to 
        refugees both on security grounds and citing an inability to 
        economically provide for more refugees, and thousands have been trapped 
        at borders with no food, shelter, water, or medical care;
Whereas 7,500,000 people inside Afghanistan face critical food shortages or risk 
        starvation by winter's end, and are partially or fully dependent on 
        outside assistance for survival, and of these people, 70 percent are 
        women and children;
Whereas the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), which distributes most of 
        the food within Afghanistan, estimates that food stocks in the country 
        are critically short, and WFP overland food shipments inside and outside 
        the border of Afghanistan have been disrupted due to security concerns 
        over United States military strikes;
Whereas airdrops of food by the United States military cannot by itself meet the 
        enormous humanitarian needs of the Afghan people, and cannot replace the 
        most effective delivery method of overland truck convoys of food, nor 
        can it replace access to affected populations by humanitarian agencies;
Whereas the President has announced a $320,000,000 initiative to respond to the 
        humanitarian needs in Afghanistan and for Afghan refugees in neighboring 
        countries, and much more international assistance is clearly needed; and
Whereas the United States is the single largest donor of humanitarian assistance 
        to the Afghan people, totaling more than $185,000,000 in fiscal year 
        2001: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved,

SECTION 1. SENSE OF THE SENATE ON HUMANITARIAN AND DEVELOPMENT 
              ASSISTANCE FOR THE PEOPLE OF AFGHANISTAN.

    It is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) Afghanistan's neighbors should reopen their borders to 
        allow for the safe passage of refugees, and the international 
        community must be prepared to contribute to the economic costs 
        incurred by the flight of desperate Afghan civilians;
            (2) as the United States engages in military action in 
        Afghanistan, it must work to deliver assistance, particularly 
        through overland truck convoys, and safe humanitarian access to 
        affected populations, in partnership with humanitarian agencies 
        in quantities sufficient to alleviate a large scale 
        humanitarian catastrophe; and
            (3) the United States should contribute to efforts by the 
        international community to provide long-term, sustainable 
        reconstruction and development assistance for the people of 
        Afghanistan, including efforts to protect the basic human 
        rights of women and children.
                                 <all>