[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2299 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2299

To authorize assistance through eligible nongovernmental organizations 
to remove and dispose of unexploded ordnance in agriculturally-valuable 
                     lands in developing countries.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 2, 2003

 Ms. Woolsey (for herself, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Kucinich, Mr. McDermott, 
 Ms. Lee, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. George Miller of California, Mr. Owens, 
and Mr. Gonzalez) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize assistance through eligible nongovernmental organizations 
to remove and dispose of unexploded ordnance in agriculturally-valuable 
                     lands in developing countries.

    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 ``Roots of Peace Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) There are more than an estimated 70,000,000 landmines 
        in 70 countries--more than one-third of all countries in the 
        world.
            (2) Landmines are indiscriminate weapons of mass 
        destruction, detonating on the sandal of a child just as easily 
        as on the boot of a soldier.
            (3) Every 22 minutes someone steps on a landmine.
            (4) More than 10,000 women and children are maimed or 
        killed by landmines each year.
            (5) Many landmines are in developing countries that are 
        working to build the governmental and social institutions that 
        are necessary for social stability.
            (6) Many landmines are in agriculturally rich areas, such 
        as Afghanistan's Shomali Valley, that, were it not for the risk 
        to farmers wishing to cultivate the land, would provide food 
        for the local people and contribute to the national economy.
            (7) The United Nations estimates that more than 700 square 
        kilometers in Afghanistan are littered with 5,000,000 to 
        7,000,000 landmines.
            (8) More than 300 innocent people step on landmines each 
        month in Afghanistan as they try to repatriate and farm their 
        lands.
            (9) The Shomali Valley, now awash with landmines, was once 
        considered the ``breadbasket'' of Afghanistan and is roughly 
        the size of the San Juaquin Valley in California.
            (10) The United States Humanitarian Demining Program has 
        organized crucial aid to Afghanistan and other nations for the 
        removal of landmines and rehabilitation of the people and land 
        affected by them.
            (11) Expanding the United States Humanitarian Demining 
        Program to include assistance to nongovernmental organizations 
        that carry out both demining activities and activities to 
        restore agriculturally-valuable lands after such demining 
        activities would strengthen the mission of the Program.
            (12) Nongovernmental organizations, like Roots for Peace, 
        do critical work to remove landmines and help local populations 
        redevelop that land for agriculture.
            (13) These organizations often have critical funding 
        shortages that hamper their efforts to assist civilians 
        worldwide.
            (14) Facilitating nongovernmental assistance to countries 
        such as Afghanistan will foster goodwill among the local 
        population, thereby promoting the national interest of the 
        United States.

SEC. 3. DEMINING ASSISTANCE FOR REVITALIZATION OF AGRICULTURALLY-
              VALUABLE LANDS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.

    (a) Assistance.--The Secretary of State shall establish a program 
to provide grants to eligible nongovernmental organizations described 
in subsection (b) to remove and dispose of unexploded ordnance in 
agriculturally-valuable lands in developing countries.
    (b) Eligible NGOs.--
            (1) In general.--A nongovernmental organization is eligible 
        to receive assistance under this section if the primary 
        function of the organization is to facilitate the removal and 
        disposal of unexploded ordnance in agriculturally-valuable 
        lands and to develop such lands after the removal and disposal 
        of such ordnance.
            (2) Roots of peace ngo.--Not less than $2,000,000 of the 
        amount appropriated pursuant to the authorization of 
        appropriations under subsection (e) is authorized to be made 
        available for assistance under this section to the Roots of 
        Peace nongovernmental organization in order to carry out 
        activities described in subsection (a) in the Shomali Valley of 
        Afghanistan.
    (c) Limitation.--The Secretary of State shall ensure that not more 
than an appropriate percentage of the amount of a grant provided under 
this section is used by a nongovernmental organization for 
administrative costs in carrying out activities for which the grant was 
provided.
    (d) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of State shall prepare and submit to 
Congress a report that describes projects and activities carried out by 
nongovernmental organizations using assistance received pursuant to 
subsection (a).
    (e) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            (1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated to 
        the Secretary of State to carry out this Act $10,000,000 for 
        fiscal year 2004.
            (2) Availability.--Amounts appropriated pursuant to the 
        authorization of appropriations under paragraph (1) are 
        authorized to remain available until expended.
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