[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2939 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2939

 To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide assistance for 
orphans and other vulnerable children in developing countries, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 7, 2004

 Mr. Lugar (for himself, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Chafee, Mr. Feingold, and Mr. 
   Coleman) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide assistance for 
orphans and other vulnerable children in developing countries, and for 
                            other purposes.

    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 ``Assistance for Orphans and Other 
Vulnerable Children in Developing Countries Act of 2004''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) More than 110,000,000 orphans live in sub-Saharan 
        Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. These children 
        often are disadvantaged in numerous and devastating ways and 
        most households with orphans cannot meet the basic needs of 
        health care, food, clothing, and educational expenses.
            (2) It is estimated that 121,000,000 children worldwide do 
        not attend school and that the majority of such children are 
        young girls. According to the United Nations Children's Fund 
        (UNICEF), orphans are less likely to be in school and more 
        likely to be working full time.
            (3) School food programs, including take-home rations, in 
        developing countries provide strong incentives for children to 
        remain in school and continue their education. School food 
        programs can reduce short-term hunger, improve cognitive 
        functions, and enhance learning, behavior, and achievement.
            (4) Financial barriers, such as school fees and other costs 
        of education, prevent many orphans and other vulnerable 
        children in developing countries from attending school. 
        Providing children with free primary school education, while 
        simultaneously ensuring that adequate resources exist for 
        teacher training and infrastructure, would help more orphans 
        and other vulnerable children obtain a quality education.
            (5) The trauma that results from the loss of a parent can 
        trigger behavior problems of aggression or emotional withdrawal 
        and negatively affect a child's performance in school and the 
        child's social relations. Children living in families affected 
        by HIV/AIDS or who have been orphaned by AIDS often face 
        stigmatization and discrimination. Providing culturally 
        appropriate psychosocial support to such children can assist 
        them in successfully accepting and adjusting to their 
        circumstances.
            (6) Orphans and other vulnerable children in developing 
        countries routinely are denied their inheritance or encounter 
        difficulties in claiming the land and other property which they 
        have inherited. Even when the inheritance rights of women and 
        children are spelled out in law, such rights are difficult to 
        claim and are seldom enforced. In many countries it is 
        difficult or impossible for a widow, even if she has young 
        children, to claim property after the death of her husband.
            (7) The HIV/AIDS pandemic has had a devastating affect on 
        children and is deepening poverty in entire communities and 
        jeopardizing the health, safety, and survival of all children 
        in affected areas.
            (8) The HIV/AIDS pandemic has increased the number of 
        orphans worldwide and has exacerbated the poor living 
        conditions of the world's poorest and most vulnerable children. 
        AIDS has created an unprecedented orphan crisis, especially in 
        sub-Saharan Africa, where children have been hardest hit. An 
        estimated 14,000,000 orphans have lost 1 or both parents to 
        AIDS. By 2010, it is estimated that over 25,000,000 children 
        will have been orphaned by AIDS.
            (9) Approximately 2,500,000 children under the age of 15 
        worldwide have HIV/AIDS. Every day another 2,000 children under 
        the age of 15 are infected with HIV. Without treatment, most 
        children born with HIV can expect to die by age two, but with 
        sustained drug treatment through childhood, the chances of 
        long-term survival and a productive adulthood improve 
        dramatically.
            (10) Few international development programs specifically 
        target the treatment of children with HIV/AIDS in developing 
        countries. Reasons for this include the perceived low priority 
        of pediatric treatment, a lack of pediatric health care 
        professionals, lack of expertise and experience in pediatric 
drug dosing and monitoring, the perceived complexity of pediatric 
treatment, and mistaken beliefs regarding the risks and benefits of 
pediatric treatment.
            (11) Although a number of organizations seek to meet the 
        needs of orphans or other vulnerable children, extended 
        families and local communities continue to be the primary 
        providers of support for such children.
            (12) The HIV/AIDS pandemic is placing huge burdens on 
        communities and is leaving many orphans with little support. 
        Alternatives to traditional orphanages, such as community-based 
        resource centers, continue to evolve in response to the massive 
        number of orphans that has resulted from the pandemic.
            (13) The AIDS orphans crisis in sub-Saharan Africa has 
        implications for political stability, human welfare, and 
        development that extend far beyond the region, affecting 
        governments and people worldwide, and this crisis requires an 
        accelerated response from the international community.
            (14) Although section 403(b) of the United States 
        Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 
        2003 (22 U.S.C. 7673(b)) establishes the requirement that not 
        less than 10 percent of amounts appropriated for HIV/AIDS 
        assistance for each of fiscal years 2006 through 2008 shall be 
        expended for assistance for orphans and other vulnerable 
        children affected by HIV/AIDS, there is an urgent need to 
        provide assistance to such children prior to 2006.
            (15) Numerous United States and indigenous private 
        voluntary organizations, including faith-based organizations, 
        provide assistance to orphans and other vulnerable children in 
        developing countries. Many of these organizations have 
        submitted applications for grants to the Administrator of the 
        United States Agency for International Development to provide 
        increased levels of assistance for orphans and other vulnerable 
        children in developing countries.
            (16) Increasing the amount of assistance that is provided 
        by the Administrator of the United States Agency for 
        International Development through United States and indigenous 
        private voluntary organizations, including faith-based 
        organizations, will provide greater protection for orphans and 
        other vulnerable children in developing countries.
            (17) It is essential that the United States Government 
        adopt a comprehensive approach for the provision of assistance 
        to orphans and other vulnerable children in developing 
        countries. A comprehensive approach would ensure that important 
        services, such as basic care, psychosocial support, school food 
        programs, increased educational opportunities and employment 
        training and related services, the protection and promotion of 
        inheritance rights for such children, and the treatment of 
        orphans and other vulnerable children with HIV/AIDS, are made 
        more accessible.
            (18) Assistance for orphans and other vulnerable children 
        can best be provided by a comprehensive approach of the United 
        States Government that--
                    (A) ensures that Federal agencies and the private 
                sector coordinate efforts to prevent and eliminate 
                duplication of efforts and waste in the provision of 
                such assistance; and
                    (B) to the maximum extent possible, focuses on 
                community-based programs that allow orphans and other 
                vulnerable children to remain connected to the 
                traditions and rituals of their families and 
                communities.

SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE FOR ORPHANS AND OTHER VULNERABLE CHILDREN IN 
              DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.

    Chapter 1 of part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 
U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following 
section:

``SEC. 135. ASSISTANCE FOR ORPHANS AND OTHER VULNERABLE CHILDREN.

    ``(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            ``(1) There are more than 110,000,000 orphans living in 
        sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
            ``(2) The HIV/AIDS pandemic has created an unprecedented 
        orphan crisis, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where children 
        have been hardest hit. The pandemic is deepening poverty in 
        entire communities, and is jeopardizing the health, safety, and 
        survival of all children in affected countries. It is estimated 
        that 14,000,000 children have lost one or both parents to AIDS.
            ``(3) The orphans crisis in sub-Saharan Africa has 
        implications for human welfare, development, and political 
        stability that extend far beyond the region, affecting 
        governments and people worldwide.
            ``(4) Extended families and local communities are 
        struggling to meet the basic needs of orphans and vulnerable 
        children by providing food, health care including treatment of 
        children living with HIV/AIDS, education expenses, and 
        clothing.
            ``(5) Providing assistance to such children is an important 
        expression of the humanitarian concern and tradition of the 
        people of the United States.
    ``(b) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) AIDS.--The term `AIDS' has the meaning given the term 
        in section 104A(g)(1) of this Act.
            ``(2) Children.--The term `children' means persons who have 
        not attained the age of 18.
            ``(3) HIV/AIDS.--The term `HIV/AIDS' has the meaning given 
        the term in section 104A(g)(3) of this Act.
            ``(4) Orphan.--The term `orphan' means a child deprived by 
        death of one or both parents.
            ``(5) Psychosocial support.--The term `psychosocial 
        support' includes care that addresses the ongoing psychological 
        and social problems that affect individuals, their partners, 
        families, and caregivers in order to alleviate suffering, 
        strengthen social ties and integration, provide emotional 
        support, and promote coping strategies.
    ``(c) Assistance.--The President is authorized to provide 
assistance, including providing such assistance through international 
or nongovernmental organizations, for programs in developing countries 
to provide basic care and services for orphans and other vulnerable 
children. Such programs should provide assistance--
            ``(1) to support families and communities to mobilize their 
        own resources through the establishment of community-based 
        organizations to provide basic care for orphans and other 
        vulnerable children;
            ``(2) for school food programs, including the purchase of 
        local or regional foodstuffs where appropriate;
            ``(3) to increase primary school enrollment through the 
        elimination of school fees, where appropriate, or other 
        barriers to education while ensuring that adequate resources 
        exist for teacher training and infrastructure;
            ``(4) to provide employment training and related services 
        for orphans and other vulnerable children who are of legal 
        working age;
            ``(5) to protect and promote the inheritance rights of 
        orphans, other vulnerable children, and widows;
            ``(6) to provide culturally appropriate psychosocial 
        support to orphans and other vulnerable children; and
            ``(7) to treat orphans and other vulnerable children with 
        HIV/AIDS through the provision of pharmaceuticals, the 
        recruitment and training of individuals to provide pediatric 
        treatment, and the purchase of pediatric-specific technologies.
    ``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            ``(1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated 
        to the President to carry out this section such sums as may be 
        necessary for each of the fiscal years 2005 and 2006.
            ``(2) Availability of funds.--Amounts made available under 
        paragraph (1) are authorized to remain available until expended 
        and are in addition to amounts otherwise available for such 
        purposes.
            ``(3) Relationship to other laws.--Amounts made available 
        for assistance pursuant to this subsection, and amounts made 
        available for such assistance pursuant to any other provision 
        of law, may be used to provide such assistance notwithstanding 
        any other provision of law.''.

SEC. 4. STRATEGY OF THE UNITED STATES.

    (a) Requirement for Strategy.--Not later than 180 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the President shall develop, and submit 
to the appropriate congressional committees, a strategy for 
coordinating, implementing, and monitoring assistance programs for 
orphans and vulnerable children.
    (b) Consultation.--The President should consult with employees of 
the field missions of the United States Agency for International 
Development in developing the strategy required by subsection (a) to 
ensure that such strategy--
            (1) will not impede the efficiency of implementing 
        assistance programs for orphans and vulnerable children; and
            (2) addresses the specific needs of indigenous populations.
    (c) Content.--The strategy required by subsection (a) shall 
include--
            (1) the identity of each agency or department of the 
        Federal Government that is providing assistance for orphans and 
        vulnerable children in foreign countries;
            (2) a description of the efforts of the head of each such 
        agency or department to coordinate the provision of such 
        assistance with other agencies or departments of the Federal 
        Government or nongovernmental entities;
            (3) a description of a coordinated strategy, including 
        coordination with other bilateral and multilateral donors, to 
        provide the assistance authorized in section 135 of the Foreign 
        Assistance Act of 1961, as added by section 3 of this Act;
            (4) an analysis of additional coordination mechanisms or 
        procedures that could be implemented to carry out the purposes 
        of such section;
            (5) a description of a monitoring system that establishes 
        performance goals for the provision of such assistance and 
        expresses such goals in an objective and quantifiable form, to 
        the extent feasible; and
            (6) a description of performance indicators to be used in 
        measuring or assessing the achievement of the performance goals 
        described in paragraph (5).

SEC. 5. ANNUAL REPORT.

    Not later than one year after the date on which the President 
submits the strategy required by section 4(a) to the appropriate 
congressional committees, and annually thereafter, the President shall 
submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees on the 
implementation of this Act.

SEC. 6. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.

    In this Act, the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' 
means the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Foreign 
Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Appropriations and the 
Committee on International Relations of the House of Representatives.
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