[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 227 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 227

Pledging continued support for international hunger relief efforts and 
 expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States Government 
  should use resources and diplomatic leverage to secure food aid for 
 countries that are in need of further assistance to prevent acute and 
                            chronic hunger.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 29, 2005

    Mr. DeWine (for himself, Mr. Kohl, Mr. Cochran, Mr. Leahy, Mr. 
   Chambliss, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Brownback, Mr. Durbin, Mrs. Dole, Mrs. 
 Lincoln, Mr. Smith, Mr. Corzine, Mr. Coleman, Mr. Dorgan, Mr. Hatch, 
 Mr. Obama, Ms. Collins, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Santorum, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. 
   Chafee, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Martinez, Mr. Dayton, Mr. Roberts, Mr. 
 Inouye, Mr. McCain, Mr. Nelson of Florida, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Lugar, Mr. 
  Nelson of Nebraska, Mr. Sarbanes, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Levin, and Mr. 
  Reed) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Pledging continued support for international hunger relief efforts and 
 expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States Government 
  should use resources and diplomatic leverage to secure food aid for 
 countries that are in need of further assistance to prevent acute and 
                            chronic hunger.

Whereas although there is enough food to feed all of the people in the world, as 
        of summer 2005, 852,000,000 people are in need of food aid;
Whereas almost 200,000,000 children under the age of 5 are malnourished and 
        underweight and 1 child dies every 5 seconds from hunger and related 
        ailments;
Whereas the United Nations World Food Programme estimates that more than 
        5,000,000 metric tons of food is needed to prevent widespread hunger, 80 
        percent of which will be used for emergency programs to provide aid for 
        people threatened by famine in 2005;
Whereas, as of summer 2005, the United States contributed approximately \1/2\ of 
        the total food aid received by the United Nations World Food Programme 
        in 2005;
Whereas, as of summer 2005, 1 person out of every 3 people in Africa is 
        malnourished as a result of drought, conflict, the human 
        immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome 
        (AIDS), locust infestations, and economic dislocation, and countries in 
        Africa will lack at least 1,500,000 metric tons of the food necessary to 
        provide sufficient nutrition to the people in these countries if the 
        level of donations does not increase;
Whereas the World Food Programme, as of summer 2005, had barely \1/2\ of the 
        contributions needed to provide food aid to the 26,000,000 victims of 
        food shortage in Africa;
Whereas more than 14,000,000 people in the Horn of Africa are experiencing or 
        are vulnerable to experiencing a severe food shortage;
Whereas approximately \2/3\ of the population of Eritrea needs food aid and 
        nearly \1/2\ of the women and children in the country are malnourished;
Whereas, as of summer 2005, 8,300,000 people in Ethiopia are in need of food aid 
        and other assistance as a result of poor harvests, degraded land, small 
        land holdings, high population growth, loss of crops, and loss of 
        livestock and other assets;
Whereas the United Nations World Food Programme food aid programs in Ethiopia 
        have received less than \1/2\ of the funding necessary to continue these 
        operations;
Whereas the United Nations World Food Programme had received, as of summer 2005, 
        less than 10 percent of the funding necessary to provide aid to the 
        3,500,000 people in Sudan who will need food in 2005, particularly 
        during the height of the annual hunger season that lasts from August to 
        October, due to political instability and weather conditions that ruined 
        harvests in the country;
Whereas a lack of funds will require the United Nations World Food Programme to 
        reduce the amount of aid given to 2,000,000 people in Burundi, including 
        to 210,000 malnourished children and nursing mothers who face a food 
        shortage as a result of drought and instability;
Whereas a lack of funds is expected to drastically constrain food aid programs 
        worldwide and the critical efforts of private voluntary organizations of 
        the United States that play a central role in implementing such 
        programs;
Whereas a lack of funds forced the United Nations World Food Programme to begin 
        reducing the amount of aid given to an estimated 6,000,000 people in 
        West Africa who are experiencing a famine caused by displacement, 
        drought, and locusts;
Whereas humanitarian agencies report rising rates of malnutrition among children 
        under 5 years of age in Mauritania, Mali, and Niger, which can lead to 
        developmental difficulties and growth stunting;
Whereas nearly 4,000,000 people in Niger, including 800,000 children, will face 
        a food shortage in 2005 at a time when the child malnutrition rate in 
        the Niger region has reached emergency levels and the country has been 
        afflicted by locusts and drought;
Whereas the Government of Mauritania had received only \1/2\ of the aid 
        necessary to prevent a food shortage as of summer 2005, leaving 60 
        percent of the families in Mauritania without access to a sufficient 
        amount of food in 2005;
Whereas a lack of food in Sierra Leone forced the United Nations World Food 
        Programme to reduce the amount of aid given to 50,000 Liberian refugees 
        residing in the country in the summer of 2005, causing additional strife 
        in an already tense political environment;
Whereas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Nations World Food 
        Programme has a 47 percent funding shortfall as of summer 2005, which 
        could force reductions in the amount of food aid delivered to 2,900,000 
        people in the war-torn country;
Whereas, as of summer 2005, donors had provided less than 20 percent of the 
        total funding that the United Nations World Food Programme needs to 
        provide an adequate amount of food for the people of southern Africa;
Whereas, due to increasingly severe drought conditions, the number of people who 
        are in need of food aid in southern Africa increased from 3,500,000 
        people in the beginning of 2005 to 8,300,000 people by the summer of 
        2005, of which 4,000,000 are located in Zimbabwe, 1,600,000 in Malawi, 
        1,200,000 in Zambia, 900,000 in Mozambique, 245,000 in Lesotho, 230,000 
        in Swaziland, and 60,000 in Namibia;
Whereas international donors determined that hunger and poverty in Zimbabwe are 
        largely attributed to the political corruption of the governmental 
        structure in the country;
Whereas the United Nations World Food Programme and the World Bank proposed 
        using aid to fund innovative weather and famine insurance policies that 
        could protect small farmers from hardships suffered as a result of 
        droughts and natural disasters;
Whereas food insecurity, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and weak government institutions 
        leave countries more vulnerable to external shocks and internal 
        political unrest; and
Whereas the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust was established solely to meet 
        emergency humanitarian food needs in developing countries: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That--
            (1) the Senate--
                    (A) encourages expanded efforts to alleviate hunger 
                throughout developing countries; and
                    (B) pledges to continue to support international 
                hunger relief efforts; and
            (2) it is the sense of the Senate that--
                    (A) the United States Government should use 
                financial and diplomatic resources to work with other 
                donors to ensure that food aid programs receive all 
                necessary funding and supplies; and
                    (B) food aid should be provided in conjunction with 
                measures to alleviate hunger, malnutrition, and 
                poverty.
                                 <all>