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
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.