[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 421 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 421

    Urging the Administration to develop more effective and timely 
responses to famine in Africa, especially efforts to end the conflicts 
 in South Sudan, Nigeria, and other countries that cause or exacerbate 
                                famine.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 28, 2017

   Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself and Ms. Bass) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
    Urging the Administration to develop more effective and timely 
responses to famine in Africa, especially efforts to end the conflicts 
 in South Sudan, Nigeria, and other countries that cause or exacerbate 
                                famine.

Whereas famine is defined as a drastic, wide-ranging food shortage in which one 
        in five households have an extreme lack of food and other basic needs, 
        where starvation, death and destitution are evident despite humanitarian 
        assistance;
Whereas famine is largely caused by conflict in countries such as South Sudan, 
        Nigeria, and Somalia, where the interruption of the planting-harvesting 
        cycle has prevented internal production of food;
Whereas there are 1,800,000 refugees from the conflict in South Sudan in 
        neighboring countries and 2,000,000 internally displaced persons in that 
        country, and rapidly growing numbers of South Sudanese refugees are 
        placing a toll on Uganda and other countries hosting them as donor 
        contributions have not kept pace and food rations have been cut at times 
        by 50 percent;
Whereas South Sudan is experiencing heightened levels of food insecurity with as 
        high as 27 percent of the population in some areas facing famine, and 
        the United Nations estimates that at least 4,900,000 people in South 
        Sudan, more than 40 percent of the population, are in urgent need of 
        food;
Whereas, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, more than 30,000 lives 
        have been lost in violence related to Nigeria's Boko Haram insurgency;
Whereas 14,000,000 people in northeast Nigeria are in urgent need of 
        humanitarian assistance, including more than 8,000,000 children, and 
        almost 6,000,000 people are also facing severe food insecurity, and 
        almost 9,000,000 Nigerians are projected to suffer from food insecurity 
        by August 2017, including more than 3,000,000 people living in the 
        northeast state of Borno, where Boko Haram is active;
Whereas increasing attacks by Fulani militia on farmers in Nigeria's Middle Belt 
        threaten to further exacerbate hunger in the region;
Whereas more than 1,000,000 people are already internally displaced within 
        Somalia, there are an estimated 881,000 Somali refugees, and the 
        anticipated scale of population displacement from Somalia due to 
        pervasive conflict and the threat of starvation will increase refugee 
        flows throughout the region and into Europe;
Whereas, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 
        Somalia is the fourth largest source of refugees in the world, after 
        Afghanistan, Syria, and South Sudan;
Whereas in Somalia, nearly 6,200,000 people are currently in need of 
        humanitarian assistance, and more than 2,900,000 people are facing 
        crisis or emergency levels of acute food insecurity due to conflict, 
        including nearly 1,000,000 children under the age of five;
Whereas conflict in countries such as the Central African Republic, the 
        Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Mali could cause or exacerbate 
        famine should fighting disrupt planting-harvesting cycles and markets 
        where locally produced food can be purchased; and
Whereas drought threatens to exacerbate food insecurity in countries ranging 
        from Angola to Sudan to Mozambique to Madagascar: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That--
            (1) the United States Government should--
                    (A) use all available leverage, including that of 
                international partners, to achieve lasting, 
                comprehensive cease-fires in cases of conflict;
                    (B) work with governments to facilitate 
                disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of 
                combatants into a unified, professional national army 
                or assistance in preparing former combatants to engage 
                in productive occupations that eliminate the impulse to 
                resort to banditry or other illegal pursuits;
                    (C) use the Global Magnitsky Human Rights 
                Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 2656 note) to sanction 
                individuals or entities responsible for initiating or 
                prolonging conflict, endangering humanitarian aid 
                workers, or preventing delivery of humanitarian aid;
                    (D) apply all available weather and crop 
                information to more accurately predict incipient 
                drought and to determine the likelihood of famine in 
                areas of conflict;
                    (E) collaborate with other donor nations to 
                accelerate the provision of food, clean water, 
                medicine, and shelter to those in need;
                    (F) expand the prepositioning of aid commodities in 
                safe zones as close as possible to the region of famine 
                to expedite their provision;
                    (G) provide assistance to farmers, herders, and 
                fishermen to encourage resilience in the long run and 
                allow them to survive in the short term; and
                    (H) use cash transfers to more quickly provide food 
                aid where local markets exist in order to meet food 
                needs in a more timely manner and to support the 
                functioning of local markets; and
            (2) governments in affected African countries should--
                    (A) establish effective cease-fires and use force 
                thereafter only when government forces or facilities or 
                civilians are under attack;
                    (B) publicly identify individuals and entities that 
                actively threaten peace and safety and take police 
                action against those who do so in areas under 
                government control;
                    (C) work with civil society, especially faith-based 
                groups, to help end conflict at the grassroots level, 
                effect reconciliation and deliver food, clean water, 
                medicine, and shelter;
                    (D) make every effort to facilitate the expeditious 
                delivery of food, clean water, medicine, and shelter 
                and do not erect bureaucratic impediments to the 
                delivery of such aid;
                    (E) contribute from their own resources to the 
                greatest extent possible to provide food, clean water, 
                medicine, and shelter to their own citizens;
                    (F) protect humanitarian aid workers and the 
                commodities they deliver, including providing security 
                for convoys and facilities where feasible; and
                    (G) take all appropriate actions to safeguard 
                agricultural areas and farm personnel to help ensure 
                the continued provision of locally produced food and 
                the markets at which they could be sold.
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