[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 117 (Friday, August 2, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1501-E1502]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        PRIVATE VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATIONS AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY

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                          HON. LEE H. HAMILTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, August 2, 1996

  Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Speaker, several weeks ago I had the honor of co-
hosting a ceremony during which three private U.S. groups that help the 
U.S. Government and the U.N. distribute food aid--CARE, Save the 
Children, and World Vision--signed new working agreements with the U.N. 
World Food Program. This event provides an opportunity to pay tribute 
to the inspiring work of U.S.-based private voluntary organizations 
that help meet basic humanitarian needs worldwide.
  Private voluntary organizations, many of them church- and synagogue-
based, have played important roles in promoting U.S. humanitarian and 
foreign policy objectives since World War II. Catholic Relief Services, 
CARE, Save the Children, World Vision, and other U.S.-based groups have 
been key participants in one of the most successful U.S. foreign policy 
initiatives of the post-war era: the Food for Peace Program. Since the 
enactment of the Food for Peace statute in 1954, the United States has 
distributed nearly $55 billion in food aid in 150 countries. U.S. food 
aid, much of it distributed by private voluntary organizations, has 
saved millions of people from starvation and improved the health and 
quality of life of tens of millions of others. Private U.S. development 
agencies, medical teams, and refugee groups have enhanced the living 
standards of countless others in the developing world.
  Americans take pride in the impressive humanitarian achievements of 
U.S. private voluntary organizations, whose work has been generously 
supported by millions of U.S. donors. But some Americans may not be 
aware that the work of these groups also supports important U.S. 
foreign policy interests.
  U.S. food aid has promoted economic development in dozens of 
countries. Economic development has turned many food aid recipients 
into big markets for U.S. farm exports, and it has enhanced the 
political stability of

[[Page E1502]]

many friendly countries. U.S. food aid has also helped ease the 
transition to market-oriented economies in many former communist 
countries. The efforts of other private voluntary organizations to 
build homes, teach skills, care for the sick and wounded, and shelter 
refugees have eliminated many of the underlying sources of political 
violence and military conflict.
  The role of U.S. private voluntary organizations overseas has been 
extraordinary: no private-public partnership has been more effective in 
promoting key U.S. foreign policy goals. Americans owe these groups 
considerable gratitude for their vital contribution to our humanitarian 
objectives, our national security, and our international prestige.
  But the dedicated and talented people who work for U.S. private 
voluntary organizations would not want note to be taken of their work 
without some attention also being paid to the human deprivation that 
still exists in the developing world. We need consider only the 
stunning data on world hunger to gain a sense of the scope of the 
world's unmet humanitarian needs. More than 13 million children die 
from hunger-related causes every year--an average of 35,000 each day, 
or 1,500 an hour. More than 180 million children are seriously 
malnourished today; many of those who survive will never reach their 
full physical and intellectual potential. The U.S. Department of 
Agriculture predicts that world food aid needs will double just in the 
next decade. Yet the food aid budgets of many countries are declining, 
food prices are rising, and farm surpluses are low.
  U.S. food aid spending has been declining since 1993. The major farm 
bill enacted into law earlier this year included several measures that 
will make U.S. food aid programs more effective, but there is a limit 
to what we can do with declining resources.
  Most Americans support U.S. Government food aid and other assistance 
to the world's poorest people. They want to help people in need, and 
they recognize that alleviating suffering make the world more secure 
and peaceful. As they learn more about the essential role played by 
private voluntary organizations in implementing the humanitarian 
programs of U.S. foreign policy, I am confident Americans will want to 
expand and improve those programs.

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