[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 87 (Thursday, June 21, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6620-S6621]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 53--ENCOURAGING THE DEVELOPMENT OF 
  STRATEGIES TO REDUCE HUNGER AND POVERTY, AND TO PROMOTE FREE MARKET 
      ECONOMIES AND DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS, IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

  Mr. HAGEL (for himself, Mr. Leahy, and Mr. Levin) submitted the 
following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
Foreign Relations:

                            S. Con. Res. 53

       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring),

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This concurrent resolution may be cited as the ``Hunger to 
     Harvest: Decade of Support for Sub-Saharan Africa 
     Resolution''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds the following:
       (1) Despite some progress in recent years, sub-Saharan 
     Africa enters the new millennium with many of the world's 
     poorest countries and is the one region of the world where 
     hunger is both pervasive and increasing.
       (2) Thirty-three of the world's 41 poorest debtor countries 
     are in sub-Saharan Africa and an estimated 291,000,000 
     people, nearly one-half of sub-Saharan Africa's total 
     population, currently live in extreme poverty on less than $1 
     a day.
       (3) One in three people in sub-Saharan Africa is 
     chronically undernourished, double the number of three 
     decades ago. One child out of seven dies before the age of 
     five, and one-half of these deaths are due to malnutrition.
       (4) Sub-Saharan Africa is the region in the world most 
     affected by infectious disease, accounting for one-half of 
     the deaths worldwide from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, 
     cholera, and several other diseases.
       (5) Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 70 percent of adults, and 
     80 percent of children, living with the HIV virus, and 75 
     percent of the people worldwide who have died of AIDS lived 
     in Africa.
       (6) The HIV/AIDS pandemic has erased many of the 
     development gains of the past generation in sub-Saharan 
     Africa and now threatens to undermine economic and social 
     progress for the next generation, with life expectancy in 
     parts of sub-Saharan Africa having already decreased by 10-20 
     years as a result of AIDS.
       (7) Despite these immense challenges, the number of sub-
     Saharan African countries that are moving toward open 
     economies and more accountable governments has increased, and 
     these countries are beginning to achieve local solutions to 
     their common problems.
       (8) To make lasting improvements in the lives of their 
     people, sub-Saharan Africa governments need support as they 
     act to solve conflicts, make critical investments in human 
     capacity and infrastructure, combat corruption, reform their 
     economies, stimulate trade and equitable economic growth, and 
     build democracy.
       (9) Despite sub-Saharan Africa's enormous development 
     challenges, United States companies hold approximately 
     $12,800,000,000 in investments in sub-Saharan Africa, greater 
     than United States investments in either the Middle East or 
     Eastern Europe, and total United States trade with sub-
     Saharan Africa currently exceeds that with all of the 
     independent states of the former Soviet Union, including the 
     Russian Federation. This economic relationship could be put 
     at risk unless additional public and private resources are 
     provided to combat poverty and promote equitable economic 
     growth in sub-Saharan Africa.
       (10) Bread for the World Institute calculates that the goal 
     of reducing world hunger by one-half by 2015 is achievable 
     through an increase of $4,000,000,000 in annual funding from 
     all donors for poverty-focused development. If the United 
     States were to shoulder one-fourth of this aid burden--
     approximately $1,000,000,000 a year--the cost to each United 
     States citizen would be one penny per day.

[[Page S6621]]

       (11) Failure to effectively address sub-Saharan Africa's 
     development needs could result in greater conflict and 
     increased poverty, heightening the prospect of humanitarian 
     intervention and potentially threatening a wide range of 
     United States interests in sub-Saharan Africa.

     SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

       It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) the years 2002 through 2012 should be declared ``A 
     Decade of Support for Sub-Saharan Africa'';
       (2) not later than 90 days after the date of adoption of 
     this concurrent resolution, the President should submit a 
     report to Congress setting forth a five-year strategy, and a 
     ten-year strategy, to achieve a reversal of current levels of 
     hunger and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, including a 
     commitment to contribute an appropriate United States share 
     of increased bilateral and multilateral poverty-focused 
     resources for sub-Saharan Africa, with an emphasis on--
       (A) health, including efforts to prevent, treat, and 
     control HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other diseases 
     that contribute to malnutrition and hunger, and to promote 
     maternal health and child survival;
       (B) education, with an emphasis on equal access to learning 
     for girls and women;
       (C) agriculture, including strengthening subsistence 
     agriculture as well as the ability to compete in global 
     agricultural markets, and investment in infrastructure and 
     rural development;
       (D) private sector and free market development, to bring 
     sub-Saharan Africa into the global ecomony, enable people to 
     purchase food, and make health and education investments 
     sustainable;
       (E) democratic institutions and the rule of law, including 
     strengthening civil society and independent judiciaries;
       (F) micro-finance development; and
       (G) debt relief that provides incentives for sub-Saharan 
     African countries to invest in poverty-focused development, 
     and to expand democratic participation, free markets, trade, 
     and investment;
       (3) the President should work with the heads of other donor 
     countries and sub-Saharan African countries, and with United 
     States and sub-Saharan African private and voluntary 
     organizations and other civic organizations, including faith-
     based organizations, to implement the strategies described in 
     paragraph (2);
       (4) Congress should undertake a multi-year commitment to 
     provide the resources to implement those strategies; and
       (5) 120 days after the date of adoption of this concurrent 
     resolution, and every year thereafter, the Administrator of 
     the United States Agency for International Development, in 
     consultation with the heads of other appropriate Federal 
     departments and agencies, should submit to Congress a report 
     on the implementation of those strategies, including the 
     action taken under paragraph (3), describing--
       (A) the results of the implementation of those strategies 
     as of the date of the report, including the progress made and 
     any setbacks suffered;
       (B) impediments to, and opportunities for, future progress;
       (C) proposed changes to those strategies, if any; and
       (D) the role and extent of cooperation of the governments 
     of sub-Saharan countries and other donors, both public and 
     private, in combating poverty and promoting equitable 
     economic development.

  Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President, today I am submitting a resolution that 
expresses the sense of the Senate that the United States should commit 
itself to fighting hunger and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, and should 
demonstrate this commitment through increased financial assistance 
until the continent's current hunger trends are reversed.
  Hunger, poverty and disease are widespread in sub-Saharan Africa. 
Approximately 291 million individuals in the region, nearly half of the 
total population, live on less than $1 a day. Thirty-three of the 
world's 41 heavily indebted poor countries, HIPCs, are in sub-Saharan 
Africa. The United States and other developed countries can help. We 
must invest in poverty-focused development, directed towards 
investments that have proven to be effective in reducing hunger, in the 
areas of agriculture, health, education, micro-finance, and debt 
relief. We must support sub-Saharan African countries as they are 
becoming more democratic and are shaping locally based solutions to 
hunger and poverty with the participation of civil society and 
nongovernmental organizations.
  The urgency and tragedy of the AIDS pandemic has drawn important 
attention to the continent of sub-Saharan Africa. As we address the 
HIV/AIDS pandemic, we must also address hunger. Hunger and health are 
closely linked: poor people cannot feed themselves adequately, and the 
resulting malnourishment weakens their bodies' defense against AIDS and 
other infectious diseases. Poor communities cannot build clinics for 
AIDS-related education, diagnosis, or treatment, and even if clinics 
exist, poor and hungry people cannot afford fees for care or medicine. 
To address HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, we must also address the 
context that promotes this pandemic's spread.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am pleased to join with my friend from 
Nebraska, Senator Hagel, in submitting this resolution, entitled 
``Hunger to Harvest: A Decade of Support for sub-Saharan Africa.'' The 
Resolution speaks for itself, but I want to make a couple of brief 
points.
  Sub-Saharan Africa today is a region suffering from immense problems, 
and none more catastrophic than AIDS. Over 25 million people are 
infected with the AIDS virus, and almost 4 million more people are 
infected each year. The disease is destroying whole societies in a 
region that was already the poorest in the world.
  Another million people, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and mostly 
children, die from malaria each year. Many of these deaths could be 
prevented with mosquito bed nets that cost a few dollars a piece.
  An estimated 2 million people have died from hunger and disease in 
the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the civil war there, and 
hardly anyone noticed. There is similar suffering in southern Sudan.
  Hunger and poverty are endemic in sub-Saharan Africa, as are violence 
and corruption. It is beyond tragic that a region with such great 
potential has been so devastated by corrupt leaders who have robbed 
their countries' wealth, and fought wars for no other reason than to 
amass riches and power, wars that have spanned decades and wreaked 
havoc on their own people.
  Yet despite this terrible legacy there are signs of hope. Some 
countries have emerged from chaos and are beginning to recover. Nigeria 
is an example. Namibia is another. Still others, like the Democratic 
Republic of the Congo, are showing tentative but encouraging signs. It 
is also noteworthy that American companies are increasingly investing 
in sub-Saharan Africa, investments which today total some $12.8 
billion.
  These are positive changes that deserve our support, but United 
States assistance to sub-Saharan Africa is a mere $2 per person per 
year. We cannot solve Africa's problems, but Bread for the World 
Institute calculates that great progress could be made in reducing 
hunger and poverty in Africa with relatively modest increases in 
international assistance.
  This Resolution seeks to focus attention on the urgent needs in sub-
Saharan Africa. But it goes further, by requesting the Administration 
to develop five and ten year strategies for helping to address those 
needs, in health, education and agriculture, and for promoting free 
market economies, trade and investment, democracy and the rule of law. 
With clear strategies, specific goals, the resources to implement them, 
and benchmarks for measuring results, we can make a difference. We also 
request the Administration to report on progress in implementing these 
strategies.
  It is my hope that this resolution will lead to a new U.S. approach 
toward sub-Saharan Africa. As the world's richest, most powerful Nation 
I believe we can and should do far more to assist the world's poor. But 
the leaders of the sub-Saharan countries also have a responsibility to 
support policies that benefit and provide incentives to their people. 
Those who do, deserve our support.
  Finally, I want to thank Bread for the World for its help on the 
Resolution, and for its life-saving work in sub-Saharan Africa and 
around the world.

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