Senate Resolution 227--Pledging Continued Support for International Hunger Relief Efforts and Expressing the Sense of the Senate That .....

SENATE RESOLUTION 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

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:

S. Res. 227

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 Nambia;

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.

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