III 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 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. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 29, 2005 

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 

RESOLUTION 

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. 

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; 
2 

•SRES 227 IS

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 
3 

•SRES 227 IS

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; 
4 

•SRES 227 IS

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, 
5 

•SRES 227 IS

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 

1 Resolved, That— 

2 (1) the Senate— 

3 (A) encourages expanded efforts to allevi4 ate hunger throughout developing countries; 

5 and 

6 (B) pledges to continue to support inter7 national hunger relief efforts; and 

8 (2) it is the sense of the Senate that— 

9 (A) the United States Government should 

10 use financial and diplomatic resources to work 

11 with other donors to ensure that food aid pro-
6 

•SRES 227 IS

1 grams receive all necessary funding and sup2 plies; and 

3 (B) food aid should be provided in con4 junction with measures to alleviate hunger, mal5 nutrition, and poverty. 

Æ