IV

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 100

Urging the President to redirect United States foreign assistance policies

and spending priorities toward promoting sustainable development, especially the reduction of global hunger and poverty in environmentally

sound ways.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 12, 1993

Mr. BEREUTER (for himself, Mr. HALL of Ohio, Mr. GILMAN, Mr. GEJDENSON, Mr. MFUME, Mr. PENNY, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. MCCLOSKEY, Mr. EDWARDS

of California, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. DEUTSCH, Mr. TORRICELLI, Ms.

MCKINNEY, Mr. PAYNE of New Jersey, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. FINGERHUT,

Mr. WHEAT, and Mrs. MINK) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Urging the President to redirect United States foreign assistance policies and spending priorities toward promoting

sustainable development, especially the reduction of global hunger and poverty in environmentally sound ways.

Whereas the post-Cold War world is one of tremendous

human deprivation in which more than one-fifth of humanity exists in poverty, living a life of hunger, illness,

and illiteracy;

Whereas tens of thousands of children in the developing

world die each day, many of them from preventable dis-
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eases, and millions of other children are disabled or blind

as a result of malnutrition;

Whereas poor people are victims of and contributors to environmental degradation—victims insofar as they are disproportionately exposed to pollution and toxic and radioactive wastes, and contributors insofar as they accelerate

processes such as deforestation and soil erosion in their

fight for survival on marginal lands;

Whereas poverty-related conditions foster rapid population

growth, which in turn exacerbates pressures on land and

other natural resources, worsens unemployment, and

strains government services;

Whereas in recent decades, the income gap between richest

and poorest countries has widened, due in part to the

large accumulated debt of many developing countries,

with many countries now paying more in debt service

than they receive in assistance and investment;

Whereas this debt and the resulting economic adjustments

have taken their heaviest toll on the poor, especially

women, in the form of higher food prices, reduced health

care, education, housing, and other social services, and

higher unemployment;

Whereas poverty-related conditions of hunger, illiteracy, disease, and environmental degradation pose a serious

threat to the economic and physical security of the

United States and the world;

Whereas such conditions impede economic growth, undermine

new democracies, fuel political instability within countries

and across regions, foster displacement and massive migration, allow the spread of acquired immune deficiency
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syndrome (AIDS) and other epidemics, and damage the

environment;

Whereas the United States therefore has a direct self-interest

in promoting development that will avert such threats;

Whereas the United States has historically been a leader in

providing assistance in response to humanitarian emergencies;

Whereas United States development cooperation has made

valuable contributions to sustainable development (including increases in life expectancy and reductions in infant

and child mortality) through bilateral programs, including selected programs of the Agency for International

Development, the Peace Corps, and public foundations

such as the Inter-American Foundation, the African Development Foundation, and Appropriate Technology

International, and through contributions to United Nations organizations and programs;

Whereas some United States development cooperation efforts

have failed to respond adequately to the needs of poor

people and the environment or have even contributed to

environmental degradation and to impoverishment;

Whereas the easing of Cold War tensions requires a reassessment of United States foreign assistance objectives, programs, and spending priorities, and presents a unique opportunity to shift the emphasis from military and security-related priorities to addressing the urgent and interrelated problems of poverty and environmental destruction;

Whereas a global consensus on the need for and on strategies

for achieving equitable, sustainable, and participatory development has emerged through several decades of devel-
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opment experience and through international meetings on

nutrition, environment, children, and women;

Whereas United States citizens have historically demonstrated strong support for humanitarian and sustainable development programs of the United States Government—when they are confident that assistance reaches

poor people and communities;

Whereas United States citizens make generous private contributions to nongovernmental organizations that engage

in international relief and sustainable development activities;

Whereas nongovernmental organizations, both in the United

States and in developing countries, are often highly qualified actors in promoting grassroots development,

strengthening civil society, and providing humanitarian

assistance;

Whereas only 1 percent of the United States Government

budget is spent on foreign assistance, and only approximately 25 percent of that amount goes toward programs

focused on sustainable development and humanitarian

needs; and

Whereas since the mid-1980s, resources have begun to shift

within the foreign assistance budget toward increased expenditures for humanitarian and sustainable development

programs: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring),

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This resolution may be cited as the ‘‘Many Neigh5 bors, One Earth Resolution’’.
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1 SEC. 2. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT POLICY AND PRO2 GRAM OF ACTION.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President is urged to develop

4 and implement a coordinated economic and development

5 policy and program of action designed to promote broad6 based, sustainable development that will reduce global

7 hunger and poverty in environmentally sound ways.

8 (b) PRINCIPAL OBJECTIVES.—This policy and pro9 gram of action should have as principal objectives the fol10 lowing 4 elements of sustainable development, which are

11 interrelated and mutually reinforcing:

12 (1) ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES.—Expanding

13 economic opportunities for all women and men, espe14 cially the poor, to increase their productivity, earn15 ing capacity, and income in ways that do not harm

16 the environment.

17 (2) BASIC HUMAN NEEDS.—Meeting the basic

18 human needs for food, clean water, shelter, health

19 care, and education necessary for all people to be

20 productive and to improve their quality of life.

21 (3) ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND SUS22 TAINABLE USE OF NATURAL RESOURCES.—Promot23 ing environmental protection and sustainable use of

24 land, water, forests, and other natural resources,

25 taking into account the needs of present and future

26 generations.
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1 (4) PLURALISM, DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION,

2 AND HUMAN RIGHTS.—Promoting pluralism, demo3 cratic participation in economic and political deci4 sions that affect people’s lives (especially participa5 tion by poor men and women), and respect for

6 human and civil rights, including the rights of fe7 males and indigenous peoples.

8 (c) ALL RELEVANT ACTIVITIES OF THE GOVERN9 MENT TO BE INCLUDED.—This policy and program of ac10 tion should involve all relevant international activities of

11 the United States Government, including—

12 (1) bilateral economic assistance programs;

13 (2) contributions to international and multilat14 eral development agencies and institutions;

15 (3) policies concerning international agricul16 tural, environmental, health, energy, trade, debt, and

17 monetary issues; and

18 (4) foreign military assistance programs.

19 (d) SPECIFIC ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN.—In further20 ance of this policy and program of action, the President

21 is urged to do the following:

22 (1) Propose the enactment of legislation provid23 ing for a post-Cold War foreign assistance program

24 that would have as its primary purpose the pro25 motion of sustainable development, especially the re-
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1 duction of hunger and poverty in environmentally

2 sound ways, and that would incorporate the 4 objec3 tives set forth in subsection (b).

4 (2) Develop and implement development co5 operation programs and projects in pursuit of the 4

6 objectives set forth in subsection (b).

7 (3) Ensure that activities carried out pursuant

8 to this policy and program of action build on com9 munity-based initiatives, wherever possible, and in10 vigorate local community-based development, espe11 cially the role of women in development.

12 (4) Ensure that development cooperation pro13 grams take into account the relevant local-level per14 spectives of the rural and urban poor (including

15 women, minorities and indigenous people) during the

16 design, planning, and implementation process for

17 project and program assistance. Toward this objec18 tive, the agency primarily responsible for administer19 ing such assistance should consult closely with, and

20 should involve directly in program and project deci21 sionmaking (especially at the identification and de22 sign stages), indigenous and United States-based

23 nongovernmental organizations that have dem24 onstrated effectiveness in or commitment to the pro-
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1 motion of community-based development on behalf of

2 sustainable development in developing countries.

3 (5) Provide government-to-government assist4 ance only to countries that exhibit a commitment to

5 development that promotes the 4 objectives set forth

6 in subsection (b) through relevant sectoral and na7 tional policies, with priority given to countries with

8 the highest incidence of hunger and poverty. In

9 countries where relevant sector or national policies

10 are clearly unfavorable to poor people or where the

11 government engages in patterns of gross violation of

12 internationally recognized human rights, United

13 States Government assistance should be provided

14 only through nongovernmental organizations.

15 (6) Give special priority to developing and im16 plementing policies and programs that give primary

17 benefit to the households of the absolute poor, tak18 ing steps to ensure that all members of such house19 holds benefit, including women and female children.

20 (7) Encourage and support the efforts of coun21 tries to reduce their level of military spending when

22 such spending is disproportionate to security needs

23 and disproportionate to spending on health, edu24 cation, and environmental protection.
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1 (8) Exercise leadership in building the global

2 commitment and cooperation necessary for countries

3 to make significant progress toward the goals adopt4 ed at the 1992 International Conference on Nutri5 tion, the 1992 United Nations Conference on Envi6 ronment and Development, the 1990 World Summit

7 for Children, and the 1985 World Conference on

8 Women. United States development cooperation ef9 forts should assist countries to establish national

10 priorities, formulate national strategies, and build

11 institutional and technical capacity directed toward

12 the attainment of these global goals, through proc13 esses that invite broad public participation.

14 (9) Enter into negotiations with highly indebted

15 poor countries that are committed to sustainable de16 velopment on reducing the debt owed by such coun17 tries to the United States Government, and, when18 ever possible, structure debt reduction (including

19 debt swaps) to support their sustainable develop20 ment strategies.

21 (10) Develop and propose an effective system of

22 evaluation and accountability for programs and

23 projects of development cooperation, resulting in re24 ports to the Congress on their effectiveness in fur25 thering the 4 objectives set forth in subsection (b),
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1 including assessment of strategies adopted to achieve

2 the objectives. Independent assessments conducted

3 by nongovernmental representatives in the United

4 States and recipient countries that have dem5 onstrated effectiveness in local, community-based de6 velopment should be an integral part of the system

7 of evaluation and accountability.

8 (11) Examine the necessity of restructuring or

9 replacing the Agency for International Development

10 in order to have an effective bilateral development

11 cooperation program that can achieve the 4 objec12 tives set forth in subsection (b). Whatever agency is

13 primarily responsible for administering assistance

14 under such program should be insulated from undue

15 influence from short-term, nondevelopmental inter16 ests.

17 (12) Give greater attention to linking emer18 gency relief efforts to conflict resolution, rehabilita19 tion, and longer-term development activities. The ca20 pability of the United States military to provide ap21 propriate logistical, transportation, and engineering

22 support in emergencies should be assessed, and a

23 formal coordination link established if appropriate.
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1 (13) Maintain or expand, relative to fiscal year

2 1993 levels, budgets and expenditures for emergency

3 and developmental food assistance.

4 (14) Propose that for each of fiscal years 1994

5 through 1997 no less than the fiscal year 1993 level

6 of $7,000,000,000 be provided for nonfood economic

7 assistance, including multilateral economic assist8 ance, development assistance, assistance from the

9 Development Fund for Africa, assistance to the

10 independent states of the former Soviet Union and

11 to Eastern Europe, and other bilateral economic as12 sistance.

13 (15) Using the funds allocated for nonfood eco14 nomic assistance pursuant to paragraph (14), in15 crease assistance from the level of approximately

16 $3,000,000,000 for fiscal year 1993 to no less than

17 $3,700,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 1994

18 through 1997 for the following international and bi19 lateral organizations, programs, and projects that ef20 fectively serve humanitarian needs and sustainable

21 development objectives:

22 (A) Voluntary contributions to United Na23 tions organizations and programs.

24 (B) International disaster assistance.
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1 (C) Migration and refugee assistance and

2 emergency migration and refugee assistance.

3 (D) The Peace Corps.

4 (E) Government-funded foundations, in5 cluding the African Development Foundation,

6 the Inter-American Foundation, and Appro7 priate Technology International.

8 (F) The Development Fund for Africa.

9 (G) Those programs and projects funded

10 from the appropriations accounts for ‘‘Develop11 ment Assistance’’ and special initiatives that di12 rectly serve at least one of the four objectives

13 set forth in subsection (b), including programs

14 and projects involving small-scale appropriate

15 technology, micro and small enterprise credit,

16 farming system design and extension, technical

17 and management training, food security, pri18 mary health care, infectious disease control, nu19 trition, basic education, child survival, low-in20 come housing, potable water, basic sanitation,

21 infrastructure for meeting basic human needs,

22 environmental protection, energy efficiency, sus23 tainable agriculture and fisheries, sustainable

24 forest and water management, natural resource

25 conservation, pollution control, community-
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1 based media and communication, human rights,

2 women’s rights, civic processes, and voluntary

3 cooperation.

4 Increases in funding for such organizations, pro5 grams, and projects should be achieved by reallocat6 ing funds within the bilateral economic assistance

7 budget and by shifting funds from security assist8 ance programs.

9 (16) Direct that no less than $2,500,000,000 of

10 the amount of assistance called for in paragraph

11 (15) be used for sustainable development and hu12 manitarian needs in developing countries.

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