Title: Supporting ongoing efforts by the United States Government, in concert with the United Nations and the donor community, to respond to drought and food insecurity in the Horn of Africa.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Commends:
Calls on:

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 239 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 239

Supporting ongoing efforts by the United States Government, in concert 
with the United Nations and the donor community, to respond to drought 
               and food insecurity in the Horn of Africa.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 3, 2017

  Mr. Engel (for himself, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Ms. Bass, and Mr. 
Ellison) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Supporting ongoing efforts by the United States Government, in concert 
with the United Nations and the donor community, to respond to drought 
               and food insecurity in the Horn of Africa.

Whereas the worst famine in 20 years occurred in Somalia between October 2010 
        and April 2012, caused by severe drought, failed harvests, a spike in 
        food prices, and pervasive insecurity, which impeded the delivery of 
        food aid;
Whereas the famine resulted in the deaths of at least 260,000 Somalis and Somali 
        refugees in Southern Ethiopia and Northern Kenya, including at least 
        133,000 children under the age of five;
Whereas early warning of drought and famine conditions was accurate and timely 
        across the region, but funding for the humanitarian response came too 
        late to mitigate the worst effects of the drought, including mass 
        displacement into neighboring countries, starvation, and death;
Whereas in 2011 alone, the threat of starvation contributed to the influx of 
        over 110,000 Somali refugees into Ethiopia, 100,000 Somali refugees into 
        Kenya, and thousands more into Djibouti;
Whereas a shortage of rainfall over the course of the past two years has again 
        exacerbated drought conditions, significantly increasing vulnerability 
        and food insecurity across the Horn of Africa region, leaving more than 
        14,000,000 people facing severe food insecurity and in need of 
        humanitarian assistance as of early 2017;
Whereas in February 2017, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) 
        and the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit for Somalia (FSNAU) 
        warned of a significant deterioration in food security and an increased 
        risk of famine in the Horn of Africa in the coming months if the April-
        June rains are as poor as expected;
Whereas the effects of drought place the heaviest burden on women and girls, 
        whose coping strategies put them at increased risk of violence and cause 
        them to forego educational opportunities;
Whereas in Ethiopia, drought conditions have developed in recent months in at 
        least 15 zones of Oromia, Somali, and the Southern Nations, 
        Nationalities, and Peoples regions, and 5,600,000 people are projected 
        to require humanitarian assistance in the coming months;
Whereas Kenya has experienced two consecutive seasons of poor rains, causing 12 
        counties to experience drought conditions and contributing to acute food 
        insecurity for 2,600,000 people;
Whereas in Somalia, nearly 6,200,000 people are currently in need of 
        humanitarian assistance, and more than 2,900,000 people are facing 
        crisis or emergency levels of acute food insecurity, including nearly a 
        million children under the age of five;
Whereas according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 
        Somalia is the fourth largest source of refugees in the world, after 
        Afghanistan, Syria, and South Sudan;
Whereas more than 1,000,000 people are already internally displaced within 
        Somalia, many living in dire and unsafe informal displacement camps 
        where they face a range of serious risks, including sexual violence and 
        violent forced evictions;
Whereas the anticipated scale of population displacement from Somalia due to 
        pervasive conflict and the threat of starvation will increase refugee 
        flows throughout the region and into Europe;
Whereas in 2016, the Government of Kenya revoked prima facie refugee status for 
        Somalis and disbanded the Department of Refugee Affairs, leaving 
        thousands of newly arrived Somalis unregistered and without assistance;
Whereas the Government of Kenya has announced plans to repatriate 261,000 Somali 
        refugees to areas of Somalia affected by drought and famine conditions, 
        as well as the persistent threat of violence from Al-Shabaab; and
Whereas if timely, sufficient funding for a robust humanitarian response is not 
        received by the end of April 2017, the humanitarian consequences of this 
        drought, including the loss of life and reverberating effects in the 
        region, will exceed those of the 2011 famine: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) commends the timely response of the Department of State 
        and the United States Agency for International Development 
        (USAID) to early warning signals of drought in the Horn of 
        Africa, and for providing substantial assistance for the 
        humanitarian response in fiscal year 2016 and to date in fiscal 
        year 2017;
            (2) commends USAID's quick deployment of a Disaster 
        Assistance Response Team (DART) between March and November 
        2016, in response to the previous drought in northeastern and 
        central Ethiopia, which, by working with international 
        partners, resulted in the number of people requiring 
        humanitarian assistance declining from approximately 10,200,000 
        in late 2015 to a projected 5,600,000 by the end of 2017;
            (3) commends the Somali diaspora in the Horn of Africa, the 
        United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe, for spearheading 
        the response to humanitarian needs in Somalia, and encourages 
        financial institutions to explore means to facilitate the flow 
        of charitable donations and remittances to populations in need;
            (4) commends the work of United Nations agencies and 
        international, national, and local nongovernmental 
        organizations (NGOs) in providing sustained life-saving 
        assistance to vulnerable populations across the Horn of Africa, 
        leading to improvements in malnutrition rates since 2011;
            (5) commends USAID for its work to date to mitigate the 
        impact of environmental shocks to pastoralist communities 
        across the Horn of Africa, and calls on the Department of State 
        and USAID to continue providing robust, long-term development 
        supporting programs that build resilience, protect livelihoods, 
        and strengthen global food security through programs such as 
        USAID's Office of Food for Peace and Bureau for Food Security, 
        as well as programs to provide drought relief and emergency 
        food assistance implemented by the World Food Program (WFP), 
        Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 
        United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund 
        (UNICEF), and nongovernmental organizations, including faith-
        based and non-faith-based organizations;
            (6) calls on the President to appoint high-level officials 
        able to engage the international community in joining the 
        United States to respond to this crisis, including an 
        Administrator for USAID, a Director for the Office of Foreign 
        Disaster Assistance, an Assistant USAID Administrator for 
        Africa, and an Assistant Secretary of State for African 
        Affairs;
            (7) urges the Government of Kenya to publicly declare that 
        the Dadaab refugee complex will remain open, respect prima 
        facie status for new arrivals from Somalia, and work with the 
        Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 
        Kenya to restart the registration of refugees, including from 
        Somalia, at their points of entry, re-establish fair, 
        transparent, and effective asylum procedures across the 
        country, and put in place robust border protection monitoring 
        to track humanitarian indicators inside Somalia and assess the 
        needs of new arrivals; and
            (8) calls on the United States Government and the 
        international community, including international, national, and 
        local NGOs, to continue life-saving assistance and development 
        activities in order to alleviate drought and food insecurity in 
        the region to avert the catastrophic consequences of drought in 
        the Horn of Africa.
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