Title: Expressing concern for the drought and endemic food insecurity plaguing the Horn of Africa and calling for greater humanitarian and agricultural assistance to the region.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution expresses that the House of Representatives

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1137 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1137

Expressing concern for the drought and endemic food insecurity plaguing 
      the Horn of Africa and calling for greater humanitarian and 
                 agricultural assistance to the region.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 24, 2022

Ms. Bass (for herself, Mr. Carson, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Espaillat, and Mr. 
 Evans) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing concern for the drought and endemic food insecurity plaguing 
      the Horn of Africa and calling for greater humanitarian and 
                 agricultural assistance to the region.

Whereas, in the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia are undergoing the 
        worst drought in 40 years and one of the greatest food insecurity 
        emergencies in the 21st century after four consecutive seasons with 
        below average rainfall;
Whereas the drought in the Horn of Africa has caused widespread livestock 
        deaths, rampant crop failures, and rising food prices, which have 
        exacerbated gender-based violence and maternal mortality, and led to 
        societal disruptions like families fleeing their homes and radically 
        declining school attendance;
Whereas, according to the World Food Programme and the United Nations Office for 
        the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, approximately 7,200,000 people 
        in south and southeastern Ethiopia are severely food insecure as a 
        result of the drought; the number of Kenyans needing food aid has 
        quadrupled in under 2 years with 3,500,000 now facing hunger; and in the 
        upcoming months, there is a serious risk of widespread famine in 
        Somalia, where nearly 6,000,000 are experiencing acute food insecurity 
        and over 81,000 are already facing famine conditions;
Whereas the World Food Programme estimates that the ongoing drought in the Horn 
        of Africa places up to 20,000,000 people at risk of starvation through 
        2022 without humanitarian intervention, and the World Food Programme has 
        therefore called for swift increases in support from world partners due 
        to shortages in food aid;
Whereas the nations of the Horn of Africa were able to persevere through the 
        drought of 2016 and 2017 due to the early scaling-up of aid, but amidst 
        other competing humanitarian crises globally, the existing supply of 
        food assistance is insufficient to prevent starvation during the present 
        hunger emergency in the Horn of Africa, where food assistance needs are 
        over 70 percent higher than the 2016 to 2017 drought according to the 
        Famine Early Warning Systems Network;
Whereas, in addition to the compounding challenges of four consecutive seasons 
        of failed rains, recent global supply chain complications along with 
        high fertilizer and crude oil prices--due in part to the COVID-19 
        pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine--have raised food prices, 
        worsened acute hunger, and diminished capacities to deliver aid to the 
        Horn of Africa;
Whereas the United States is the largest bilateral donor of international food 
        assistance among world nations, and like other Sahel and sub-Saharan 
        states, countries in the Horn of Africa have been among the greatest 
        recipients of direct United States food aid in recent years; and
Whereas this mounting crisis in the Horn of Africa requires global attention and 
        a shared commitment to foreign assistance--both urgent humanitarian 
        assistance and long-term agricultural development aid--to avert 
        thousands of deaths: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) expresses deep concern for the latest years-long 
        drought in the Horn of Africa and the ensuing food security 
        crisis and severe socioeconomic disturbances it caused;
            (2) acknowledges the role that climate change plays in 
        increasing the frequency of extreme weather events like 
        droughts, and pledges to take coordinated, international action 
        to adapt to and avert further global warming;
            (3) reaffirms the effectiveness and instrumentality of 
        United States international food assistance for meeting 
        humanitarian obligations, cultivating enduring self-reliance in 
        developing nations, ensuring the stability of global financial 
        markets, and mitigating the likelihood of conflict in 
        accordance with our national security interests;
            (4) emphasizes the importance of funding urgently needed 
        humanitarian assistance for hunger-stricken regions of the 
        world, supporting the development of sustainable agricultural 
        sectors in developing nations, and assisting with the 
        international resettlement of refugees escaping droughts and 
        extreme hunger; and
            (5) urges the Biden administration, the Department of 
        State, and the United States Agency for International 
        Development to immediately offer technical and material 
        assistance, as appropriate and to the extent allowable under 
        Federal law and congressional appropriations, to support 
        affected East African nations, international organizations, and 
        nongovernmental organizations in their efforts to alleviate 
        hunger and deliver food aid to communities impacted by the 
        drought in the Horn of Africa.
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