[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 26 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
103d CONGRESS
1st Session
S. CON. RES. 26
Urging the President to redirect United States foreign assistance
policies and spending priorities toward promoting sustainable
development, which reduces global hunger and poverty, protects the
environment, and promotes democracy.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 24 (legislative day, April 19), 1993
Mr. Simon (for himself, Mr. Jeffords, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Wofford, Mr.
Kennedy, Mr. DeConcini, Mr. Feingold, Ms. Moseley-Braun, Mr.
Durenberger, and Mr. Akaka) submitted the following concurrent
resolution; which was referred to the Committee Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Urging the President to redirect United States foreign assistance
policies and spending priorities toward promoting sustainable
development, which reduces global hunger and poverty, protects the
environment, and promotes democracy.
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 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 diseases, and millions of other children are
disabled or blind as a result of malnutrition;
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 foster rapid population growth, which in turn
exacerbates pressures on land and other natural resources, worsens
unemployment, and strains government services;
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 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 and 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 through selected bilateral economic assistance
programs, and through selected contributions to multilateral
organizations and programs;
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 28 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
Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring),
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This resolution may be cited as the ``Many Neighbors, One Earth
Resolution''.
SEC. 2. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT POLICY AND PROGRAM OF ACTION.
(a) In General.--The President is urged to develop and implement a
coordinated economic and development policy and program of action
designed to promote broad-based, sustainable development.
(b) Principal Objectives.--This policy and program of action should
have as principal objectives the following elements of sustainable
development, which are interrelated and mutually reinforcing:
(1) Economic opportunities.--Expanding economic
opportunities for women and men, especially the poor, to
increase their productivity, earning capacity, and income in
ways that do not harm the environment.
(2) Basic human needs.--Helping people meet their basic
human needs for food, clean water, shelter, health care, and
education necessary for all people to be productive and to
improve their quality of life.
(3) Environmental protection and sustainable use of natural
resources.--Promoting environmental protection and sustainable
use of land, water, forests, and other natural resources,
taking into account the needs of present and future
generations.
(4) Pluralism, democratic participation, and human
rights.--Promoting pluralism, democratic participation in
economic and political decisions that affect the lives of all
people (including participation of the poor), and respect for
human and civil rights, including the rights of females and
indigenous peoples.
(c) All Relevant Activities of the Government To Be Included.--This
policy and program of action should involve all relevant international
activities of the United States Government, including--
(1) bilateral economic assistance programs;
(2) contributions to international and multilateral
development agencies and institutions;
(3) policies concerning international agricultural,
environmental, health, energy, trade, debt, and monetary
issues; and
(4) foreign military assistance programs.
(d) Specific Actions To Be Taken.--In furtherance of this policy
and program of action, the President is urged to do the following:
(1) Work with Congress to enact legislation providing for a
post-Cold War foreign assistance program that would have as its
primary purpose the promotion of sustainable development and
that would incorporate the objectives set forth in subsection
(b).
(2) Ensure that development cooperation programs conform to
the objectives in subsection (b) in ways that invigorate local
community-based development through taking into account the
relevant local-level perspectives of its beneficiaries
(including women, minorities, and indigenous people) during the
design, planning, implementation, and evaluation process for
project and program assistance. Toward this objective, the
agency primarily responsible for administering such assistance
should consult closely with indigenous and United States-based
nongovernmental organizations that have demonstrated
effectiveness in community-based development on behalf of
sustainable development in developing countries.
(3) Provide government-to-government assistance only to
countries that exhibit a commitment to development that
promotes the objectives set forth in subsection (b) through
relevant sectoral and national policies, with priority given to
countries that have the highest incidence of hunger and
poverty.
(4) Encourage and support the efforts of countries to
reduce their level of military spending when such spending is
disproportionate to security needs and disproportionate to
spending on health, education, and environmental protection.
(5) Exercise leadership in building the global commitment
and cooperation necessary for countries to make significant
progress toward the goals adopted at the 1992 International
Conference on Nutrition, the 1992 United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development, the 1990 World Summit for
Children, and the 1985 World Conference on Women.
(6) Enter into negotiations with highly indebted poor
countries that are committed to sustainable development on
reducing the debt owed by such countries to the United States
Government, when debt reduction will support their sustainable
development strategies.
(7) Develop and propose an effective system of evaluation
and accountability for programs and projects of development
cooperation, particularly regarding their effectiveness in
furthering the objectives set forth in subsection (b).
(8) Examine the necessity of restructuring or replacing the
Agency for International Development in order to have an
effective bilateral development cooperation program that can
achieve the objectives set forth in subsection (b).
(9) Give greater attention to linking emergency relief
efforts to conflict resolution, rehabilitation, and longer-term
development activities.
(10) Increase from approximately 30 percent in fiscal year
1993 to at least 35 percent in each of fiscal years 1994
through 1997 the share of foreign assistance funds directed to
programs that best serve sustainable development and
humanitarian needs, including programs for basic human needs,
microenterprise and credit, appropriate technology, sustainable
agriculture, fisheries, forestry and water management,
environmental restoration and conservation, strengthening civil
society and human rights, voluntary cooperation, disaster
assistance, refugee assistance, and emergency and developmental
food assistance.
(11) Make every effort to increase, consistently, the
absolute amount of funding for such programs in developing
countries through reallocating funds within the bilateral
economic assistance budget and by transferring funds out of
security assistance programs.
<all>