To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide assistance for orphans and other vulnerable children in developing countries, and for other purposes.

June 3, 2004

Mr. LUGAR introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide assistance for orphans and other vulnerable children in developing countries, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Assistance for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children in Developing Countries Act of 2004'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress makes the following findings:

(1) More than 110,000,000 orphans live in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. These children often are disadvantaged in numerous and devastating ways and most households with orphans cannot meet the basic needs of health care, food, clothing, and educational expenses.

(2) It is estimated that 121,000,000 children worldwide do not attend school and that the majority of such children are young girls. According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), orphans are less likely to be in school and more likely to be working full time.

(3) School food programs, including take-home rations, in developing countries provide strong incentives for children to remain in school and continue their education. School food programs can reduce short-term hunger, improve cognitive functions, and enhance learning, behavior, and achievement.

(4) The lack of financial resources prevents many orphans and other vulnerable children in developing countries from attending school because of the requirement to pay school fees and other costs of education. Providing children with free primary school education, while simultaneously ensuring that adequate resources exist for teacher training and infrastructure, would help more orphans and other vulnerable children obtain a quality education.

(5) The trauma that results from the loss of a parent can trigger behavior problems of aggression or emotional withdrawal and negatively affect a child's performance in school and the child's social relations. Children living in families affected by HIV/AIDS or who have been orphaned by AIDS often face stigmatization and discrimination. Providing culturally appropriate psychological counselling to such children can assist them in successfully accepting and adjusting to their circumstances.

(6) Orphans and other vulnerable children in developing countries routinely are denied their inheritance or encounter difficulties in claiming the land and other property which they have inherited. Even when the inheritance rights of women and children are spelled out in law, such rights are difficult to claim and are seldom enforced. In many countries it is difficult or impossible for a widow, even if she has young children, to claim property after the death of her husband.

(7) The HIV/AIDS pandemic has had a devastating affect on children and is deepening poverty in entire communities and jeopardizing the health, safety, and survival of all children in affected areas.

(8) The HIV/AIDS pandemic has increased the number of orphans worldwide and has exacerbated the poor living conditions of the world's poorest and most vulnerable children. AIDS has created an unprecedented orphan crisis, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where children have been hardest hit. An estimated 14,000,000 orphans have lost 1 or both parents to AIDS. By 2010, it is estimated that over 250,000,000 children will have been orphaned by AIDS.

(9) Although a number of organizations seek to meet the needs of orphans or other vulnerable children, extended families and local communities continue to be the primary providers of support for such children.

(10) The HIV/AIDS pandemic is placing huge burdens on communities and is leaving many orphans with little support. Alternatives to traditional orphanages, such as community-based resource centers, continue to evolve in response to the massive number of orphans that has resulted from the pandemic.

(11) The AIDS orphans crisis in sub-Saharan Africa has implications for political stability, human welfare, and development that extend far beyond the region, affecting governments and people worldwide, and this crisis requires an accelerated response from the international community.

(12) Although section 403(b) of the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003 (22 U.S.C. 7673(b)) establishes the requirement that not less than 10 percent of amounts appropriated for HIV/AIDS assistance for each of fiscal years 2006 through 2008 shall be expended for assistance for orphans and other vulnerable children affected by HIV/AIDS, there is an urgent need to provide assistance to such children prior to 2006.

(13) Numerous United States and indigenous private voluntary organizations, including faith-based organizations, provide assistance to orphans and other vulnerable children in developing countries. Many of these organizations have submitted applications for grants to the United States Agency for International Development to provide increased levels of assistance for orphans and other vulnerable children in developing countries.

(14) Increasing the amount of assistance that is provided by the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development through

United States and indigenous private voluntary organizations, including faith-based organizations, will provide greater protection for orphans and other vulnerable children in developing countries.

(15) It is essential that the United States Government adopt a comprehensive approach for the provision of assistance to orphans and other vulnerable children in developing countries. A comprehensive approach would ensure that important services, such as basic care, mental health and related services, school food programs, increased educational opportunities and employment training and related services, and the protection and promotion of inheritance rights for such children, are made more accessible.

(16) Assistance for orphans and other vulnerable children can best be provided by a comprehensive approach of the United States Government that--

(A) ensures that Federal agencies and the private sector coordinate efforts to prevent and eliminate duplication of efforts and waste in the provision of such assistance; and

(B) to the maximum extent possible, focuses on community-based programs that allow orphans and other vulnerable children to remain connected to the traditions and rituals of their families and communities.

SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE FOR ORPHANS AND OTHER VULNERABLE CHILDREN IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.

Chapter 1 of part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following section:

`SEC. 135. ASSISTANCE FOR ORPHANS AND OTHER VULNERABLE CHILDREN.

`(a) FINDINGS- Congress finds the following:

`(1) There are more than 110,000,000 orphans living in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

`(2) The HIV/AIDS pandemic has created an unprecedented orphan crisis, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where children have been hardest hit. The pandemic is deepening poverty in entire communities, and is jeopardizing the health, safety, and survival of all children in affected countries. It is estimated that 14,000,000 children have lost one or both parents to AIDS.

`(3) The orphans crisis in sub-Saharan Africa has implications for human welfare, development, and political stability that extend far beyond the region, affecting governments and people worldwide.

`(4) Extended families and local communities are struggling to meet the basic needs of orphans and vulnerable children by providing food, health care, education expenses, and clothing.

`(5) Providing assistance to such children is an important expression of the humanitarian concern and tradition of the people of the United States.

`(b) DEFINITIONS- In this section:

`(1) AIDS- The term `AIDS' has the meaning given the term in section 104A(g)(1) of this Act.

`(2) CHILDREN- The term `children' means persons who have not attained the age of 18.

`(3) HIV/AIDS- The term `HIV/AIDS' has the meaning given the term in section 104A(g)(3) of this Act.

`(4) ORPHAN- The term `orphan' means a child deprived by death of one or both parents.

`(c) ASSISTANCE- The President is authorized to provide assistance for programs in developing countries to provide basic care and services for orphans and other vulnerable children. Such programs should provide assistance--

`(1) to support families and communities to mobilize their own resources through the establishment of community-based organizations to provide basic care for orphans and other vulnerable children;

`(2) for school food programs, including the purchase of local or regional foodstuffs where appropriate;

`(3) to reduce barriers to access to primary education through the elimination of school fees where appropriate, helping to otherwise cover costs of education, and improving the quality of teaching and education infrastructure;

`(4) to provide employment training and related services for orphans and other vulnerable children who are of legal working age;

`(5) to protect and promote the inheritance rights of orphans, other vulnerable children, and widows with children; and

`(6) to provide culturally appropriate mental health treatment and related services to orphans and other vulnerable children.

`(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS-

`(1) IN GENERAL- There is authorized to be appropriated to the President to carry out this section such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 2005 and 2006.

`(2) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS- Amounts made available under paragraph (1) are authorized to remain available until expended and are in addition to amounts otherwise available for such purposes.

`(3) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAWS- Amounts made available for assistance pursuant to this subsection, and amounts made available for such assistance pursuant to any other provision of law, may be used to provide such assistance notwithstanding any other provision of law.'.

SEC. 4. STRATEGY OF THE UNITED STATES.

(a) REQUIREMENT FOR STRATEGY- Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the President shall develop a strategy for coordinating and implementing assistance programs for orphans and vulnerable children.

(b) CONTENT- The strategy required by subsection (a) shall include--

(1) the identity of each agency or department of the Federal Government that is providing assistance for orphans and vulnerable children in foreign countries;

(2) a description of the efforts of the head of each such agency or department to coordinate the provision of such assistance with other agencies or departments of the Federal Government or nongovernmental entities;

(3) a description of a coordinated strategy to provide the assistance authorized in section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as added by section 3 of this Act; and

(4) an analysis of additional coordination mechanisms or procedures that could be implemented to carry out the purposes of such section.

END