109th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1315
AN ACT
To require a report on progress toward the Millennium Development
Goals, 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 `International Cooperation to Meet the Millennium
Development Goals Act of 2005'.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) At the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000, the United States
joined more than 180 other countries in committing to work toward goals
to improve life for the world's poorest people by 2015.
(2) Such goals include reducing the proportion of people living on less
than $1 per day by 1/2 , reducing child mortality by 2/3 , and assuring
basic education for all children, while sustaining the environment upon
which human life depends.
(3) At the 2002 International Conference on Financing for Development,
the United States representative reiterated the support of the United
States for the Millennium Development Goals and advocated, along with
other international participants, for a stronger focus on measurable outcomes
derived from a global partnership between developed and developing countries.
(4) On March 22, 2002, President Bush stated, `We fight against poverty
because hope is an answer to terror. We fight against poverty because
opportunity is a fundamental right to human dignity. We fight against
poverty because faith requires it and conscience demands it. We fight
against poverty with a growing conviction that major progress is within
our reach.'.
(5) The 2002 National Security Strategy of the United States notes that
`a world where some live in comfort and plenty, while half of the human
race lives on less than $2 per day, is neither just nor stable. Including
all of the world's poor in an expanding circle of development and opportunity
is a moral imperative and one of the top priorities of U.S. international
policy'.
(6) The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
concluded that the Government of the United States must offer an example
of moral leadership in the world and offer parents and their children
a vision of the future that emphasizes individual educational and economic
opportunity as essential to the efforts of the United States to defeat
global terrorism.
(7) The summit of the Group of Eight held during July 2005, the United
Nations summit held during September 2005, and the Sixth Ministerial Conference
of the World Trade Organization scheduled to be held during December 2005
have provided and will provide opportunities to measure and continue to
pursue progress on the Millennium Development Goals.
(8) The summit of the Group of Eight held July 6 through July 8, 2005,
in Gleneagles, Scotland, brought together the countries that can make
the greatest contribution to alleviating extreme poverty in Africa, the
region of the world where extreme poverty is most prevalent.
(9) On June 11, 2005, the United States helped secure the agreement of
the Group of Eight Finance Ministers to cancel 100 percent of the debt
obligations owed to the World Bank, African Development Bank, and International
Monetary Fund by countries that are eligible for debt relief under the
Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, the initiative established
in 1996 by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund for the
purpose of reducing the debt burdens of the world's poorest countries,
or under the Enhanced HIPC Initiative, as defined in section 1625 of the
International Financial Institutions Act (22 U.S.C. 262p-8), which are
poor countries that are on the path to reform.
(10) The report prepared by the Commission for Africa and issued by Prime
Minister Tony Blair on March 11, 2005, entitled `Our Common Interest',
called for coherence and coordination in the development of an overarching
package of actions to be carried out by the countries of Africa and the
international community to address the complex interlocking issues that
challenge the continent, many of which have already been addressed individually
in previous summits and under the Africa Action Plan enacted by the Group
of Eight.
(11) The United States has recognized the need for strengthened economic
and trade opportunities, as well as increased financial and technical
assistance to Africa and other countries burdened by extreme poverty,
through significant initiatives in recent years, including--
(A) the African Growth and Opportunity Act (19 U.S.C. 3701 et seq.)
that has opened United States markets to thousands of products from
Africa;
(B) the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief developed under section
101 of the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis,
and Malaria Act of 2003 (22 U.S.C. 7611), the major focus of which has
been on African countries;
(C) the Millennium Challenge Corporation established under section 604
of the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003 (22 U.S.C. 7703) that is in
the process of committing new and significant levels of assistance to
countries, including countries in Africa, that are poor but show great
promise for boosting economic growth and bettering the lives of their
people; and
(D) the cancellation by the United States of 100 percent of the bilateral
debt owed to the Untied States by countries eligible for debt relief
under the Enhanced HIPC Initiative.
(12) The report prepared by the Commission for Africa entitled `Our Common
Interest' includes the following findings:
(A) The people of Africa must demonstrate the leadership necessary to
address the governance challenges they face, setting priorities that
ensure the development of effective civil and police services, independent
judiciaries, and strong parliaments, all of which reinforce a stable
and predictable economic environment attractive to investment.
(B) Many leaders in Africa have pursued personal self-interest rather
than national goals, a tendency that has been in some instances exacerbated
and abetted by the manipulation of foreign governments pursuing their
own agenda in the region to the detriment of the people of Africa.
(C) More violent conflict has occurred in Africa during the period between
1965 and 2005 than occurred in any other continent during that period,
and the countries of Africa must engage on the individual, national,
and regional level to prevent and manage conflict.
(D) The capacity to trade is constrained by a derelict or nonexistent
infrastructure in most African countries as well as by the double-edged
sword of tariff and nontariff barriers to trade that complicate markets
and discourage investment both within and beyond the continent.
(E) The local resources for investment in people and the institutions
necessary for good governance have been squandered, misappropriated,
and, to an increasingly devastating effect, spent on servicing debt
to the developed world. Such resources should be reoriented to serve
the needs of the people through the use of debt forgiveness and support
for institutional reform and internal capacity building.
(F) Failing to prevent conflict in Africa results in incalculable costs
to African development and expense to the international community and
the investment in preventing conflict is a fraction of such costs and
expenses, in human, security, and financial terms.
(G) Despite difficulties, there is optimism and energy reflected in
the scope of activities of individuals such as 2004 Nobel Peace Prize
recipient, Wangari Maathai, as well as those of improved regional organizations
such as the African Union and the New Partnership for Economic Development's
Peer Review Mechanism, and subregional entities such as the Economic
Community of West African States, the Inter-Governmental Authority on
Development, and the potential of the Southern African Development Community.
(H) Political reform in Africa has produced results. For example, while
in 1985 countries of sub-Saharan Africa ruled by dictators were the
norm, by 2005 dictatorships are a minority and democracy has new life
with governments chosen by the people increasing fourfold since 1991.
(13) The report prepared by the Commission for Africa entitled `Our Common
Interest' includes the following recommendations:
(A) At this vital moment when globalization and growth, technology and
trade, and mutual security concerns allow, and common humanity demands,
a substantial tangible and coherent package of actions should immediately
be taken by the international community, led by the most industrialized
countries, in partnership with the countries of Africa, to address the
poverty and underdevelopment of the African continent.
(B) The people of Africa must take responsibility and show courageous
leadership in addressing problems and taking ownership of solutions
as the means for ensuring sustainable development, while implementing
governance reform as an underlying prerequisite for foreign assistance
effectiveness.
(C) Each developed country has unique strengths and capacity to add
value to a comprehensive assistance plan and should join their individual
efforts to a coherent whole that is more efficient and responsive to
Africa and the people of Africa.
(D) The international community must honor existing commitments to strengthen
African peacekeeping capacity and go beyond those commitments to invest
in more effective prevention and nonmilitary means to resolve conflict
through such regional organizations as the African Union and the subregional
Economic Community for West African States.
(E) A massive investment in physical infrastructure should be made to
support commerce, extend governance, and provide opportunities for education,
healthcare, investment and growth.
(F) Donors and the governments of the countries of Africa should devote
substantial investment in the men and women of Africa through the education
and health sectors, enabling and extending recent gains made to reach
far more broadly into remote regions.
(G) The public sector should actively engage the private sector in driving
growth through partnerships by reforming the laws, bureaucracy, and
infrastructure necessary to maintain a climate that fosters investment
by developing public-private centers of excellence to pursue such reforms.
(H) The countries of Africa must maximize the participation of women
in both business and government, protect the rights of women, and work
to increase the number of women in leadership positions so as to capitalize
on the ability of women to deliver scarce resources effectively and
fairly.
(I) The international community must work together to dismantle trade
barriers, including the immediate elimination of trade-distorting commodity
support.
(J) International donors should strengthen multilateral institutions
in Africa to respond appropriately to local and regional crises as well
as to promote economic development and ensure the people of Africa are
granted a stronger voice in international forums.
(K) The international community must join in providing creative incentives
for commercial firms to research and develop products that improve water,
sanitation, health, and the environment in ways that would dramatically
reduce suffering and increase productive life-spans in Africa.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
(1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES- The term `appropriate congressional
committees' means the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and
the Committee on International Relations of the House of Representatives.
(2) GROUP OF EIGHT- The term `Group of Eight' means the forum for addressing
international economic, political, and social issues attended by representatives
of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom,
and the United States.
(3) MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS- The term `Millennium Development Goals'
means the goals set out in United Nations Millennium Declaration, resolution
55/2 adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on September
8, 2000.
SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the President should continue to provide the leadership shown at the
summit of the Group of Eight held in July 2005 at Gleneagles, Scotland,
to continue to encourage other countries to develop a true partnership
to pursue the Millennium Development Goals;
(2) the President should urge the Group of Eight to consider the findings
and recommendations contained in the report prepared by the Commission
for Africa entitled `Our Common Interest', in partnership with the nations
of Africa, for the development of Africa;
(3) the Group of Eight, as well as governments of the countries of Africa
and regional organizations of such governments, should reaffirm and honor
the commitments made in the Africa Action Plan enacted by the Group of
Eight in previous years; and
(4) the international community should continue to build upon the progress
made at the summit of the Group of Eight in July 2005 and the United Nations
summit in September 2005 toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals,
and should further enable such progress at the Sixth Ministerial conference
of the World Trade Organization scheduled for December 2005.
SEC. 5. REPORT.
(a) Requirement- Not later than 60 days after the date of the conclusion
of the Sixth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization that
is scheduled to be held in Hong Kong from December 13 through December 18,
2005, the Secretary of State in consultation with other appropriate United
States and international agencies shall submit a report to the appropriate
congressional committees on the progress the international community is
making toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
(b) Content- The report required by subsection (a) shall include the following:
(1) A review of the commitments made by the United States and other members
of the international community at the summit of the Group of Eight in
July 2005, the United Nations summit in September 2005, and the Sixth
Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization scheduled for December
2005, that pertain to the ability of the developing world to achieve the
Millennium Development Goals.
(2) A review of United States policies and progress toward achieving the
Millennium Development Goals by 2015, as well as policies to provide continued
leadership in achieving such goals by 2015.
(3) An evaluation, to the extent possible, of the contributions of other
national and international actors in achieving the Millennium Development
Goals by 2015.
(4) An assessment of the likelihood that the Millennium Development Goals
will be achieved.
Passed the Senate December 22 (legislative day, December 21), 2005.
Attest:
Secretary.
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1315
AN ACT
To require a report on progress toward the Millennium Development Goals,
and for other purposes.
END
