A bipartisan resolution recently introduced by U.S. Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) urged the Trump administration to address political roadblocks preventing the flow of humanitarian aid into Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, where millions are at risk of starvation.
The humanitarian crisis in those four regions has been exacerbated by armed conflict and disregard for international humanitarian law, the resolution said, including the blocking of access to the international aid that has deprived people of the food they need to survive.
The resolution cites testimony in March from Yves Daccord, the director-general of the International Committee of the Red Cross, that famine and pre-famine conditions in those regions had created “one of the most critical humanitarian issues to face mankind since the end of the second World War,” and, “we are at the brink of a humanitarian mega-crisis unprecedented in recent history.”
The crisis has imperiled 5.1 million people in Nigeria, 6.2 million people in Somalia, 5.5 million people in South Sudan and 17 million people in Yemen, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development. Additionally, 22 million children in those countries are hungry, sick, displaced or out of school, and nearly 1.4 million are at imminent risk of death from severe malnutrition.
Young joined with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Ben Cardin (D-MD) in introducing the resolution, and also together sent a letter in March to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson regarding the humanitarian crises in the regions.
The resolution urges President Donald Trump to coordinate with international partners “to employ every appropriate strategy to persuade the government of South Sudan to stop blocking aid for people who desperately need it.”
At least 79 aid workers have been killed in South Sudan since December 2013, including at least 12 this year, according to the United Nations. In recent months there has been an increase in attacks on humanitarians and looting of supplies intended for people suffering from the famine.
The resolution calls on the president to notify Congress if the South Sudanese government does not “immediately and fully” respect international humanitarian law, in which case U.S. lawmakers would impose additional costs on the South Sudanese government.
Additionally, the resolution urges Trump to pressure the Nigerian government to take “tangible and immediate steps” to ensure accountability of security forces that violate human rights and fail to cooperate fully with international aid efforts.