Expressing Condolences Regarding Attack On United Nations World Food Program Office In Islamabad, Pakistan

Floor Speech

s. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 823) expressing deep condolences to the families, friends, and colleagues of those killed and injured in the attack on the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) office in Islamabad, Pakistan, on October 5, 2009, and support for the WFP's mission to bring emergency food aid to the most vulnerable people of Pakistan and around the world.

The Clerk read the title of the resolution.

The text of the resolution is as follows:

H. Res. 823

Whereas the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) was established in 1962 with the goal of providing every man, woman, and child with access at all times to the food needed for an active and healthy life;

Whereas the WFP seeks to save lives and protect livelihoods in emergencies, prepare for emergencies, restore and rebuild lives after emergencies, reduce chronic hunger and under-nutrition everywhere, and strengthen the capacity of countries to reduce hunger;

Whereas WFP operations in 2008 reached just over 102,000,000 hungry and poor people in 78 countries with 3,900,000 tons of food;

Whereas 84.6 percent of the population of Pakistan earns less than $2 per day, which is an indication of poor human development, especially among women and children;

Whereas since 1968, the WFP has invested more than $1,500,000,000 in assistance to the most food-insecure people in Pakistan, including those in remote areas and those affected by conflict;

Whereas WFP operations in Pakistan include school feeding, mother and child nutrition, and socio-economic development programs that improve school enrollment rates for girls, access to health care services, and economic opportunities for rural women;

Whereas the WFP is providing vital food assistance to as many as 10,000,000 people across Pakistan, including emergency relief to as many as 2,000,000 Pakistani civilians who were displaced by conflict in the Swat Valley region earlier this year;

Whereas, on October 5, 2009, a suicide bomber attacked the WFP office in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing five employees, Botan Ahmed Ali Al-Hayawi, Farzana Barkat, Abid Rehman, Gulrukh Tahir, and Mohamed Wahab;

Whereas the Executive Director of the WFP, Josette Sheeran, called the attack ``a tragedy--not just for WFP--but for the whole humanitarian community and for the hungry''; and

Whereas support for food aid and other forms of humanitarian assistance in Pakistan is in the moral and national security interests of the United States: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

(1) expresses its deep condolences to the families, friends, and colleagues of those killed and injured in the attack on the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) office in Islamabad, Pakistan, on October 5, 2009;

(2) recognizes the critical role the WFP plays in helping alleviate poverty, which can be exploited by extremists to create instability, in Pakistan and the greater South Asian region;

(3) reaffirms its support for the WFP's mission to bring emergency food aid to the most vulnerable people of Pakistan and around the world; and

(4) commends the approximately 10,000 people of the WFP directly serving the hungry and poor across the world for their invaluable contribution to bringing relief to those most in need.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Watson) and the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Boozman) each will control 20 minutes.

The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California.

GENERAL LEAVE

Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from California?

There was no objection.

Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, on October 5, 2009, five dedicated humanitarians were killed and four others injured by a suicide bombing inside the World Food Program's office in Islamabad, Pakistan. The victims of this senseless attack were impartial civilian aid workers devoted to feeding the hungry and providing a lifeline to millions of the most vulnerable people in Pakistan.

The United Nations World Food Program has been on the front lines of fighting hunger worldwide since its inception in 1962.

I want to recognize, and I want to thank the sponsor of this resolution, my distinguished colleague and good friend from Connecticut, Ms. Rosa DeLauro, for taking the lead in introducing this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I stand in strong support of this resolution, which expresses our sympathy and deepest condolences for the victims and families of this month's deadly suicide bombing at the U.N. World Food Program offices in Islamabad, Pakistan.

We mourn the loss of five humanitarian aid workers who were killed in a senseless act of violence while they were simply trying to supply food to the millions of vulnerable and hungry people of Pakistan. This deadly attack by a Taliban suicide bomber on October 5 forced the U.N. to temporarily close its offices, which resulted in the disruption of food assistance to nearly 10 million starving people in Pakistan who are dependent on the World Food Program.

Mr. Speaker, we should not allow such cowardly acts of violence to overshadow the vital work of the World Food Program, whose efforts have relieved the suffering and hunger of millions of people in Pakistan and around the world.

Since 1968, the U.N. World Food Program has invested more than $1.5 billion in assistance to the poor citizens of Pakistan alone.

The World Food Program has also carried out food security efforts and has developed nutritional and socioeconomic programs that have improved access to health care, increased school enrollment for women and girls, and advanced economic opportunities for the poor. In fact, amid recent violence in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, the World Food Program courageously pushed forward to provide emergency and hunger relief to 2 million displaced Pakistanis.

Today, it is important not only to recognize the crucial role of the World Food Program in the fight to alleviate poverty and world hunger, but to reaffirm our appreciation for its mission to feed the world's poor. It's also important to pause momentarily to remember those aid workers who sacrificed their lives this month in the course of their work to relieve human suffering and hunger.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge the passage of this resolution condemning this heinous attack and reinstating our support for the work of the World Food Program.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlelady from Connecticut, Representative ROSA DELAURO.

Ms. DeLAURO. I thank the gentlewoman for this time. I thank Chairman Berman for moving so quickly in this effort. I also want to thank Congressman JIM MCGOVERN and JO ANN EMERSON for co-leading this bipartisan effort with me.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 823. It expresses deep condolences to families, friends, and colleagues of those who were killed and injured in the attack on the U.N. World Food Program at their offices in Islamabad, Pakistan, on October 5, 2009.

We offer our support for the World Food Program's mission to bring emergency food aid to the most vulnerable people of Pakistan and around the world. We condemn this reprehensible attack in the strongest of terms. All acts of terror are contemptible, but the murder of civilian workers engaged in humanitarian aid is particularly vile.

Fighting hunger and deprivation around the globe is a cause to which people give more than just a daily effort. It's an all-consuming responsibility. As we saw in the horrible tragedy, it can even be the struggle in which people lose their lives.

Our thoughts and our prayers go out to the families of those U.N. World Food Program workers who perished in this terrible bombing. Through their efforts and the efforts of countless others, WFP feeds 10 million Pakistanis, including 2 million displaced by violence each year. For the people who have sacrificed so much to alleviate suffering to be struck down by a wanton act of terrorism, it is unjust and senseless.

We remember the fallen in our thoughts. This resolution represents a small way of honoring them as we continue the struggle for which they gave their lives: to put an end to global hunger around the world.

For the first time in history, over 1 billion people--one in six--are undernourished worldwide. Every 6 seconds a child dies because of hunger and related causes. Because of higher food prices, the number of undernourished people in the world increased by 75 million in 2007, 40 million in 2008. Even in America there are 12 million children facing hunger and uncertainty right now.

The continued existence of such famine in our day and age, even within our borders, is a moral outrage. We have the resources and the ability to confront this kind of suffering in the world. What we need is the conscience and the will to put an end to it.

The brave and the compassionate aid workers who perished in Pakistan had this in spades. They knew that prosperous nations cannot just remain an island of plenty in a sea of want. They stepped up. They met their responsibilities. We must meet our responsibilities.

This is a moral imperative that's shared by workers in the World Food Program, in the Sudan, in Somalia, where they provide 43 percent of the population with its basic food, and in places all around the world where women and men give their all to be able to ensure that starving people have enough to eat. It is also shared by many of us here in the Congress.

We are in a season of political turmoil and economic uncertainty. It's particularly important that we reaffirm the memory of these murdered workers and renew our commitment to ending global hunger. Put simply, this is a national security issue.

Hunger, gnawing, unyielding, forces people into desperate acts and dangerous pacts. Famine and starvation create the conditions for militant extremism around the world, the very extremism that killed these five in Pakistan.

We fight hunger, and we undercut the recruiting base of those who would threaten us. As former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger recently reminded us in the L.A. Times, ``Ensuring that no child goes to school hungry is the single greatest investment we can make in building prosperous, healthy and stable societies.''

The World Food Program has long understood this. For 50 years, it has worked to feed the suffering and malnourished citizens of our planet. In 2008, their operation reached over 102 million poor and hungry people in 78 countries with 3.9 million tons of food.

They have worked to eliminate not only hunger but its root causes. In short, the world food program is doing wonderful work for the people of Pakistan, the people of the United States and the people of the world. We laud their humanitarian efforts, as we condemn the cruelty and the malice that perpetrated such a deplorable atrocity in Islamabad on October 5.

For the fallen, for their families and their friends, and for hungry men, women and children all around the world, our fight against global hunger will go on.

I strongly urge my colleagues to support this resolution and reaffirm their commitment to this cause.

Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, we very much appreciate Ms. DeLauro bringing the resolution forward, and at this time, we continue to reserve our time.

Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield 2 minutes to my good friend, the gentleman from Massachusetts, JAMES MCGOVERN.

Mr. McGOVERN. I thank my friend for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 823, and I want to thank my good friend and colleague, Congresswoman ROSA DELAURO, for her leadership in bringing this resolution before the House for its consideration.

Mr. Speaker, we often forget, or take for granted, that thousands of humanitarian workers provide food, water, shelter, medicine and essential services to tens of millions around the world. Many of us don't even think about how perilous are the situations in which this compassionate work happens. But we were reminded, in the worst possible way, on October 5, when a bombing attack was carried out against the World Food Program in Islamabad, Pakistan.

This resolution adds to what I am sure others have also conveyed to the WFP, the deepest condolences and sympathies to the families, friends and colleagues of the WFP staff who were killed in Pakistan. I also want to add that my own thoughts and prayers are with those who were wounded and who were injured in the bombing attack, and we hope for their speedy recovery.

Mr. Speaker, the bombing underscores the often precarious situation in which the WFP, and so many other humanitarian and aid workers around the globe, find themselves. And I, for one, can only thank them for their important and too often unrecognized service to humanity.

Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, having no other speakers on the subject, again, I want to thank Ms. DeLauro for bringing this very important resolution forward. I also want to thank Mr. McGovern for his leadership in the hunger issues that he has given all of us.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. WATSON. I would like to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Dennis Kucinich.

Mr. KUCINICH. I thank the gentlelady.

I want to join my colleagues in expressing condolences to those who were killed in connection with the attack on the United Nations World Food Program in Islamabad, Pakistan. It is so important that the world community rally behind this program and other programs like it that are really aimed at providing the kind of social service that is so urgently required in areas around the world that are economically depressed, and that is, to feed the hungry. If we make a concerted effort in feeding the hungry, there's less of a chance that we're going to be looking at the kind of social conflagration that has affected nations around the world.

This program in Pakistan is urgently needed. Those who risk their lives to deliver it should be remembered now, and we should stand by them and their families in their moment of grief. But we also have a responsibility to continue to take a stand against hunger. And wherever an effort is made to try to knock those out who are trying to serve the public, we stand behind those who serve, and we stand behind our moral obligation to feed the hungry of the world.

Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Watson) that the House suspend the rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 823.

The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the resolution was agreed to.

A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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