The Peace Corps: Current Issues

Curt Tarnoff
Specialist in Foreign Affairs

Founded in 1961, the Peace Corps has sought to meet its legislative mandate of promoting world peace and friendship by sending American volunteers to serve at the grassroots level in villages and towns in all corners of the globe. As of end September 2012, about 8,073 volunteers were serving in 76 nations.

In 2012, the 112th Congress has considered the President’s annual funding request for the Peace Corps, efforts to reauthorize the Peace Corps, and related issues. In February 2012, the Administration issued its FY2013 budget request, proposing $374.5 million for the Peace Corps, $500,000 less than the FY2012 level of $375 million approved in December 2011 in the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2012 (Division I of P.L. 112-74, H.R. 2055). In September 2012, the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013 (H.J.Res. 117, P.L. 112-175), was approved by Congress, providing FY2013 funding for the Peace Corps at the level in the FY2012 Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 112-74) plus .612%. The resolution expires on March 27, 2013.

The last Peace Corps funding authorization (P.L. 106-30), approved in 1999, covered the years FY2000 to FY2003. On July 21, 2012, the House Foreign Affairs Committee reported H.R. 2583, the Foreign Relations Authorization for FY2012, which includes language authorizing $375 million for the Peace Corps in FY2012 as well as provisions addressing Peace Corps safety and security. On July 27, 2011, Senator Kerry introduced S. 1426, the Foreign Relations Authorization for FY2012 and FY2013, including language authorizing $439.6 million for the Peace Corps in FY2012 and “such sums as may be necessary” for FY2013. Neither bill has received floor action.

On November 21, 2011, the Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act of 2011 was signed into law (P.L. 112-57). It puts into place a number of safeguards to address and reduce the incidence of volunteer rape and sexual abuse.

A comprehensive assessment of Peace Corps operations was published in June 2010. It makes 64 recommendations supporting a six-point strategy to be implemented in the coming years.

Current issues include the extent to which there is available funding for Peace Corps expansion, whether the Peace Corps has the institutional capacity to expand, and whether volunteers are able to function in a safe and secure environment.


Date of Report: October 25, 2012
Number of Pages: 17
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The United Nations Human Rights Council: Issues for Congress

Luisa Blanchfield
Specialist in International Relations

On March 15, 2006, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution replacing the Commission on Human Rights with a new Human Rights Council (the Council). The Council was designed to be an improvement over the Commission, which was widely criticized for the composition of its membership when perceived human rights abusers were elected as members. The General Assembly resolution creating the Council, among other things, increased the number of meetings per year and introduced a “universal periodic review” process to assess each member state’s fulfillment of its human rights obligations.

One hundred seventy countries voted in favor of the resolution to create the Council. The United States, under the George W. Bush Administration, was one of four countries to vote against the resolution. The Administration maintained that the Council structure was no better than the Commission and that it lacked mechanisms for maintaining credible membership. During the Council’s first two years, the Bush Administration expressed concern with the Council’s focus on Israel and lack of attention to other human rights situations. In April 2008, it announced that the United States would withhold a portion of its contributions to the 2008 U.N. regular budget equivalent to the U.S. share of the Human Rights Council budget. In June 2008, it further stated that the United States would engage with the Council “only in matters of deep national interest.”

In March 2009, the Barack Obama Administration announced that it would run for a seat on the Council. The United States was elected as a Council member by the U.N. General Assembly on May 12, 2009, and its term began on June 19, 2009. The Administration stated that it furthers the United States’ interest “if we are part of the conversation and present at the Council’s proceedings.” At the same time, however, it called the Council’s trajectory “disturbing,” particularly its “repeated and unbalanced” criticisms of Israel. On November 5, 2010, the United States underwent the Council’s universal periodic review process for the first time. Administration officials recently announced that the United States will run for a second term in the November 2012 elections.

Since its establishment, the Council has held 21 regular sessions and 19 special sessions. The regular sessions addressed a combination of specific human rights abuses and procedural and structural issues. Six of the 19 special sessions addressed the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian territories and in Lebanon. Four of the special sessions focused on Syria, while others addressed Burma (Myanmar), Cote d’Ivoire, Darfur, Haiti, Libya, and Sri Lanka. The Council held a five-year review of its work in March 2011. Some participants, including the United States, felt the review did not sufficiently address the Council’s weaknesses, particularly its focus on Israel and lack of mechanisms for ensuring credible membership.

Congress maintains an ongoing interest in the credibility and effectiveness of the Council in the context of both human rights and broader U.N. reform. Most recently, in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012 (Division I, the Department of State Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2012, P.L. 112-74), Congress required that the Secretary of State report to Congress on resolutions adopted by the Council. In the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009 (Division H, the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2009, P.L. 111-8), Congress prohibited U.S. contributions to support the Council unless (1) the Secretary of State certified to Congress that funding the Council is “in the national interest of the United States” or (2) the United States was a member of the Council. Because the Council is funded through assessed contributions to the U.N. regular budget, withholding Council funding in this manner would likely be a symbolic policy action because such contributions finance the entire U.N. regular budget and not specific parts of it.


Date of Report: October 11, 2012
Number of Pages: 28
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International Family Planning Programs: Issues for Congress

Luisa Blanchfield
Specialist in International Relations

Since 1965, the U.S. government has supported international family planning activities based on principles of voluntarism and informed choice that gives participants access to services and information on a broad range of family planning methods. U.S. family planning policy and abortion restrictions have generated contentious debate for over three decades, resulting in frequent clarification and modification of U.S. international family planning programs. Given the divisive nature of this debate, U.S. funding of these programs will likely remain a point of contention during the 112th Congress.

In 1984, controversy arose over U.S. family planning assistance when the Ronald Reagan Administration introduced restrictions that became known as the “Mexico City policy.” The Mexico City policy required foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to certify that they would not perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning—even if the activities were undertaken with non-U.S. funds. Presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush also suspended grants to the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) due to evidence of coercive family planning practices in China, citing violations of the “Kemp-Kasten” amendment, which bans U.S. assistance to organizations that, as determined by the President, support or participate in the management of coercive family planning programs.

President Bill Clinton resumed UNFPA funding and rescinded the Mexico City policy in 1993. In 2001, however, President George W. Bush reapplied the Mexico City policy restrictions. The Bush Administration also suspended U.S. contributions to UNFPA from FY2002 to FY2008 following a State Department investigation of family planning programs in China. In January 2009, President Barack Obama issued a memorandum rescinding the Mexico City policy. The President also stated that the United States would resume U.S. contributions to UNFPA.

Recent international family planning-related appropriations and Obama Administration requests are outlined below.

• FY2013—In February 2012, President Obama requested a total of $642.7 million in international family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) funding, including $39 million for UNFPA.
• FY2012—In December 2011, President Obama signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012 (P.L. 112-74), which directs that not less than $575 million should be made available for FP/RH activities. It also states that $35 million shall be made available for UNFPA.
• FY2011—FY2011 appropriations for international family planning and reproductive health are included in the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 (P.L. 112-10), which directs that not less that $575 million should be made available for international FP/RH activities. It also allocated $40 million for UNFPA.

For further discussion of abortion and family planning-related restrictions in U.S. legislation and policy, see CRS Report R41360, Abortion and Family Planning-Related Provisions in U.S. Foreign Assistance Law and Policy, by Luisa Blanchfield, and CRS Report RL33467, Abortion: Judicial History and Legislative Response, by Jon O. Shimabukuro.


Date of Report: June 26, 2012
Number of Pages: 19
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Millennium Challenge Corporation

Curt Tarnoff
Specialist in Foreign Affairs

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) provides economic assistance through a competitive selection process to developing nations that demonstrate positive performance in three areas: ruling justly, investing in people, and fostering economic freedom.

Established in 2004, the MCC differs in several respects from past and current U.S. aid practices: 

•        
• the competitive process that rewards countries for past actions measured by objective performance indicators; 

•         the pledge to segregate the funds from U.S. strategic foreign policy objectives that often strongly influence where U.S. aid is spent; 

•         its mandate to seek poverty reduction through economic growth, not encumbered with multiple sector objectives; 

•         the requirement to solicit program proposals developed solely by qualifying countries with broad-based civil society involvement; 

•         the responsibility of recipient countries to implement their own MCC-funded programs, known as compacts; 

•         a compact duration limited to five years, with funding committed up front; 

•         the expectation that compact projects will have measurable impact; and 

•         an emphasis on public transparency in every aspect of agency operations. 

On February 13, 2012, the Administration issued its FY2013 State, Foreign Operations budget, requesting $898.2 million for the MCC, the same amount it received in FY2012 and FY2011. On December 23, 2011, the Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 112-74, H.R. 2055) was signed into law, providing $898.2 million for the MCC in FY2012.

Congress authorized the MCC in P.L. 108-199 (January 23, 2004). Since that time, the MCC’s Board of Directors has approved 26 grant agreements, known as compacts: with Madagascar (calendar year 2005), Honduras (2005), Cape Verde (2005), Nicaragua (2005), Georgia (2005), Benin (2006), Vanuatu (2006), Armenia (2006), Ghana (2006), Mali (2006), El Salvador (2006), Mozambique (2007), Lesotho (2007), Morocco (2007), Mongolia (2007), Tanzania (2007), Burkina Faso (2008), Namibia (2008), Senegal (2009), Moldova (2009), Philippines (2010), Jordan (2010), Malawi (2011), Indonesia (2011), Cape Verde II (2011), and Zambia (2012).

MCC issues include the level of funding to support MCC programs, the impact of budget reductions on MCC programs, the rate of program implementation, the results of MCC compacts, and procurement and corruption concerns.


Date of Report: April 12, 2012
Number of Pages: 47
Order Number: RL32427
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The Peace Corps: Current Issues

Curt Tarnoff
Specialist in Foreign Affairs

Founded in 1961, the Peace Corps has sought to meet its legislative mandate of promoting world peace and friendship by sending American volunteers to serve at the grassroots level in villages and towns in all corners of the globe. As of end September 2011, about 9,095 volunteers were serving in 76 nations.

In 2011, the 112th Congress is considering the President’s annual funding request for the Peace Corps, efforts to reauthorize the Peace Corps, and related issues. In February 2011, the Obama Administration issued its FY2012 budget request, proposing $439.6 million for the Peace Corps, a 17% increase over the final FY2011 appropriation of $374.3 million (H.R. 1473, P.L. 112-10), which represented a cut of 6% for the Peace Corps from the previous year. On December 23, 2011, the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2012 (P.L. 112-74, H.R. 2055) was signed into law. Division I provides $375 million for the Peace Corps, $750,000 more than in FY2011.

The last Peace Corps funding authorization (P.L. 106-30), approved in 1999, covered the years FY2000 to FY2003. On July 21, the House Foreign Affairs Committee reported H.R. 2583, the Foreign Relations Authorization for FY2012, which includes language authorizing $375 million for the Peace Corps in FY2012 as well as provisions addressing Peace Corps safety and security. On July 27, 2011, Senator Kerry introduced S. 1426, the Foreign Relations Authorization for FY2012 and FY2013, including language authorizing $439.6 million for the Peace Corps in FY2012 and “such sums as may be necessary” for FY2013.

On November 21, 2011, the Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act of 2011 was signed into law (P.L. 112-57). It puts into place a number of safeguards to address and reduce the incidence of volunteer rape and sexual abuse.

A comprehensive assessment of Peace Corps operations was published in June 2010. It makes 64 recommendations supporting a six-point strategy to be implemented in the coming years.

Current issues include the extent to which there is available funding for Peace Corps expansion, whether the Peace Corps has the institutional capacity to expand, and whether volunteers are able to function in a safe and secure environment.


Date of Report: January 3, 2012
Number of Pages: 16
Order Number: RS21168
Price: $29.95

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