The Charity & Security Network has sent letters to leaders in the Senate and House calling for hearings to determine how U.S. law contributed to the most deadly famine in the past 25 years by restricting humanitarian assistance during the 2010-2012 crisis in Somalia. A new study by USAID and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization found a drastic reduction in humanitarian assistance, combined with widespread conflict and drought, contributed to a death rate much higher than previously known.
Congress should investigate how U.S. law restricted humanitarian assistance to the people of Somalia, especially children, who made up 52 percent of all fatalities. It must also look at how the licensing process at the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control failed to effectively work with U.S. charities that wanted to conduct humanitarian operations in south and central Somalia, the areas hardest hit by the crisis, but were unable due to concerns of violating U.S. law.