The Foreign Assistance Act (, et seq.) is a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

law governing

foreign aid In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. Ai ...

policy. It outlined the political and ideological principles of U.S. foreign aid, significantly overhauled and reorganized the structure U.S. foreign assistance programs, legally distinguished military from nonmilitary aid, and created a new agency, the

United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 b ...

(USAID) to administer nonmilitary economic assistance programs. Following its enactment by Congress on September 4, 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed the Act into law on November 3, 1961, issuing Executive Order 10973 detailing the reorganization. USAID unified already existing U.S. aid efforts, combining the economic and technical assistance operations of the International Cooperation Administration, the loan activities of the Development Loan Fund, the local currency functions of the Export-Import Bank, and the agricultural surplus distribution activities of the

Food for Peace In different administrative and organizational forms, the Food for Peace program of the United States has provided food assistance around the world for more than 60 years. Approximately 3 billion people in 150 countries have benefited directly fro ...

program of the

Department of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...

. The Act provides that no assistance is to be provided to a government which "engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

, including

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts ...

or cruel,

inhuman, or degrading treatment Cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (CIDT) is treatment of persons which is contrary to human rights or dignity, but is not classified as torture. It is forbidden by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 3 of the European Convention ...

or punishment, prolonged detention without

charges Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

, causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction and clandestine detention of those persons, or other flagrant denial of the

right to life The right to life is the belief that a being has the right to live and, in particular, should not be killed by another entity. The concept of a right to life arises in debates on issues including capital punishment, with some people seeing it a ...

liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

, and the security of person, unless such assistance will directly benefit the needy people in such country." The Act also provides that no assistance is to be provided to any

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

country. However, the President may waive this prohibition if he determines that such assistance is vital to the national security of the United States, that the country is not controlled by the international Communist conspiracy, and that the assistance will promote the country's independence from international Communism. The President may also remove a country from the application of this provision for a certain time which the President determines. In order to remove a country from the application of this provision, the President must determine and report to Congress that such action is important to the national security of the United States. The Act was amended in 2004 specific to the treatment of orphans and other vulnerable children. This amendment allows the president to provide aid to the peoples of other countries to look after children in cases of

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

and to set up schools and other programs for the advancement of child treatment. Under the authority of this Act on March 16, 2022, President Biden authorized $800 million in new security assistance to Ukraine.

Amendments to 1961 Act

Chronological timeline of amendments and revisions to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.

Notes

External links

* Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended, i
HTMLPDFdetails
in the GPObr>Statute Compilations collection

Information from USAID

Foreign Operations Appropriations: General Provisions

FAA-related documents and publications
available through USAID's Development Experience Clearinghouse * * {{Authority control 1961 in American law United States foreign relations legislation United States Agency for International Development 1961 in international relations

Amendments to 1961 Act

See also

Notes

External links