Sec. 3296. Oceania Peace Corps partnerships
490 words·~2 min read·
/bill/117/hr/4521/eas/section-3296A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Peace Corps shall submit to Congress a report on strategies to reasonably and safely expand the number of Peace Corps volunteers in Oceania, with the goals of— expanding the presence of the Peace Corps to all currently feasible locations in Oceania; and working with regional and international partners of the United States to expand the presence of Peace Corps volunteers in low-income Oceania communities in support of climate resilience initiatives. The report required by subsection
(a)shall— assess the factors contributing to the current absence of the Peace Corps and its volunteers in Oceania; examine potential remedies that include working with United States Government agencies and regional governments, including governments of United States allies— to increase the health infrastructure and medical evacuation capabilities of the countries of Oceania to better support the safety of Peace Corps volunteers while in those countries; to address physical safety concerns that have decreased the ability of the Peace Corps to operate in Oceania; and to increase transportation infrastructure in the countries of Oceania to better support the travel of Peace Corps volunteers and their access to necessary facilities; evaluate the potential to expand the deployment of Peace Corps Response volunteers to help the countries of Oceania address social, economic, and development needs of their communities that require specific professional expertise; and explore potential new operational models to address safety and security needs of Peace Corps volunteers in the countries of Oceania, including— changes to volunteer deployment durations; and scheduled redeployment of volunteers to regional or United States-based healthcare facilities for routine physical and behavioral health evaluation. In examining the potential to expand the presence of Peace Corps volunteers in low-income Oceania communities under subsection (a)(2), the Director of the Peace Corps shall consider the development of initiatives described in paragraph (2). Initiatives described in this paragraph are volunteer initiatives that help the countries of Oceania address social, economic, and development needs of their communities, including by— addressing, through appropriate resilience-based interventions, the vulnerability that communities in Oceania face as result of extreme weather, severe environmental change, and other climate related trends; and improving, through smart infrastructure principles, access to transportation and connectivity infrastructure that will help address the economic and social challenges that communities in Oceania confront as a result of poor or nonexistent infrastructure. In this section, the term Oceania includes the following: Easter Island of Chile. Fiji. French Polynesia of France. Kiribati. New Caledonia of France. Nieu of New Zealand. Papua New Guinea. Samoa. Vanuatu. The Ashmore and Cartier Islands of Australia. The Cook Islands of New Zealand. The Coral Islands of Australia. The Federated States of Micronesia. The Norfolk Island of Australia. The Pitcairn Islands of the United Kingdom. The Republic of the Marshal Islands. The Republic of Palau. The Solomon Islands. Tokelau of New Zealand. Tonga. Tuvalu. Wallis and Futuna of France.