Peace Corps in the United States
Introduction to Peace Corps
Peace Corps, United States agency created to promote world peace and friendship by training American volunteers to perform social and humanitarian service overseas. Originally an agency of the United States Department of State, it was created by executive order in 1961, and made an independent agency of the United States government in 1981. The volunteers help communities in developing countries improve their social and economic conditions. Each volunteer serves for a 2-year term. The organization has its national headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Requirements for a Peace Corps volunteer are that he or she be a U.S. citizen, be at least 18 years of age, and have not more than two dependents under the age of 18. Volunteers work or teach in rural and urban communities. They are involved in projects ranging from health to education to agriculture. About 300 different job skills are utilized in the corps. In the 1990s volunteers were working in more than 100 countries throughout Africa, Latin America, the Mediterranean, Asia, Eastern and Central Europe, and the Pacific.
The Peace Corps recognizes that the work of the volunteers should help satisfy the most pressing needs of developing countries. For example, in most developing countries, where 85 percent of the people work on the land, Peace Corps programming has shifted from education to agriculture and related rural programs.
In 1995 the Peace Corps branched out from its previous focus on long-term development projects and joined the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in working with refugees and displaced persons. The Peace Corps concentrated on giving refugees useful, life-long skills such as farming techniques and information about preserving the environment. The two agencies have worked in refugee camps in Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi.
The Peace Corps also operates domestic programs. The Peace Corps Fellows/USA program helps returned volunteers arrange for scholarships for master’s degree programs while they work or teach in public health or community development. In the Peace Corps’ World Wise Schools, volunteers speak in schools, sharing their experiences with American students.” (1)
Development
The Peace Corps helps people of interested countries meet their need for trained men
and women and promotes mutual understanding between Americans and citizens of
other countries.
The Peace Corps was established by the Peace Corps Act of 1961, as amended (22 U.S.C. 2501), and was made an independent agency by title VI of the International Security and Development Cooperation Act of 1981 (22 U.S.C. 2501–1).
Activities
The Peace Corps consists of a Washington, DC, headquarters, 9 area offces, and overseas operations in 77 countries, utilizing more than 7,600 volunteers.
To fulfll the Peace Corps mandate, men and women are trained for a 9 to 14-week period in the appropriate local language, the technical skills necessary for their particular jobs, and the cross-cultural skills needed to adjust to a society with traditions and attitudes different from their own. Volunteers serve for a period of 2 years, living among the people with whom they work. Volunteers are expected to become a part of the community through their voluntary
service.
Thousands of volunteers serve throughout the world, working in six program areas: education, health and HIV/AIDS, environment, youth development, agriculture, and business development. Community-level projects are designed to incorporate the skills of volunteers with the resources of host country agencies and other international assistance organizations to help solve specifc development problems, often in conjunction with private volunteer
organizations.
In the United States, the Peace Corps is working to promote an understanding
of people in other countries. Through its World Wise Schools Program,
volunteers are matched with elementary and junior high schools in the United
States to encourage an exchange of letters, pictures, music, and artifacts.
Participating students increase their knowledge of geography, languages,
and different cultures, while gaining an appreciation for voluntarism.
The Peace Corps offers other domestic programs involving former volunteers, universities, local public school systems, and private businesses and foundations
in a partnership to help solve some of the United States most pressing domestic
problems.
The Peace Corps Office of Private Sector Initiatives works with schools,
civic groups, businesses, and neighborhood and youth organizations
in the United States to facilitate their support of Peace Corps initiatives here
and abroad.
For a complete listing of Peace Corps area of?ces, including addresses,
telephone numbers, and areas served,visit www.peacecorps.gov.
For further information, see http://www.peacecorps.gov.
Executive Order 10924: Establishment of the Peace Corps. (1961)
On March 1, 1961, President Kennedy signed this executive order establishing the Peace Corps. On September 22, 1961, Congress approved the legislation that formally authorized the Peace Corps. Goals of the Peace Corps included: 1) helping the people of interested countries and areas meet their needs for trained workers; 2) helping promote a better understanding of Americans in countries where volunteers served; and 3) helping promote a better understanding of peoples of other nations on the part of Americans.
The founding of the Peace Corps is one of President John F. Kennedy’s most enduring legacies. Yet it got its start in a fortuitous and unexpected moment. Kennedy, arriving late to speak to students at the University of Michigan on October 14, 1960, found himself thronged by a crowd of 10,000 students at 2 o’clock in the morning. Speaking extemporaneously, the Presidential candidate challenged American youth to devote a part of their lives to living and working in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Would students back his effort to form a Peace Corps? Their response was immediate: Within weeks, students organized a petition drive and gathered 1,000 signatures in support of the idea. Several hundred others pledged to serve. Enthusiastic letters poured into Democratic headquarters. This response was crucial to Kennedy’s decision to make the founding of a Peace Corps a priority. Since then, more than 168,000 citizens of all ages and backgrounds have worked in more than 130 countries throughout the world as volunteers in such fields as health, teaching, agriculture, urban planning, skilled trades, forestry, sanitation, and technology.
By 1960 two bills were introduced in Congress that were the direct forerunners of the Peace Corps. Representative Henry S. Reuss of Wisconsin proposed that the Government study the idea, and Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota asked for the establishment of a Peace Corps itself. These bills were not likely to pass Congress at the time, but they caught the attention of then-Senator Kennedy for several important reasons. In contrast to previous administrations, Kennedy foresaw a “New Frontier” inspired by Roosevelt’s New Deal. The New Frontier envisioned programs to fight poverty, help cities, and expand governmental benefits to a wide array of Americans. In foreign affairs, Kennedy was also more of an activist than his predecessor. He viewed the Presidency as “the vital center of action in our whole scheme of government.” Concerned by what was then perceived to be the global threat of communism, Kennedy looked for creative as well as military solutions. He was eager to revitalize our program of economic aid and to counter negative images of the “Ugly American” and Yankee imperialism. He believed that sending idealistic Americans abroad to work at the grass-roots level would spread American goodwill into the Third World and help stem the growth of communism there.
Kennedy lost no time in actualizing his dream for a Peace Corps. Between his election and inauguration, he ordered Sargent Shriver, his brother-in-law, to do a feasibility study. Shriver remembered, “We received more letters from people offering to work in or to volunteer for the Peace Corps, which did not then exist, than for all other existing agencies.” Within two months of taking office, Kennedy issued an Executive order establishing the Peace Corps within the State Department, using funds from mutual security appropriations. Shriver, as head of the new agency, assured its success by his fervent idealism and his willingness to improvise and take action. But to have permanency and eventual autonomy, the Peace Corps would have to be approved and funded by Congress. In September 1961, the 87th Congress passed Public Law 87-293 establishing a Peace Corps. By this time, because of Kennedy’s Executive order and Shriver’s leadership, Peace Corps volunteers were already in the field.
For more information, visit the National Archives’ Digital Classroom Teaching With Documents Lesson Plan: Founding Documents of the Peace Corps and the Peace Corps web site.
Source: The People’s Vote, National Archives of the United States.
Participation in United Nations peacekeeping and peace enforcement operations
In acordance with section 2005 of the American Servicemembers’ Protection Act of 2002 (22 U.S.C. 7424), concerning the participation of members of the Armed Forces of the United States in certain United Nations peacekeeping and peace enforcement operations, the members of the U.S. Armed Forces participating in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic are without risk of criminal prosecution or other assertion of jurisdiction by the International Criminal Court (ICC) because the Central African Republic has entered into an agreement in accordance with Article 98 of the Rome Statute preventing the ICC from proceeding against members of the Armed Forces of the United States present in that country.
Peace Corps (1978) and Family Planning-Related Provisions
This section provides a general background of peace corps (1978) in the framework of the abortion and family planning-related provisions in U.S. foreign assistance and, in special, in relation to Restrictions or Requirements in Legislation.Since FY1979, annual foreign operations appropriations have included an abortion restriction on Peace Corps funding due to concerns that money appropriated to the organization was being used to finance abortions for volunteers [14]. The restriction, included under the heading “Peace Corps,” states that “none of the funds appropriated under this heading shall be used to pay for abortions.”15 In the FY2016 State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Act, Congress enacted an additional provision that allows exceptions to the prohibition on funding abortions in the case of rape, incest, or endangerment to the life of the mother [16].
No restrictions exist on funding for the medical evacuation of Peace Corps volunteers who decide to have an abortion. Under existing policy, the Peace Corps covers the cost of evacuation to a location where adequate facilities” for obtaining an abortion are available and where abortions are legally permissible [17].
Note: Based on the Abortion and Family Planning-Related Provisions in U.S. Foreign Assistance Law and Policy Report.
Resources
Notes and References
14 The provision first appeared under Title III of the Foreign Assistance and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1979 (P.L. 95-481; 92 Stat. 1597), approved October 18, 1978. For information the circumstances of the amendment's introduction, see, for example, Senate debate, Congressional Record, September 22, 1978, Vol. 124, Part 23, pp. S15802-S15804.
15 129 Stat. 2722.
16 The provision, which was also included in the FY2015 State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Act, states: “Provided further, That notwithstanding the previous proviso, section 614 of division E of Public Law 113–76 shall apply to funds appropriated under this heading” (129 Stat. 2722). Section 614 of P.L. 113-76 states, “The provision of section 613 shall not apply where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term, or the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest.” (Sec. 613 of P.L. 113-76 says, “No funds appropriated by this Act shall be available to pay for an abortion, or the administrative expenses in connection with any health plan under the Federal employees health benefits program which provides any benefits or coverage for abortions.”) For a more detailed discussion of Peace Corps volunteers and abortion, see CRS Report RS21168, The Peace Corps: Current Issues, by Curt Tarnoff.
17 MS 263 Volunteer Pregnancy, Peace Corps Office of Medical Services (OMS), at http://www.peacecorps.gov/multimedia/pdf/manual/200_Volunteers/260-269_Trainee_and_Volunteer_Medical_Support/MS_263/Volunteer_Pregnancy.pdf.
See Also
Resources
Notes and References
- Information about Peace Corps in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia
Guide to Peace Corps
About U.S. Federal Departments
Federal Departments, Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense (including Department of Defense Purpose, Department of Defense Organization, Department of Defense Liaison of Command and Department of Defense Supporting Agencies), Department of Education, Department of Energy (including Department of Energy Purpose, Department of Energy Organization and Department of Energy Research and Development), Department of Health and Human Services (including Department of Health and Human Services History and Department of Health and Human Services Agencies and Services), Department of Homeland Security (including Department of Homeland Security Organization and Functions, Department of Homeland Security Origins and Department of Homeland Security Supporting Agencies), Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Justice (including Department of Justice Functions, Department of Justice Structure and Department of Justice Associated Agencies), Department of Labor, Department of National Defence, Department of State (including Department of State Administration and Department of State Bureaus), Department of the Air Force, Department of the Army, Department of the Interior (including Department of the Interior Functions and Department of the Interior Principal Agencies), Department of the Navy, Department of the Treasury, Department of Transportation, Department of Veterans Affairs (including the Department of Veterans Affairs Service Categories, Department of Veterans Affairs Benefits Available and GI Bill of Rights) and Department of War.
Leave a Reply