[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 309 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 309

 Condemning the forced abduction of Ugandan children and their use as 
                               soldiers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 24, 1998

   Mr. Payne (for himself, Mr. Berman, Mr. Gilman, Mr. Smith of New 
    Jersey, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Lantos, and Mr. Hastings of Florida) 
 submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to 
                the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Condemning the forced abduction of Ugandan children and their use as 
                               soldiers.

Whereas the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has abducted approximately 10,000 
        children, some as young as 8 years old, in northern Uganda to support 
        its efforts to overthrow the Government of Uganda;
Whereas the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in March 1998 condemned 
        ``in the strongest terms'' the LRA's child abductions;
Whereas children kidnapped by the LRA are forced to raid and loot villages, 
        fight in the front lines against the Ugandan army, serve as sexual 
        slaves to rebel commanders, and help kill other abducted children who 
        try to escape;
Whereas the LRA, led by Joseph Kony, has continued to kill, torture, maim, rape, 
        and abduct large numbers of civilians, virtually enslaving numerous 
        children;
Whereas LRA child abductees serve as surrogates for Sudanese government forces 
        against the south;
Whereas Sudanese government soldiers deliver food supplies, vehicles, 
        ammunition, and arms to LRA base camps in government-controlled southern 
        Sudan;
Whereas children who manage to escape from LRA captivity find their families 
        displaced or deceased and have little access to rehabilitation programs, 
        and in many instances their families are afraid for their children 
        turned toy soldiers to return home;
Whereas children are conscripted, coaxed, or tricked into volunteering for the 
        armed forces and are sometimes sold to armies and armed groups by 
        impoverished families;
Whereas the United Nations has established, through the Optional Protocol to the 
        Convention on the Rights of the Child, 18 as the minimum age for 
        recruitment and participation of individuals in armed forces; and
Whereas the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations 
        Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations High Commission on 
        Refugees, and the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights, as 
        well as many nongovernmental organizations such as Amnesty International 
        and Human Rights Watch, also support the establishment of 18 as the 
        minimum age for military recruitment and participation in armed 
        conflict: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns the abduction of children by the Lord's 
        Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda and calls for the 
        immediate release of all LRA child captives;
            (2) urges Olara Otunnu, the recently appointed United 
        Nations Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, 
        to take appropriate measures to resolve the LRA problem;
            (3) encourages the United Nations Committee on the Rights 
        of the Child to investigate the situation in northern Uganda;
            (4) calls on the Al-Bashir government to cease supporting 
        the LRA in the abductions and kidnapping of children in 
        Northern Uganda;
            (5) calls on the President and the Secretary of State to 
        support efforts to end the abduction of children by the LRA and 
        obtain their release;
            (6) asks the President to provide more support to United 
        Nations agencies and nongovernmental organizations working to 
        rehabilitate former child soldiers and reintegrate them into 
        society; and
            (7) encourages the President to appoint a Special 
        Humanitarian Envoy for Sudan.
                                 <all>