[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 348 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 348

    Expressing condemnation of the use of children as soldiers and 
expressing the belief that the United States should support and, where 
       possible, lead efforts to end this abuse of human rights.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 7, 2000

 Mr. Lewis of Georgia (for himself, Mr. Porter, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Payne, 
 Mr. LaHood, Mr. English, Mr. Brady of Pennsylvania, Mrs. Christensen, 
  Mr. Gillmor, Mrs. Lowey, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Norton, Mr. Capuano, Ms. 
    Lofgren, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Berman, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Crowley, Mr. 
 McDermott, Mr. Engel, Mr. Stark, Mr. Owens, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. Allen, 
 Mr. Kennedy of Rhode Island, Ms. McKinney, Mrs. Morella, Mr. Moakley, 
    Ms. Rivers, Mrs. Meek of Florida, Ms. Pelosi, Ms. Lee, and Mr. 
  Gonzalez) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
          referred to the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
    Expressing condemnation of the use of children as soldiers and 
expressing the belief that the United States should support and, where 
       possible, lead efforts to end this abuse of human rights.

Whereas in the year 2000 approximately 300,000 individuals under the age of 18 
        are participating in armed conflict in more than 30 countries worldwide;
Whereas many of these children are forcibly conscripted through kidnapping or 
        coercion, while others join military units due to economic necessity, to 
        avenge the loss of a family member, or for their own personal safety;
Whereas many military commanders frequently force child soldiers to commit 
        gruesome acts of ritual killings or torture against their enemies, 
        including against other children;
Whereas many military commanders separate children from their families in order 
        to foster dependence on military units and leaders, leaving children 
        vulnerable to manipulation, deep traumatization, and in need of 
        psychological counseling and rehabilitation;
Whereas child soldiers are exposed to hazardous conditions and risk physical 
        injuries, sexually transmitted diseases, malnutrition, deformed backs 
        and shoulders from carrying overweight loads, and respiratory and skin 
        infections;
Whereas many young female soldiers face the additional psychological and 
        physical horrors of rape and sexual abuse, being enslaved for sexual 
        purposes by militia commanders, and forced to endure severe social 
        stigma should they return home;
Whereas children in northern Uganda continue to be kidnapped by the Lords 
        Resistance Army (LRA) which is supported and funded by the Government of 
        Sudan and which has committed and continues to commit gross human rights 
        violations in Uganda;
Whereas children in Sri Lanka have been forcibly recruited by the opposition 
        Tamil Tigers movement and forced to kill or be killed in the armed 
        conflict in that country;
Whereas an estimated 7,000 child soldiers have been involved in the conflict in 
        Sierra Leone, some as young as age 10, with many being forced to commit 
        extrajudicial executions, torture, rape, and amputations for the rebel 
        Revolutionary United Front;
Whereas on January 21, 2000, in Geneva, a United Nations Working Group, 
        including representatives from more than eighty governments including 
        the United States, reached consensus on an optional protocol on the use 
        of child soldiers;
Whereas this optional protcol will raise the international minimum age for 
        conscription and direct participation in armed conflict to age eighteen, 
        prohibit the recruitment and use in armed conflict of persons under the 
        age of eighteen by non-governmental armed forces, encourage governments 
        to raise the minimum legal age for voluntary recruits above the current 
        standard of 15 and, commits governments to support the demobilization 
        and rehabilitation of child soldiers, and when possible, to allocate 
        resources to this purpose;
Whereas on October 29, 1998, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan set 
        minimum age requirements for United Nations peacekeeping personnel that 
        are made available by member nations of the United Nations;
Whereas United Nations Under-Secretary General for Peace-keeping, Bernard Miyet, 
        announced in the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly that 
        contributing governments of member nations were asked not to send 
        civilian police and military observers under the age of 25, and that 
        troops in national contingents should preferably be at least 21 years of 
        age but in no case should they be younger than 18 years of age;
Whereas on August 25, 1999, the United Nations Security Council unanimously 
        passed Resolution 1261 (1999) condemning the use of children in armed 
        conflicts;
Whereas in addressing the Security Council, the Special Representative of the 
        Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, urged 
        the adoption of a global three-pronged approach to combat the use of 
        children in armed conflict, first to raise the age limit for recruitment 
        and participation in armed conflict from the present age of 15 to the 
        age of 18, second, to increase international pressure on armed groups 
        which currently abuse children, and third to address the political, 
        social, and economic factors which create an environment where children 
        are induced by appeal of ideology or by socio-economic collapse to 
        become child soldiers;
Whereas the United States delegation to the United Nations working group 
        relating to child soldiers, which included representatives from the 
        Department of Defense, supported the Geneva agreement on the optional 
        protocol;
Whereas on May 25, 2000, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted 
        the optional protocol on the use of child soldiers;
Whereas the optional protocol was opened for signature on June 5, 2000; and
Whereas President Clinton has publicly announced his support of the optional 
        protocol and a speedy process of review and signature: Now, therefore, 
        be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That--
            (1) the Congress joins the international community in--
                    (A) condemning the use of children as soldiers by 
                governmental and nongovernmental armed forces 
                worldwide;
                    (B) welcoming the optional protocol as a critical 
                first step in ending the use of children as soldiers; 
                and
                    (C) applauding the decision by the United States 
                Government to support the protocol;
            (2) it is the sense of the Congress that--
                    (A) President Clinton should sign the optional 
                protocol at the earliest opportunity and that once it 
                is signed, the Senate should ratify the protocol as 
                quickly as possible;
                    (B) the President and the Congress should work 
                together to enact a law that establishes a fund for the 
                rehabilitation and reintegration into society of child 
                soldiers; and
                     (C) the Departments of State and Defense should 
                undertake all possible efforts to persuade and 
                encourage other governments to ratify and endorse the 
                new optional protocol on the use of child soldiers.
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