[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 365 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 365

 Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding liability of Japanese 
 companies to former prisoners of war used by such companies as slave 
                       labor during World War II.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 28, 2000

Mr. Hunter (for himself, Mr. Bilbray, Mrs. Kelly, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. 
     Cunningham, and Mr. Wolf) submitted the following concurrent 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International 
                               Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding liability of Japanese 
 companies to former prisoners of war used by such companies as slave 
                       labor during World War II.

Whereas Japan captured and interned 36,260 American prisoners of war during 
        World War II;
Whereas 37.3 percent of those Americans who were placed in Japanese prisoner-of-
        war camps died during their imprisonment;
Whereas Americans captured and interned by the Japanese were forced to work for 
        privately held Japanese companies in severe slave-like conditions, with 
        very little food, dangerous work environments, and no medical care;
Whereas survivors of Japanese prisoner-of-war camps continue to suffer long-term 
        health consequences due to their imprisonment;
Whereas the companies that benefitted from the forced labor of American and 
        other nations' prisoners of war continued to earn a profit during 
        wartime and beyond; and
Whereas, in contrast to other countries that participated in horrific war crimes 
        during World War II, the Government of Japan has refused to fully 
        acknowledge the crimes it committed, as well as those committed by 
        privately held Japanese companies during World War II, and to provide 
        full reparations to the victims of these actions: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of the Congress that privately owned Japanese 
companies that used prisoners of war as slave labor during World War 
II, or the successors of such companies, should--
            (1) reimburse those former prisoners, or their survivors, 
        for the labor performed for the commercial interests of such 
        companies; and
            (2) compensate those former prisoners, or their survivors, 
        for whatever brutality the companies inflicted on the prisoners 
        during the period of forced labor.
                                 <all>