[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 72 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. CON. RES. 72

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 10, 1999

Mr. Wellstone submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


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

Whereas in 1999 approximately 300,000 individuals under the age of 18 are 
        participating in armed conflict in more than 30 countries worldwide and 
        hundreds of thousands more are at risk of being conscripted at any given 
        moment;
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 the international community is developing a consensus on how to most 
        effectively address the problem, and toward this end, the United Nations 
        has established a working group to negotiate an optional international 
        agreement on child soldiers which would raise the legal age of 
        recruitment and participation in armed conflict to age 18;
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 Peacekeeping, 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; and
Whereas the United States delegation to the United Nations working group 
        relating to child soldiers has opposed efforts to raise the minimum age 
        of participation in armed conflict to the age of 18 despite the support 
        of an overwhelming majority of countries: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), 
That--
            (1) the Congress joins the international community in 
        condemning the use of children as soldiers by governmental and 
        nongovernmental armed forces worldwide; and
            (2) it is the sense of the Congress that--
                    (A) the United States should not oppose current 
                efforts to negotiate an optional international 
                agreement to raise the international minimum age for 
                military service to the age of 18;
                    (B) the Secretary of State should address 
                positively and expediently this issue in the next 
                session of the United Nations working group relating to 
                child soldiers before this process is abandoned by the 
                international community; and
                    (C) 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.
                                 <all>