[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 82 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 82

  Regarding the human rights situation in the Republic of the Sudan, 
including the practice of chattel slavery and all other forms of booty 
                         and related practices.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 22, 2001

   Mr. Payne (for himself and Mr. Tancredo) submitted the following 
     concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
                        International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
  Regarding the human rights situation in the Republic of the Sudan, 
including the practice of chattel slavery and all other forms of booty 
                         and related practices.

Whereas the Government of the Republic of the Sudan has perpetrated a prolonged 
        campaign of human rights abuses and discrimination, including the 
        facilitation of slavery in Sudan;
Whereas slavery is defined in international law as a crime against humanity;
Whereas the 2000 Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights has 
        documented numerous instances of the facilitation of slavery by the 
        Government of Sudan;
Whereas since Sudan's independence in 1956, the Government of Sudan, which has 
        been dominated by northern Arabs, has been fighting against the 
        Christian and animist South;
Whereas the Government of Sudan is not able to pay their militias and has 
        encouraged the militias to take slaves as compensation;
Whereas Christian Solidarity International (CSI) estimates that tens of 
        thousands of black slaves are owned by Arabs in northern Sudan;
Whereas on November 30, 1997, the Government of Sudan's Popular Defense Force 
        (PDF) enslaved 18 women and children during a slave raid on four 
        villages--Tiomthet, Mabior Nyang, and Ajok and Achorou--in northeastern 
        Bahr El Ghazal;
Whereas Aluel Mangong Deng and numerous other freed slaves have recounted to 
        rescuers from Christian Solidarity International and other rescuers that 
        they were systematically gang raped by members of Sudan's Popular 
        Defense Force following their enslavement;
Whereas in a January 2001 report of Christian Solidarity International, later 
        confirmed by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), states that 
        more than 175 black African women and children were abducted in slave 
        raids by militia forces of the Government of Sudan in Southern Sudan 
        during a two week period;
Whereas the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights and successive 
        United Nations special rapporteurs have identified slavery as a grave 
        human rights problem in Sudan;
Whereas the NAACP's Executive Board passed an anti-slavery resolution in 1995;
Whereas a slave raid undertaken as part of the ruling National Islam Front (NIF) 
        regime's self-declared jihad (holy war) against the predominantly 
        Christian and animist South in Sudan is the most recent of a long series 
        of such raids; and
Whereas Sudan is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political 
        Rights, the African Charter on Human and People's Rights, the Convention 
        on the Abolition of Slavery, and the Convention on the Rights of the 
        Child, however, despite being a party to these agreements, slavery still 
        exists in Sudan: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That the Congress--
            (1) calls upon the Government of the Republic of the Sudan 
        to honor its obligations under the Universal Declaration of 
        Human Rights and the Convention on the Abolition of Slavery to 
        prosecute slave owners to the fullest extent under the anti-
        slavery laws of Sudan and to educate individuals being held as 
        slaves concerning their legal rights;
            (2) calls upon the Government of Sudan to surrender and 
        release all slaves and return them to their homes;
            (3) urges in the strongest terms that the Government of 
        Sudan investigate abuses relating to slavery;
            (4) urges the United Nations Security Council to condemn 
        these acts of slavery;
            (5) deplores the fighting of the National Islam Front 
        (NIF), which has caused untold suffering for the people of 
        Sudan;
            (6) advocates the strengthening of the border between 
        northern and southern Sudan;
            (7) encourages human rights organizations to facilitate a 
        safe passage for slavery victims to and from conflict zones in 
        Sudan;
            (8) encourages the President to expand the comprehensive 
        sanctions applied to Sudan since 1997 to include sanctions with 
        respect to the practice of slavery;
            (9) urges cooperation among the Western powers to address 
        slavery and other human rights abuses in Sudan;
            (10) urges cooperation among the Western powers in support 
        of the proposal of the United Nations High Commissioner for 
        Human Rights for international action to facilitate the 
        decommissioning of weapons used by Sudanese militias that take 
        slaves; and
            (11) calls upon the United Nations Commission for Human 
        Rights, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the 
        European Union (EU) to end the use of euphemisms, such as the 
        term ``abduction'', as a substitute for the term ``slavery'' 
        with respect to the practice of slavery in Sudan.
                                 <all>