[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2620 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2620

 To end the use of child soldiers in hostilities around the world, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 7, 2007

 Mr. Marshall introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To end the use of child soldiers in hostilities around the world, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Child Soldier Prevention Act of 
2007''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) According to the September 7, 2005, report to the 
        General Assembly of the United Nations by the Special 
        Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed 
        Conflict, ``In the last decade, two million children have been 
        killed in situations of armed conflict, while six million 
        children have been permanently disabled or injured. Over 
        250,000 children continue to be exploited as child soldiers and 
        tens of thousands of girls are being subjected to rape and 
        other forms of sexual violence.''.
            (2) According to the Center for Emerging Threats and 
        Opportunities (CETO), Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, 
        ``The Child Soldier Phenomenon has become a post-Cold War 
        epidemic that has proliferated to every continent with the 
        exception of Antarctica and Australia.''.
            (3) Many of the children currently serving in armed forces 
        or paramilitaries were forcibly conscripted through kidnapping 
        or coercion, a form of human trafficking, while others joined 
        military units due to economic necessity, to avenge the loss of 
        a family member, or for their own personal safety.
            (4) Some military and militia commanders force child 
        soldiers to commit gruesome acts of ritual killings or torture, 
        including acts of violence against other children.
            (5) Many female child soldiers face the additional 
        psychological and physical horrors of rape and sexual abuse, 
        enslavement for sexual purposes by militia commanders, and 
        severe social stigma should they return home.
            (6) Some military and militia commanders target children 
        for recruitment because of their psychological immaturity and 
        vulnerability to manipulation and indoctrination. Children are 
        often separated from their families in order to foster 
        dependence on military units and leaders. Consequently, many of 
        these children suffer from deep trauma and are in need of 
        psychological counseling and rehabilitation.
            (7) Child soldiers are exposed to hazardous conditions and 
        are at risk of physical injury and disability, psychological 
        trauma, sexually transmitted diseases, respiratory and skin 
        infections, and often death.
            (8) On May 25, 2000, the United Nations adopted and opened 
        for signature, ratification, and accession the Optional 
        Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the 
        Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (in this Act referred 
        to as the ``Optional Protocol''), which establishes 18 as the 
        minimum age for conscription or forced recruitment and requires 
        states party to ensure that members of their armed forces under 
        the age of 18 do not take a direct part in hostilities.
            (9) On June 18, 2002, the Senate unanimously approved the 
        resolution advising and consenting to the ratification of the 
        Optional Protocol.
            (10) On December 23, 2002, the United States presented the 
        ratified optional protocol to the United Nations.
            (11) More than 110 governments worldwide have ratified the 
        optional protocol, establishing a clear international norm 
        concerning the use of children in combat.
            (12) On December 2, 1999, the United States ratified 
        International Labour Convention 182, the Convention concerning 
        the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the 
        Worst Forms of Child Labour, which includes the use of child 
        soldiers among the worst forms of child labor.
            (13) On October 7, 2005, the Senate gave its advice and 
        consent to the ratification of the Protocol to Prevent, 
        Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women 
        and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention 
        Against Transnational Organized Crime.
            (14) It is in the national security interest of the United 
        States to reduce the chances that members of the United States 
        Armed Forces will be forced to encounter children in combat 
        situations.
            (15) Section 502B(a)(3) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 
        1961 (22 U.S.C. 2304(a)(3)) provides that ``the President is 
        directed to formulate and conduct international security 
        assistance programs of the United States in a manner which will 
        promote and advance human rights and avoid identification of 
        the United States, through such programs, with governments 
        which deny to their people internationally recognized human 
        rights and fundamental freedoms, in violation of international 
        law or in contravention of the policy of the United States as 
        expressed in this section or otherwise''.

SEC. 3. CHILD SOLDIER DEFINED.

    In this Act, consistent with the provisions of the Optional 
Protocol, the term ``child soldier''--
            (1) means--
                    (A) any person under age 18 who takes a direct part 
                in hostilities as a member of governmental armed 
                forces;
                    (B) any person under age 18 who has been 
                compulsorily recruited into governmental armed forces;
                    (C) any person under age 16 voluntarily recruited 
                into governmental armed forces; and
                    (D) any person under age 18 recruited or used in 
                hostilities by armed forces distinct from the armed 
                forces of a state; and
            (2) includes any person described in subparagraphs (B), 
        (C), and (D) of paragraph (1) who is serving in any capacity, 
        including in a support role such as a cook, porter, messenger, 
        medic, guard, or sex slave.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress--
            (1) to condemn the conscription, forced recruitment or use 
        of children by governments, paramilitaries, or other 
        organizations in hostilities;
            (2) that the United States Government should support and, 
        where practicable, lead efforts to establish and uphold 
        international standards designed to end this abuse of human 
        rights;
            (3) that the United States Government should expand ongoing 
        services to rehabilitate recovered child soldiers and to 
        reintegrate them back into their communities by--
                    (A) offering ongoing psychological services to help 
                victims recover from their trauma and relearn how to 
                deal with others in nonviolent ways such that they are 
                no longer a danger to their community;
                    (B) facilitating reconciliation with their 
                communities through negotiations with traditional 
                leaders and elders to enable recovered abductees to 
                resume normal lives in their communities; and
                    (C) providing educational and vocational 
                assistance;
            (4) that the United States should work with the 
        international community, including, where appropriate, third 
        country governments, nongovernmental organizations, faith-based 
        organizations, United Nations agencies, local governments, 
        labor unions, and private enterprise--
                    (A) on efforts to bring to justice rebel 
                organizations that kidnap children for use as child 
                soldiers, including the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in 
                Uganda, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia 
                (FARC), and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), 
                including, where feasible, by arresting the leaders of 
                such groups; and
                    (B) on efforts to recover those children who have 
                been abducted and to assist them in their 
                rehabilitation and reintegration into communities;
            (5) that the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Labor, 
        and the Secretary of Defense should coordinate programs to 
        achieve the goals specified in paragraph (3), and in countries 
        where the use of child soldiers is an issue, whether or not it 
        is supported or sanctioned by the governments of such 
        countries, United States diplomatic missions should include in 
        their mission program plans a strategy to achieve the goals 
        specified in such paragraph;
            (6) that United States diplomatic missions in countries in 
        which governments use or tolerate child soldiers should 
        develop, as part of annual program planning, strategies to 
        promote efforts to end this abuse of human rights; and
            (7) that, in allocating or recommending the allocation of 
        funds or recommending candidates for programs and grants funded 
        by the United States Government, United States diplomatic 
        missions should give particular consideration to those programs 
        and candidates deemed to promote the end to this abuse of human 
        rights.

SEC. 5. PROHIBITION.

    (a) In General.--Subject to subsections (b), (c), and (d), none of 
the funds appropriated or otherwise made available for international 
military education and training, foreign military financing, foreign 
military sales, direct commercial sales, or excess defense articles by 
the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs 
Appropriations Act, 2006 (Public Law 109-102) or any other Act making 
appropriations for foreign operations, export financing, and related 
programs may be obligated or otherwise made available to the government 
of a country that is clearly identified by the Department of State in 
the Department of State's most recent Country Reports on Human Rights 
Practices as having governmental armed forces or government supported 
armed groups, including paramilitaries, militias, or civil defense 
forces, that recruit or use child soldiers.
    (b) Notification to Countries in Violation of the Standards of This 
Act.--The Secretary of State shall formally notify any government 
identified pursuant to subsection (a).
    (c) National Interest Waiver.--
            (1) Waiver.--The President may waive the application to a 
        country of the prohibition in subsection (a) if the President 
        determines that such waiver is in the interest of the United 
        States.
            (2) Publication and notification.--The President shall 
        publish each waiver granted under paragraph (1) in the Federal 
        Register and shall notify the Committee on Foreign Relations 
        and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the 
        Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on 
        Appropriations of the House of Representatives of each such 
        waiver, including the justification for the waiver, in 
        accordance with the regular notification procedures of such 
        Committees.
    (d) Reinstatement of Assistance.--The President may provide to a 
country assistance otherwise prohibited under subsection (a) upon 
certifying to Congress that the government of such country--
            (1) has implemented effective measures to come into 
        compliance with the standards of this Act; and
            (2) has implemented effective policies and mechanisms to 
        prohibit and prevent future use of child soldiers and to ensure 
        that no children are recruited, conscripted, or otherwise 
        compelled to serve as child soldiers.
    (e) Exception for Programs Directly Related to Addressing the 
Problem of Child Soldiers or Professionalization of the Military.--
            (1) In general.--The President may provide to a country 
        assistance for international military education and training 
        otherwise prohibited under subsection (a) upon certifying to 
        Congress that--
                    (A) the government of such country is implementing 
                effective measures to demobilize child soldiers in its 
                forces or in government supported paramilitaries and to 
                provide demobilization, rehabilitation, and 
                reintegration assistance to those former child 
                soldiers; and
                    (B) the assistance provided by the United States 
                Government to the government of such country will go to 
                programs that will directly support professionalization 
                of the military.
            (2) Limitation.--The exception under paragraph (1) may not 
        remain in effect for more than 2 years following the date of 
        notification specified in subsection (b).

SEC. 6. REPORTS.

    (a) Preparation of Reports Regarding Child Soldiers.--United States 
missions abroad shall thoroughly investigate reports of the use of 
child soldiers.
    (b) Information for Annual Human Rights Reports.--In preparing 
those portions of the Human Rights Reports that relate to child 
soldiers, the Secretary of State shall ensure that such reports shall 
include a description of the use of child soldiers in each foreign 
country, including--
            (1) trends toward improvement in such country of the status 
        of child soldiers or the continued or increased tolerance of 
        such practices; and
            (2) the role of the government of such country in engaging 
        in or tolerating the use of child soldiers.
    (c) Inclusion of Information on Violations.--When the Secretary of 
State determines that a government has violated the standards of this 
Act, the Secretary shall clearly indicate that fact in the relevant 
Annual Human Rights Report.
    (d) Letter to Congress.--Not later than June 15 of each year for 10 
years following the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit 
to the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on 
Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 
the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives--
            (1) a list of the countries receiving notification that 
        they are in violation of the standards of this Act;
            (2) a list of any waivers or exceptions exercised under 
        this Act;
            (3) justification for those waivers and exceptions; and
            (4) a description of any assistance provided pursuant to 
        this Act.

SEC. 7. REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF ACT.

    Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the President shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Relations 
and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
Representatives a report setting forth a strategy for achieving the 
policy objectives of this Act, including a description of an effective 
mechanism for coordination of United States Government efforts to 
implement this strategy.

SEC. 8. TRAINING FOR FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICERS.

    Section 708 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4028) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(c) The Secretary of State, with the assistance of other relevant 
officials, shall establish as part of the standard training provided 
after January 1, 2008, for officers of the Service, including chiefs of 
mission, instruction on matters related to child soldiers and the 
substance of the Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2007.''.

SEC. 9. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICABILITY.

    This Act shall take effect 180 days after the date of the enactment 
of this Act and shall apply to funds obligated after such effective 
date.
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