IV 112th CONGRESS 1st Session H. RES. 345 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 8, 2011 Mr. Daniel E. Lungren of California submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs RESOLUTION Condemning al Shabaab for its practice of child conscription in the Horn of Africa.

Whereas according to the United States State Department Trafficking in Persons Report in June 2010, the recruitment and use of children in militias and other fighting forces is a longstanding practice by al Shabaab which has continued through this year; Whereas a January 2010 United Nations report indicated that the number of child soldiers in Somalia had increased over the last 4 years, with widespread recruitment from schools, madrasas, and among street children; Whereas during the reporting period of the United Nations report, al Shabaab used force and deception to exploit orphaned and street children for use in armed conflict, carrying out assassinations, planting bombs, portering, and domestic servitude; Whereas al Shabaab systematically and forcibly conscripted children, sometimes as young as 8 years of age, from southern Somalia and Puntland; Whereas the group also forcibly recruited girls who were then married off to its militia leaders and used for logistical support and intelligence gathering; Whereas al Shabaab has extended its terror internationally to Uganda where it slaughtered 76 civilians including 1 United States citizen during a bombing; and Whereas al Shabaab has openly affiliated itself with the al Qaeda terrorist network and has recruited from the United States proving it is a legitimate threat to the national security of the United States: Now, therefore, be it

That the House of Representatives condemns al Shabaab for its practice of child conscription in the Horn of Africa.