[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 96 (Wednesday, June 26, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1180]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      THE DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. RONALD V. DELLUMS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 26, 1996

  Mr. DELLUMS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the event which 
led to our honoring June 16 as the Day of the African Child. On this 
day in 1976, approximately 600 young people were massacred in Soweto, 
South Africa. We honor June 16, 1976, as a day marking our sorrow and 
our pledge to these murdered children, their families, and their cause, 
that such horrors should not happen again. This year's commemoration 
focuses on the issue of war and its effects on children across the 
African continent.
  We bow our heads in memory of the tragic occurrence of June 16, 1976. 
We celebrate the victory of the effort, the dedication, the enormous 
drive, and the energy whereby the people of the African National 
Congress, and their leader, President Nelson Mendela, were able to 
overcome the race hatred of the Afrikaners, to emerge victorious 
without a major war, to create a nation committed to equality, and to 
end official racial hatred and violence.
  The Republic of South Africa is a beacon, a reality, which many of us 
hold as the embodiment of a government dedicated to peace and racial 
equality, created out of social violence and repeated acts of violence 
by an armed government against an unarmed people. We hold, with the new 
republic in mind, that the children of besieged countries in Africa 
deserve a similar stake in the future as the children of the Republic 
of South Africa are now able to hold.
  The killings of children and adults--in Rwanda, Burundi, and now 
Liberia--go beyond our worst imaginings. The killing fields of Cambodia 
and Bosnia are now joined by these in Africa. Whether massive killings 
are the result of tribal or national war, these events are 
inconceivable to most of us.
  In a war, people are displaced from their normal daily lives and are 
forced to face the unimaginable horrors of death and destruction. War 
creates a generation of angered individuals forced to deal with a 
country in ruins, homes in shambles, and families in anguish. In the 
midst of all this tragic adversity, the children of a warring nation 
undergo the greatest ordeal of all. These children, who are caught in 
the turmoil and chaos of armed conflict, face the emotional and 
physical wounds of war as well as the instability of their country's 
future.
  Rwanda provides evidence of the devastating impact that war has on 
children. The genocidal massacres in Rwanda have claimed a million 
lives, 300,000 of which have been children. According to a UNICEF 
survey of children in one part of the country, 47 percent of those 
interviewed saw children killing or injuring other children, 66 percent 
of the children saw massacres, 20 percent witnessed rape and sexual 
abuse, and 56 percent saw family members being killed. The destruction 
of homes, health centers, and educational facilities has also left 
children with little hope of leading future normal lives.
  Burundi is another example of how violent conflicts can have a 
devastating impact on young children. Years of fighting fed by deep 
political and ethnic animosities have claimed hundreds of thousands of 
lives and have left numerous others maimed. A whole generation of 
children have been made orphans. Hostilities have caused famine and 
turned children into beggars. The armed conflict has also resulted in 
collapse of the legal and social systems, creating a lack of law 
enforcement, lack of medical care, and lack of education.
  The calls of the children--and the adults upon whom they depend--of 
Burundi, Rwanda, Liberia, and other warring countries in Africa, reach 
out to us, but we are mostly silent. The United States, a wealthy 
nation, has turned away from the people of war torn nations. Where it 
once was a leader in aiding other countries out of poverty and ruin, 
today, the United States spends less than 1 percent of its national 
budget on foreign aid programs. This is a very disappointing figure 
compared to those countries such as Japan and Denmark, which contribute 
2.8 and 4.7 percent of their budget to foreign aid. We need to have our 
hearts touched and consider responses which will support efforts to 
stop hostilities and help these countries move towards recovery. It is 
only when these nations have fully recovered that the children of the 
future can lead better and more secure lives.

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