[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 63 (Thursday, April 19, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4780-S4782]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DURBIN (for himself and Mr. Brownback):
  S. 1175. A bill to end the use of child soldiers in hostilities 
around the world, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss an issue of 
children's rights and human rights: the recruitment and use of child 
soldiers.
  Hundreds of thousands of children in the world today serve as child 
soldiers, boys and girls alike.
  They serve as combatants, porters, human mine detectors and sex 
slaves.
  Their health and lives are endangered and their childhoods are 
sacrificed.
  The bulk of these children are captured, recruited, or sold into 
service with rebel groups such as the infamous Lord's Resistance Army 
in Uganda.
  But some serve with uniformed armed forces or government-supported 
paramilitaries or militias.
  Even more troubling, children have served as child soldiers for 
governments that receive U.S. military assistance.
  Today, Senator Sam Brownback and I are introducing legislation 
addressing this issue.
  Our bill, the Child Soldiers Prevention Act, will ensure that U.S. 
taxpayer dollars are not used to support foreign militaries known to 
recruit or use child soldiers in government armed forces or government-
supported militaries.
  U.S. military assistance can continue under this bill, but it will be 
used to remedy the problem by helping countries successfully demobilize 
their child soldiers and professionalize their forces.
  Under the terms of this bill, Foreign Military Assistance and other 
defense-related aid would be limited if countries are clearly 
identified in the State Department's Human Rights report as recruiting 
or using child soldiers.
  Military assistance to these countries would be limited to supporting 
the professionalization of their forces until they eliminate the use of 
child soldiers.
  If years of abuse continue, then U.S. assistance would eventually be 
eliminated.
  In all circumstances, the President would be able to waive these 
rules if he deems that it is in the national interest.
  What do we mean by professionalization?
  We mean creating regular militaries which conform to long-standing 
international norms, such as not using children, respecting human 
rights, and functioning as professional armies.
  This bill can only affect governmental or government sanctioned 
military and paramilitary organizations.
  But that is where we have leverage through our foreign military 
assistance programs and we will use whatever leverage we have to 
address this heinous phenomenon.
  In the last year, many of us have read the haunting memoir of Ishmael 
Beah, A LONG WAY GONE: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.
  Beah is all of 26: that might seem too young to write a memoir, but 
sadly, his youth was stolen from him many years ago.
  Beah grew up in war-torn Sierra Leone. He was born in 1980.
  Eleven years later, civil war broke out, killing tens of thousands of 
people and driving millions from their homes.
  At the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels.
  Beah's parents and his two brothers were among those killed.
  By thirteen, he'd been picked up by the government army, but that was 
no refuge.
  Fleeing the rebels who had killed so many of his friends and family, 
Beah wound up in a village run by government troops.
  He wrote of this moment in his life, ``In the beginning it seemed we 
had found safety the smiles on people's faces assured us that there was 
nothing to worry about anymore. All that darkened the mood of the 
village was the sight of orphaned children. There were over thirty boys 
between the ages of six and sixteen. I was one of them. Apart from 
this, there were no indications that our childhood was threatened, much 
less that we would be robbed of it.''
  That was exactly what was happening, though.
  In Beah's first battle he watched his eleven-year old tent-mate bleed 
out before his very eyes.
  He writes of this awful day, ``My face, my hands, my shirt and gun 
were covered with blood. I raised the gun and pulled the trigger, and I 
killed a man. Suddenly, as if someone was

[[Page S4781]]

shooting them inside my brain, all the massacres I had seen since the 
day I was touched by war began flashing in my head. Every time I 
stopped shooting to change magazines and saw my two young lifeless 
friends, I angrily pointed my gun into the swamp and killed more 
people.''
  That was at 13. Thirteen--- an age for junior high soccer games, not 
for going to war.
  Ultimately during his time in the government army, Beah says he 
killed ``too many people to count.''
  In 1998 he fled and in 1999 he was able to come to New York.
  Returning to civilization, according to Beah, was actually harder 
than the act of becoming a child soldier because ``dehumanizing 
children is a relatively easy task.''
  Thank God, Sierra Leone's civil war is over.
  But too many children in the world continue to be forced to serve as 
child soldiers.
  Ensuring that countries professionalize their militaries and help 
their child soldiers make the transition back into civil society is a 
humanitarian issue but also in the best interest for our own armed 
forces.
  We do not want American soldiers in a position where they have to 
return fire on children.
  Delay in such a moment could cost an American soldier his life, but 
think also of the psychic costs of having to kill a child in battle.
  We want our troops to avoid such a situation and we want to ensure 
that American taxpayer dollars are used as they should be: for 
professionalizing the militaries of countries whom we are assisting.
  It is not enough for child soldiers simply to be demobilized: U.S.-
funded programs assist in the rehabilitation of child soldiers and the 
reintegration of these young people back into civilian life.
  Some of these child veterans of war have witnessed or been forced to 
do terrible things.
  Many of the girls have been victims of rape and may be coming back 
into civilian life with their own children.
  I strongly support programs to provide psychological services, 
educational and vocational training, and other assistance to these 
traumatized young people.
  I also support efforts to bring to justice those rebel leaders and 
others who kidnap children for use as child soldiers.
  The use of child soldiers represents a basic issue of human rights.
  For that reason, next week Senator Coburn, who is the ranking member 
on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, and I will 
be holding a Subcommittee hearing on Child Soldiers and the Law.
  In this hearing, we will explore the persistent use of child soldiers 
despite the fact that this practice is widely acknowledged as a war 
crime.
  Is this persistent crime in part a failure of enforcement?
  Are reforms needed in U.S. law to criminalize this terrible practice?
  How is this issue addressed under our immigration laws?
  Expert witnesses from non-governmental and faith-based organizations 
will speak to these issues in our hearing next Tuesday.
  So too will Ishmael Beah, whose words vividly capture the horror of 
children at war.
  I am introducing this bill and our subcommittee is holding this 
hearing as progressive steps to remedy a terrible and persistent 
problem.
  Here in Washington, on the floor of the Senate, it is hard to imagine 
the atrocities that children endure every day, as combatants, as sex 
slaves, and as forced labor for militaries and paramilitaries.
  But those atrocities do continue.
  At the least we should ensure that U.S. assistance goes to remedy the 
problem and that it is never used to prolong it.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 1175

       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

[[Page S4782]]

     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 section 5(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.

                          ____________________