I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3294

To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to withhold United States

assistance from countries determined to be violating the human rights

of working children, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 23, 1996

Mr. MORAN (for himself, Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts, Mr. FRAZER, Mr.

GENE GREEN of Texas, Ms. NORTON, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. BRYANT of

Texas, Mr. WILSON, MR. LIPINSKI, Mr. RANGEL, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr.

SANDERS, and Ms. MCKINNEY ) introduced the following bill; which was

referred to the Committee on International Relations

A BILL

To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to withhold

United States assistance from countries determined to

be violating the human rights of working children, and

for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Working Children’s

5 Human Rights Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) Principle 9 of the Declaration of the Rights

2 of the Child proclaimed by the United Nations Gen3 eral Assembly on November 20, 1959, states that

4 ‘‘. . . the child shall not be admitted to employment

5 before an appropriate minimum age; he shall in no

6 case be caused or permitted to engage in any occu7 pation or employment which would prejudice his

8 health or education, or interfere with his physical,

9 mental, or moral development . . .’’.

10 (2) Article 2 of the International Labor Con11 vention No. 138 Concerning Minimum Age For Ad12 mission to Employment states that ‘‘The minimum

13 age specified in pursuance of paragraph 1 of this ar14 ticle shall not be less than the age of compulsory

15 schooling and, in any case, shall not be less than 15

16 years.’’.

17 (3) According to the International Labor Orga18 nization, an estimated 200,000,000 children under

19 the age of 15 are working in the world, many in

20 dangerous industries like mining and fireworks.

21 (4) Children under the age of 15 constitute ap22 proximately 11 percent of the workforce in some

23 Asian countries, 17 percent of the workforce in parts

24 of Africa, and a reported 12 to 26 percent of the

25 workforce in many countries in Latin America.
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1 (5) The number of children under the age of 15

2 who are working, and the scale of their suffering, in3 creases every year, despite the existence of more

4 than 20 international labor organization conventions

5 on child labor and laws in many countries which

6 purportedly prohibit the employment of underage

7 children.

8 (6) In many countries, children under the age

9 of 15 lack either the legal standing or means to pro10 tect themselves from exploitation in the workplace.

11 (7) The prevalence of child labor in many devel12 oping countries is rooted in widespread poverty that

13 is attributable to unemployment and underemploy14 ment, precarious incomes, low living standards, and

15 insufficient education and training opportunities

16 among adult workers.

17 (8) The employment of children under the age

18 of 15 commonly deprives such children of the oppor19 tunity for basic education and also denies gainful

20 employment to millions of adults.

21 (9) The employment of children under the age

22 of 15, often at drastically low wages, undermines the

23 stability of families and ignores the importance of

24 increasing jobs, aggregated demand, and purchasing

25 power among adults as a catalyst to the development
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1 of internal markets and the achievement of broad2 based, self-reliant economic development in many de3 veloping countries.

4 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF

5 1961.

6 (a) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Section 116(d) of

7 the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d))

8 is amended—

9 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the

10 end;

11 (2) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at

12 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

13 (3) by adding at the end the following:

14 ‘‘(4) the United States policy to establish and

15 encourage an international strategy to reduce viola16 tions of the human rights of working children, in17 cluding—

18 ‘‘(A) a description of the policies adopted,

19 agreements concluded, and programs imple20 mented by the Department of State and De21 partment of Labor in pursuit of their delegated

22 responsibilities for reducing worldwide viola23 tions of the human rights of working children,

24 for the fiscal year just ended, for the current

25 fiscal year, and for the next fiscal year, includ-
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1 ing policy development, bilateral and multilat2 eral funding, and other support for projects de3 signed to reduce violations of the human rights

4 of working children; and

5 ‘‘(B) for each country that receives assist6 ance under this part, the report shall include—

7 ‘‘(i) a detailed status report on the

8 use of child labor within such country, not9 ing significant changes in conditions, such

10 as increases or decreases in the use of

11 child labor, and changes in the policy of

12 such country toward the use of child labor;

13 ‘‘(ii) a description of United States

14 assistance provided or proposed to be pro15 vided to such country for the preceding fis16 cal year, the current fiscal year, and for

17 the next fiscal year, with an analysis of the

18 impact that the furnishing of each kind of

19 assistance has had or is expected to have

20 on the use of child labor in the country;

21 ‘‘(iii) a description of the plans, pro22 grams, and timetables adopted by such

23 country for the progressive elimination of

24 the use of child labor and a discussion of

25 the legal and law enforcement measures
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1 taken and the accomplishments achieved in

2 accord with these plans; and

3 ‘‘(iv) a description of bribery of public

4 officials and other forms of public corrup5 tion that facilitate violations of the human

6 rights of working children.’’.

7 (b) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—Such Act is fur8 ther amended by adding at the end of part I the following:

9 ‘‘CHAPTER 12—INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS OF

10 WORKING CHILDREN

11 ‘‘SEC. 499. CONSULTATION REQUIREMENT.

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—As soon as possible after the

13 transmittal of the report required by section 116(d), the

14 Secretary of State, in conjunction with the Secretary of

15 Labor, shall initiate appropriate consultations with the ap16 propriate congressional committees.

17 ‘‘(b) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—Such consulta18 tions shall include the following:

19 ‘‘(1) In-person discussions by designated rep20 resentatives of the President (including appropriate

21 representatives from the Department of Labor and

22 Department of State) to review the status worldwide

23 of violations of the human rights of working children

24 and the role that United States assistance to those
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1 countries violating the human rights of working chil2 dren have in combating the exploitation of children.

3 ‘‘(2) With respect to each country the President

4 is proposing to provide United States assistance for

5 the next year, the furnishing of—

6 ‘‘(A) a description of the nature of the vio7 lations of the human rights of working children;

8 and

9 ‘‘(B) an analysis of political, economic, and

10 social factors that affect violations of the

11 human rights of working children.

12 ‘‘SEC. 499A. CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS.

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—After consultations have been

14 initiated pursuant to section 499, it is the sense of the

15 Congress that the appropriate congressional committees

16 should hold hearings to review the human rights of work17 ing children provisions of the report transmitted pursuant

18 to section 116(d).

19 ‘‘(b) TYPE OF HEARINGS.—It is the further sense of

20 the Congress that the hearings described in subsection (a)

21 should be open to the public unless the appropriate con22 gressional committees determine, in accordance with the

23 rules of the House of Representatives or the rules of the

24 Senate, as the case may be, that the hearings should be

25 closed to the public.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 499B. ANNUAL CERTIFICATION PROCEDURES.

2 ‘‘(a) DETERMINING COUNTRIES VIOLATING THE

3 HUMAN RIGHTS OF WORKING CHILDREN.—

4 ‘‘(1) CERTIFICATION.—

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara6 graph (B), for each fiscal year, any country

7 that desires to receive United States assistance

8 shall certify to the Secretary of State that such

9 country—

10 ‘‘(i) has adopted and is enforcing laws

11 that guarantee—

12 ‘‘(I) a prohibition on the use of

13 any form of forced or compulsory

14 child labor;

15 ‘‘(II) a reasonable minimum age

16 for the employment of children; and

17 ‘‘(III) acceptable conditions of

18 work with respect to minimum wages,

19 hours of work, and occupational

20 health and safety relating to child

21 labor; and

22 ‘‘(ii) has taken steps to prevent and

23 punish bribery of public officials and other

24 forms of public corruption which facilitate

25 the abuse of child labor laws.
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1 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—A country that does

2 not meet the requirements of subparagraph (A)

3 for a fiscal year may receive United States as4 sistance for such fiscal year if the President de5 termines and certifies to the Congress that it is

6 in the vital national interest of the United

7 States to provide such assistance to such coun8 try. The President shall include in any such

9 certification—

10 ‘‘(i) a full and complete description of

11 the vital national interest of the United

12 States that is placed at risk if such assist13 ance is not provided to such country; and

14 ‘‘(ii) a statement weighing the risk de15 scribed in clause (i) against the risk posed

16 to the vital national interest of the United

17 States by the failure of such country to

18 adopt laws respecting the human rights of

19 working children.

20 ‘‘(2) REVIEW OF CERTIFICATION.—

21 ‘‘(A) DISCRETIONARY REVIEW.—The Sec22 retary of State may review the certification of

23 any country submitted under paragraph (1)(A).

24 ‘‘(B) REVIEW BY PETITION.—
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1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—An individual may

2 submit to the Secretary a petition to re3 view the certification of any country sub4 mitted under paragraph (1)(A).

5 ‘‘(ii) ACCEPTANCE OF REVIEW.—If

6 the Secretary determines that a petition

7 submitted under clause (i) contains credi8 ble evidence that a country submitted a

9 certification under paragraph (1)(A) in a

10 fraudulent manner, or that the country is

11 not in compliance with any of the require12 ments contained in such paragraph, then

13 the Secretary shall, not later than 180

14 days after the receipt of such petition, con15 duct a review of such certification.

16 ‘‘(iii) DENIAL OF REVIEW.—If the

17 Secretary determines that a petition sub18 mitted under clause (i) does not contain

19 credible evidence that a country submitted

20 a certification under paragraph (1)(A) in a

21 fraudulent manner, or that the country is

22 not in compliance with any of the require23 ments contained in such paragraph, then

24 the Secretary shall, not later than 180

25 days after the receipt of such petition, pro-
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1 vide the individual who submitted the peti2 tion for review with the reasoning of the

3 decision to deny review of such certifi4 cation.

5 ‘‘(3) REVOCATION OF CERTIFICATION.—

6 ‘‘(A) REVOCATION BY SECRETARY.—If the

7 Secretary determines, based upon a review con8 ducted under paragraph (2), that the country is

9 not in compliance with any of the requirements

10 contained in paragraph (1), then the Secretary

11 shall revoke the certification of such country.

12 ‘‘(B) REVOCATION BY CONGRESS.—The

13 Congress may enact a joint resolution dis14 approving the certification for a country sub15 mitted under subparagraph (A) or (B) of para16 graph (1).

17 ‘‘(b) WITHHOLDING OF ASSISTANCE.—

18 ‘‘(1) BILATERAL ASSISTANCE.—50 percent of

19 the United States assistance allocated each fiscal

20 year for each country that has not been certified

21 under subsection (a)(1), and for each country for

22 which a certification has been revoked under sub23 section (a)(3), shall be withheld from obligation and

24 expenditure.
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1 ‘‘(2) MULTILATERAL ASSISTANCE.—The Sec2 retary of the Treasury shall instruct the United

3 States Executive Director of each international fi4 nancial institution to use the voice and vote of the

5 United States to oppose any loan or other utilization

6 of the funds of their respective institution to or for

7 any country that has not been certified under sub8 section (a)(1) and for each country for which a cer9 tification has been revoked under subsection (a)(3).

10 ‘‘SEC. 499C. DEFINITIONS.

11 ‘‘For purposes of this chapter, the following defini12 tions apply:

13 ‘‘(1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT14 TEES.—The term ‘appropriate congressional com15 mittees’ means—

16 ‘‘(A) the Committee on International Rela17 tions of the House of Representatives; and

18 ‘‘(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations

19 of the Senate.

20 ‘‘(2) INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITU21 TION.—The term ‘international financial institution’

22 means the International Bank for Reconstruction

23 and Development, the Inter-American Development

24 Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the African De25 velopment Bank, the African Development Fund, the
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1 International Monetary Fund, the European Bank

2 for Reconstruction and Development, and the Inter3 national Finance Corporation.

4 ‘‘(3) UNITED STATES ASSISTANCE.—The term

5 ‘United States assistance’ means

6 ‘‘(A) any assistance under this Act (includ7 ing programs under title IV of chapter 2 of this

8 part, relating to the Overseas Private Invest9 ment Corporation), other than—

10 ‘‘(i) disaster relief assistance, includ11 ing any assistance under chapter 9 of this

12 part;

13 ‘‘(ii) assistance which involves the pro14 vision of food (including monetization of

15 food) or medicine; and

16 ‘‘(iii) assistance for refugees;

17 ‘‘(B) sales, or financing on any terms,

18 under the Arms Export Control Act;

19 ‘‘(C) the provision of agricultural commod20 ities, other than food, under the Agricultural

21 Trade Development and Assistance Act of

22 1954; and

23 ‘‘(D) financing under the Export-Import

24 Bank Act of 1945.’’.
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1 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

2 subsections (a) and (b) shall take effect beginning on the

3 first day of the first fiscal year beginning after the date

4 of the enactment of this Act.

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