IV

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. CON. RES. 348

Expressing condemnation of the use of children as soldiers and expressing

the belief that the United States should support and, where possible,

lead efforts to end this abuse of human rights.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 7, 2000

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia (for himself, Mr. PORTER, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. PAYNE,

Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mrs.

CHRISTENSEN, Mr. GILLMOR, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. CAPUANO, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. BERMAN, Mr.

SANDERS, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. STARK,

Mr. OWENS, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. MOAKLEY, Ms. RIVERS, Mrs.

MEEK of Florida, Ms. PELOSI, Ms. LEE, and Mr. GONZALEZ) submitted

the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee

on International Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing condemnation of the use of children as soldiers

and expressing the belief that the United States should

support and, where possible, lead efforts to end this

abuse of human rights.

Whereas in the year 2000 approximately 300,000 individuals

under the age of 18 are participating in armed conflict

in more than 30 countries worldwide;

Whereas many of these children are forcibly conscripted

through kidnapping or coercion, while others join military
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units due to economic necessity, to avenge the loss of a

family member, or for their own personal safety;

Whereas many military commanders frequently force child

soldiers to commit gruesome acts of ritual killings or torture against their enemies, including against other children;

Whereas many military commanders separate children from

their families in order to foster dependence on military

units and leaders, leaving children vulnerable to manipulation, deep traumatization, and in need of psychological

counseling and rehabilitation;

Whereas child soldiers are exposed to hazardous conditions

and risk physical injuries, sexually transmitted diseases,

malnutrition, deformed backs and shoulders from carrying overweight loads, and respiratory and skin infections;

Whereas many young female soldiers face the additional psychological and physical horrors of rape and sexual abuse,

being enslaved for sexual purposes by militia commanders, and forced to endure severe social stigma

should they return home;

Whereas children in northern Uganda continue to be kidnapped by the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) which is

supported and funded by the Government of Sudan and

which has committed and continues to commit gross

human rights violations in Uganda;

Whereas children in Sri Lanka have been forcibly recruited

by the opposition Tamil Tigers movement and forced to

kill or be killed in the armed conflict in that country;

Whereas an estimated 7,000 child soldiers have been involved

in the conflict in Sierra Leone, some as young as age 10,
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with many being forced to commit extrajudicial executions, torture, rape, and amputations for the rebel Revolutionary United Front;

Whereas on January 21, 2000, in Geneva, a United Nations

Working Group, including representatives from more

than eighty governments including the United States,

reached consensus on an optional protocol on the use of

child soldiers;

Whereas this optional protcol will raise the international minimum age for conscription and direct participation in

armed conflict to age eighteen, prohibit the recruitment

and use in armed conflict of persons under the age of

eighteen by non-governmental armed forces, encourage

governments to raise the minimum legal age for voluntary recruits above the current standard of 15 and,

commits governments to support the demobilization and

rehabilitation of child soldiers, and when possible, to allocate resources to this purpose;

Whereas on October 29, 1998, United Nations Secretary

General Kofi Annan set minimum age requirements for

United Nations peacekeeping personnel that are made

available by member nations of the United Nations;

Whereas United Nations Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping, Bernard Miyet, announced in the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly that contributing governments of member nations were asked not to send civilian

police and military observers under the age of 25, and

that troops in national contingents should preferably be

at least 21 years of age but in no case should they be

younger than 18 years of age;
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Whereas on August 25, 1999, the United Nations Security

Council unanimously passed Resolution 1261 (1999) condemning the use of children in armed conflicts;

Whereas in addressing the Security Council, the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and

Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, urged the adoption of a

global three-pronged approach to combat the use of children in armed conflict, first to raise the age limit for recruitment and participation in armed conflict from the

present age of 15 to the age of 18, second, to increase

international pressure on armed groups which currently

abuse children, and third to address the political, social,

and economic factors which create an environment where

children are induced by appeal of ideology or by socioeconomic collapse to become child soldiers;

Whereas the United States delegation to the United Nations

working group relating to child soldiers, which included

representatives from the Department of Defense, supported the Geneva agreement on the optional protocol;

Whereas on May 25, 2000, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted the optional protocol on the

use of child soldiers;

Whereas the optional protocol was opened for signature on

June 5, 2000; and

Whereas President Clinton has publicly announced his support of the optional protocol and a speedy process of review and signature: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That—
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1 (1) the Congress joins the international commu2 nity in—

3 (A) condemning the use of children as sol4 diers by governmental and nongovernmental

5 armed forces worldwide;

6 (B) welcoming the optional protocol as a

7 critical first step in ending the use of children

8 as soldiers; and

9 (C) applauding the decision by the United

10 States Government to support the protocol;

11 (2) it is the sense of the Congress that—

12 (A) President Clinton should sign the op13 tional protocol at the earliest opportunity and

14 that once it is signed, the Senate should ratify

15 the protocol as quickly as possible;

16 (B) the President and the Congress should

17 work together to enact a law that establishes a

18 fund for the rehabilitation and reintegration

19 into society of child soldiers; and

20 (C) the Departments of State and Defense

21 should undertake all possible efforts to per22 suade and encourage other governments to rat23 ify and endorse the new optional protocol on the

24 use of child soldiers.

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