IV

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 82

Regarding the human rights situation in the Republic of the Sudan, including

the practice of chattel slavery and all other forms of booty and related

practices.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 22, 2001

Mr. PAYNE (for himself and Mr. TANCREDO) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Regarding the human rights situation in the Republic of

the Sudan, including the practice of chattel slavery and

all other forms of booty and related practices.

Whereas the Government of the Republic of the Sudan has

perpetrated a prolonged campaign of human rights

abuses and discrimination, including the facilitation of

slavery in Sudan;

Whereas slavery is defined in international law as a crime

against humanity;

Whereas the 2000 Department of State Country Reports on

Human Rights has documented numerous instances of

the facilitation of slavery by the Government of Sudan;
2

•HCON 82 IH

Whereas since Sudan’s independence in 1956, the Government of Sudan, which has been dominated by northern

Arabs, has been fighting against the Christian and

animist South;

Whereas the Government of Sudan is not able to pay their

militias and has encouraged the militias to take slaves as

compensation;

Whereas Christian Solidarity International (CSI) estimates

that tens of thousands of black slaves are owned by

Arabs in northern Sudan;

Whereas on November 30, 1997, the Government of Sudan’s

Popular Defense Force (PDF) enslaved 18 women and

children during a slave raid on four villages—Tiomthet,

Mabior Nyang, and Ajok and Achorou—in northeastern

Bahr El Ghazal;

Whereas Aluel Mangong Deng and numerous other freed

slaves have recounted to rescuers from Christian Solidarity International and other rescuers that they were

systematically gang raped by members of Sudan’s Popular Defense Force following their enslavement;

Whereas in a January 2001 report of Christian Solidarity

International, later confirmed by the United Nations

Children’s Fund (UNICEF), states that more than 175

black African women and children were abducted in slave

raids by militia forces of the Government of Sudan in

Southern Sudan during a two week period;

Whereas the United Nations High Commission for Human

Rights and successive United Nations special rapporteurs

have identified slavery as a grave human rights problem

in Sudan;
3

•HCON 82 IH

Whereas the NAACP’s Executive Board passed an anti-slavery resolution in 1995;

Whereas a slave raid undertaken as part of the ruling National Islam Front (NIF) regime’s self-declared jihad

(holy war) against the predominantly Christian and

animist South in Sudan is the most recent of a long series of such raids; and

Whereas Sudan is a party to the International Covenant on

Civil and Political Rights, the African Charter on Human

and People’s Rights, the Convention on the Abolition of

Slavery, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child,

however, despite being a party to these agreements, slavery still exists in Sudan: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That the Congress—

3 (1) calls upon the Government of the Republic

4 of the Sudan to honor its obligations under the Uni5 versal Declaration of Human Rights and the Con6 vention on the Abolition of Slavery to prosecute

7 slave owners to the fullest extent under the anti8 slavery laws of Sudan and to educate individuals

9 being held as slaves concerning their legal rights;

10 (2) calls upon the Government of Sudan to sur11 render and release all slaves and return them to

12 their homes;

13 (3) urges in the strongest terms that the Gov14 ernment of Sudan investigate abuses relating to

15 slavery;
4

•HCON 82 IH

1 (4) urges the United Nations Security Council

2 to condemn these acts of slavery;

3 (5) deplores the fighting of the National Islam

4 Front (NIF), which has caused untold suffering for

5 the people of Sudan;

6 (6) advocates the strengthening of the border

7 between northern and southern Sudan;

8 (7) encourages human rights organizations to

9 facilitate a safe passage for slavery victims to and

10 from conflict zones in Sudan;

11 (8) encourages the President to expand the

12 comprehensive sanctions applied to Sudan since

13 1997 to include sanctions with respect to the prac14 tice of slavery;

15 (9) urges cooperation among the Western pow16 ers to address slavery and other human rights

17 abuses in Sudan;

18 (10) urges cooperation among the Western pow19 ers in support of the proposal of the United Nations

20 High Commissioner for Human Rights for inter21 national action to facilitate the decommissioning of

22 weapons used by Sudanese militias that take slaves;

23 and

24 (11) calls upon the United Nations Commission

25 for Human Rights, the United Nations Children’s
5

•HCON 82 IH

1 Fund (UNICEF), and the European Union (EU) to

2 end the use of euphemisms, such as the term ‘‘ab3 duction’’, as a substitute for the term ‘‘slavery’’ with

4 respect to the practice of slavery in Sudan.

Æ