IV

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. CON. RES. 309

Condemning the forced abduction of Ugandan children and their use as

soldiers.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 24, 1998

Mr. PAYNE (for himself, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. GILMAN, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. LANTOS, and Mr. HASTINGS of Florida) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the

Committee on International Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Condemning the forced abduction of Ugandan children and

their use as soldiers.

Whereas the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has abducted approximately 10,000 children, some as young as

8 years old, in northern Uganda to support its efforts to

overthrow the Government of Uganda;

Whereas the United Nations Commission on Human Rights

in March 1998 condemned ‘‘in the strongest terms’’ the

LRA’s child abductions;

Whereas children kidnapped by the LRA are forced to raid

and loot villages, fight in the front lines against the

Ugandan army, serve as sexual slaves to rebel command-
2

•HCON 309 IH

ers, and help kill other abducted children who try to escape;

Whereas the LRA, led by Joseph Kony, has continued to kill,

torture, maim, rape, and abduct large numbers of civilians, virtually enslaving numerous children;

Whereas LRA child abductees serve as surrogates for Sudanese government forces against the south;

Whereas Sudanese government soldiers deliver food supplies,

vehicles, ammunition, and arms to LRA base camps in

government-controlled southern Sudan;

Whereas children who manage to escape from LRA captivity

find their families displaced or deceased and have little

access to rehabilitation programs, and in many instances

their families are afraid for their children turned toy soldiers to return home;

Whereas children are conscripted, coaxed, or tricked into volunteering for the armed forces and are sometimes sold to

armies and armed groups by impoverished families;

Whereas the United Nations has established, through the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the

Child, 18 as the minimum age for recruitment and participation of individuals in armed forces; and

Whereas the International Committee of the Red Cross, the

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United

Nations High Commission on Refugees, and the United

Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights, as well

as many nongovernmental organizations such as Amnesty

International and Human Rights Watch, also support the

establishment of 18 as the minimum age for military recruitment and participation in armed conflict: Now,

therefore, be it
3

•HCON 309 IH

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives—

2 (1) condemns the abduction of children by the

3 Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda

4 and calls for the immediate release of all LRA child

5 captives;

6 (2) urges Olara Otunnu, the recently appointed

7 United Nations Special Representative on Children

8 and Armed Conflict, to take appropriate measures to

9 resolve the LRA problem;

10 (3) encourages the United Nations Committee

11 on the Rights of the Child to investigate the situa12 tion in northern Uganda;

13 (4) calls on the Al-Bashir government to cease

14 supporting the LRA in the abductions and kidnap15 ping of children in Northern Uganda;

16 (5) calls on the President and the Secretary of

17 State to support efforts to end the abduction of chil18 dren by the LRA and obtain their release;

19 (6) asks the President to provide more support

20 to United Nations agencies and nongovernmental or21 ganizations working to rehabilitate former child sol22 diers and reintegrate them into society; and

23 (7) encourages the President to appoint a Spe24 cial Humanitarian Envoy for Sudan.

Æ