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[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 199 Introduced in House (IH)]

105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 199

  Expressing the sense of the Congress with respect to United States 
 assistance or support for the investigation on capital punishment in 
    the United States by the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 13, 1997

   Mr. Brady (for himself and Mr. Traficant) submitted the following 
     concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
   International Relations, and in addition to the Committee on the 
 Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
 in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

 
  Expressing the sense of the Congress with respect to United States 
 assistance or support for the investigation on capital punishment in 
    the United States by the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

Whereas Mr. Waly Bacre Ndiaya of Senegal, a United Nations special investigator 
        with the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Commission, was given 
        official permission to visit inmates on death row in California, New 
        York, Florida, and Texas as part of an investigation by the commission 
        into capital punishment in the United States;
Whereas the Administration reportedly invited Mr. Ndiaya, a former lawyer and 
        senior official with Amnesty International, to visit the United States 
        and meet with Federal and local government officials between September 
        21 and October 8, and he is now reporting his findings to the commission 
        on ``extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary'' executions in the United 
        States;
Whereas visits of this type have been traditionally reserved for nations 
        considered serious human rights offenders and on his most recent trip 
        Mr. Ndiaya visited Sri Lanka where there are widespread reports of 
        disappearances and killings committed by both the government and Tamil 
        separatists;
Whereas in March of this year, the United Nations Human Rights Commission voted 
        against the death penalty for the first time, but the United States 
        opposed the move and affirmed its right to use capital punishment;
Whereas the commission's disdain of victims and states' rights is indicative of 
        why the United Nations has earned justified criticism by the American 
        people and has generated anti-United Nations sentiment in the United 
        States;
Whereas legislation now in conference between the House of Representatives and 
        the Senate contains language that conditions payment of United States 
        arrears to the United Nations based on respect for United States 
        sovereignty and the commission's investigation into capital punishment 
        in the United States raises serious concerns about the United States 
        capacity to achieve meaningful reform at the United Nations; and
Whereas there is a concern that the commission's human rights investigation 
        could be used by the United Nations Human Rights Commission or other 
        United Nations bodies to impose mandates at variance with the 
        Constitution of the United States: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of the Congress that the Administration should--
            (1) explain the full extent of its cooperation with the 
        United Nations Human Rights Commission investigation of capital 
        punishment in the United States;
            (2) provide the Congress with a detailed written 
        explanation of the assistance offered by all United States 
        Government agencies, particularly the Department of State, for 
        the investigation;
            (3) ascertain and provide to the Congress a list of other 
        countries to be visited by Mr. Ndiaya;
            (4) provide to the Congress a full explanation of the costs 
        to the United States of the commission's investigation;
            (5) state the position of the Administration on the view 
        that extrajudicial summary and arbitrary executions occur in 
        the American judicial system; and
            (6) continue to oppose any global standard on capital 
        punishment imposed on the United States by the United Nations 
        Human Rights Commission or any other United Nations body.
                                 <all>
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