I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4037

To impose certain sanctions on countries that do not prohibit child labor.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 5, 1996

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. HYDE, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. MORAN,

Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. MILLER of

California, and Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA) introduced the following bill; which

was referred to the Committee on International Relations, and in addition

to the Committee on Banking and Financial Services, 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

A BILL

To impose certain sanctions on countries that do not prohibit

child labor.

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 ‘‘International Child

5 Labor Elimination Act of 1996’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) Article 32 of the United Nations Convention

2 on the Rights of the Child recognizes ‘‘the right of

3 the child to be protected from economic exploitation

4 and from performing any work that is likely to be

5 hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education

6 or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical,

7 mental, spiritual, moral or social development.’’.

8 (2) Article 2 of Convention 138 of the Inter9 national Labor Organization, the Minimum Age

10 Convention, states that the minimum age for admis11 sion to employment or work ‘‘shall not be less than

12 the age of completion of compulsory schooling and,

13 in any case, shall not be less than 15 years.’’.

14 (3) Convention 29 of International Labor Orga15 nization, the Forced Labor Convention, which has

16 been in effect since 1930, prohibits most forms of

17 ‘‘forced or compulsory labor’’, including all forced

18 labor by people under the age of 18.

19 (4) Although it is among the most universally

20 condemned of all human rights abuses, child labor is

21 widely practiced. The International Labor Organiza22 tion has estimated the total number of child workers

23 to be between 100,000,000 and 200,000,000. More

24 than 95 percent of those child workers live in devel25 oping countries.
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1 (5) The International Labor Organization has

2 estimated that 13.2 percent of all children 10 to 14

3 years of age around the world were economically ac4 tive in 1995. There are no reliable figures on work5 ers under 10 years of age, though their numbers are

6 known to be significant. Reliable child labor statis7 tics are not readily available, in part because many

8 governments in the developing world are reluctant to

9 document those activities, which are often illegal

10 under domestic laws, which violate international

11 standards, and which may be perceived as a failure

12 of internal public policy.

13 (6) Notwithstanding international and domestic

14 prohibitions, many children in developing countries

15 are forced to work as debt-bonded and slave laborers

16 in hazardous and exploitative industries. According

17 to the United Nations Working Group on Contem18 porary Forms of Slavery and the International

19 Labor Organization, there are tens of millions of

20 child slaves in the world today. Large numbers of

21 those slaves are involved in agricultural and domes22 tic labor, the sex industry, the carpet and textile in23 dustries, and quarrying and brick making.
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1 (7) In many countries, children lack either the

2 legal standing or the means to protect themselves

3 from cruelty and exploitation in the workplace.

4 (8) The employment of children often interferes

5 with the opportunities of such children for basic edu6 cation. Furthermore, where it coexists with high

7 rates of adult unemployment, the use of child labor

8 likely denies gainful employment to millions of

9 adults.

10 (9) While child labor is a complex and multifac11 eted phenomenon that is tied to issues of poverty,

12 educational opportunity, and culture, its most abu13 sive and hazardous forms are repugnant to basic

14 human rights and must be eliminated.

15 SEC. 3. IDENTIFICATION OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES AND IN16 DUSTRIES THAT USE CHILD LABOR IN PRO17 DUCING GOODS.

18 (a) IDENTIFICATION OF COUNTRIES AND INDUS19 TRIES.—The Secretary of Labor shall, not later than 6

20 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, and

21 not later than the end of each 1-year period thereafter,

22 identify those foreign countries that do not prohibit child

23 labor, or that have laws prohibiting child labor but do not

24 effectively enforce them, and those industries in such

25 countries in which goods are produced or services provided
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1 with the use of child labor. The Secretary may revoke the

2 identification of a country or an industry before the end

3 of the 1-year period during which the identification would

4 otherwise be effective, if revocation is warranted by new

5 information or a change in the laws or practices of a coun6 try.

7 (b) SANCTIONS.—The sanctions set forth in section

8 4 shall apply with respect to those countries and industries

9 identified under subsection (a) for so long as the identi10 fication is effective under such subsection.

11 (c) EXEMPTION.—The prohibition under section

12 4(a)(1)(B) on activities of the Export-Import Bank of the

13 United States, the prohibition under section 4(a)(1)(C) on

14 activities of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation,

15 and the prohibition on multilateral assistance under sec16 tion 4(a)(2) shall not apply with respect to a business en17 tity if it is established to the satisfaction of the Secretary

18 of Labor that no goods produced by that entity are prod19 ucts of child labor and that the business entity does not

20 otherwise use child labor.

21 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON ASSISTANCE FOR FOREIGN COUN22 TRIES THAT USE CHILD LABOR IN PRODUC23 ING GOODS.

24 (a) PROHIBITION ON ASSISTANCE.—

25 (1) BILATERAL ASSISTANCE.—
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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara2 graph (C), the President may not provide to a

3 foreign country identified by the Secretary of

4 Labor under section 3(a)—

5 (i) any assistance under the Foreign

6 Assistance Act of 1961, other than—

7 (I) disaster relief assistance, in8 cluding any assistance under chapter

9 9 of part I of such Act;

10 (II) assistance which involves the

11 provision of food (including monetiza12 tion of food) or medicine; and

13 (III) assistance for refugees;

14 (ii) sales, or financing on any terms,

15 under the Arms Export Control Act; and

16 (iii) the provision of agricultural com17 modities, other than food, under the Agri18 cultural Trade Development and Assist19 ance Act of 1954.

20 (B) EXPORT-IMPORT BANK.—The Export21 Import Bank of the United States may not give

22 approval to the issuance of any guarantee, in23 surance, extension of credit, or participation in

24 an extension of credit in connection with the

25 provision of any good or service to—
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1 (i) the government of a foreign coun2 try identified by the Secretary of Labor

3 under section 3(a), or an agency of such

4 government; or

5 (ii) a business entity that is in an in6 dustry identified by the Secretary of Labor

7 under section 3(a) in such a country.

8 (C) OVERSEAS PRIVATE INVESTMENT COR9 PORATION.—(i) The Overseas Private Invest10 ment Corporation may not issue insurance, re11 insurance, or financing, or conduct other activi12 ties, in connection with an industry identified

13 by the Secretary of Labor under section 3(a).

14 (ii) Clause (i) does not affect contracts en15 tered into by the Overseas Private Investment

16 Corporation before the date of the enactment of

17 this Act.

18 (2) MULTILATERAL ASSISTANCE.—The Sec19 retary of the Treasury shall instruct the United

20 States Executive Director of each international fi21 nancial institution to use the voice and vote of the

22 United States to oppose any loan or other use of the

23 funds of such institution to or for any industry iden24 tified by the Secretary of Labor under section 3(a).
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1 (b) EXCEPTION.—A foreign country or an industry

2 identified by the Secretary of Labor under section 3(a)

3 may receive bilateral assistance described in subsection

4 (a)(1) if the President determines and certifies to the Con5 gress that it is in the vital national interest of the United

6 States to provide such bilateral assistance to such country

7 or industry, as the case may be. The President shall in8 clude in any such certification—

9 (1) a full and complete description of the vital

10 national interest of the United States that is placed

11 at risk if such assistance is not provided to such

12 country or industry; and

13 (2) a statement weighing the risk described in

14 paragraph (1) against the risk posed to the vital na15 tional interest of the United States by the failure of

16 such country to adopt or enforce laws prohibiting

17 child labor or by the use of child labor by such in18 dustry, as the case may be.

19 SEC. 5. REGULATIONS.

20 The President shall issue such regulations as are nec21 essary to carry out this Act.
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1 SEC. 6. UNITED STATES SUPPORT FOR DEVELOPMENTAL

2 ALTERNATIVES FOR UNDERAGE CHILD

3 WORKERS.

4 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Presi5 dent the sum of $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1997

6 through 2001 for a United States contribution to the

7 International Labor Organization for the activities of the

8 International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor.

9 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

10 As used in this Act:

11 (1) CHILD LABOR.—The term ‘‘child labor’’

12 means the performance of services in exchange for

13 remuneration (regardless of to whom paid), subsist14 ence, goods, or services, or any combination thereof,

15 or under circumstances tantamount to involuntary

16 servitude—

17 (A) by persons who have not attained the

18 minimum age, except for—

19 (i) light work by persons no more

20 than 2 years younger than the minimum

21 age that is not likely to harm their health

22 or development and which does not preju23 dice their attendance at school, their par24 ticipation in vocational orientation or

25 training programs approved by the com26 petent authority in the country concerned,
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1 or their capacity to benefit from the in2 struction received,

3 (ii) work on family and small-scale ag4 ricultural holdings which produce for local

5 consumption and do not regularly employ

6 hired workers,

7 (iii) work done by persons at least 14

8 years of age in schools or other training in9 stitutions for general, vocational, or tech10 nical education,

11 (iv) work done by persons at least 14

12 years of age as an integral part of a pro13 gram of education, training, or occupa14 tional guidance carried out in accordance

15 with conditions prescribed by the com16 petent authority in the country concerned,

17 and

18 (v) participation in artistic perform19 ances pursuant to permits granted in indi20 vidual cases by the competent authority in

21 the country concerned; and

22 (B) by persons under the age of 18 if such

23 services would likely jeopardize the health, safe24 ty, or moral character of a young person, except
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1 for the performance of such services by individ2 uals at least 16 years of age where—

3 (i) the country concerned has ex4 pressly authorized such employment by na5 tional laws or regulation;

6 (ii) the health, safety, and morals of

7 the individuals involved are fully protected;

8 and

9 (iii) the individuals involved have re10 ceived adequate specific instruction or vo11 cational training in the relevant branch of

12 activity.

13 (2) MINIMUM AGE.—The term ‘‘minimum age’’

14 means the age at which children complete compul15 sory schooling under the national laws of the coun16 try concerned, or the age of 15, whichever is older,

17 except that when a country whose economy and edu18 cational facilities are insufficiently developed has

19 specified, pursuant to an international agreement, a

20 minimum age of 14 years for a period of limited and

21 specifically identified duration, the term ‘‘minimum

22 age’’ means the age of 14 years during that period.

23 (3) PRODUCT OF CHILD LABOR.—A good shall

24 be treated as being a product of child labor if the

25 good—
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1 (A) was fabricated, assembled, or proc2 essed, in whole or part,

3 (B) contains any part that was fabricated,

4 assembled, or processed, in whole or in part, or

5 (C) was harvested, mined, quarried,

6 pumped, or otherwise extracted,

7 with child labor.

8 (4) BUSINESS ENTITY.—The term ‘‘business

9 entity’’—

10 (A) means any entity that produces (in11 cluding fabricating, assembling, processing, har12 vesting, mining, quarrying, pumping, or other13 wise extracting), sells, imports, exports, or con14 tracts for the production of, a good in a foreign

15 country; and

16 (B) includes, but is not limited to, entities

17 owned or controlled in whole or in part by the

18 government of a foreign country.

19 (5) FOREIGN COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘foreign

20 country’’ means any foreign country and any posses21 sion or territory of a foreign country that is admin22 istered separately for customs purposes (and in23 cludes any designated zone within such country, pos24 session, or territory).
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1 (6) INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITU2 TION.—The term ‘‘international financial institu3 tion’’ means the International Bank for Reconstruc4 tion and Development, the International Develop5 ment Association, the Multilateral Investment Guar6 antee Agency, the Inter-American Development

7 Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the African De8 velopment Bank, the African Development Fund, the

9 International Monetary Fund, the European Bank

10 for Reconstruction and Development, and the Inter11 national Finance Corporation.

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