IV 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 194
Regarding the importance of international efforts to abolish slavery and 
other human rights abuses in the Sudan. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 10, 2003
Mr. CAPUANO (for himself, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. WOLF, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. 
FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, and 
Mr. WEXLER) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on International Relations 
RESOLUTION 
Regarding the importance of international efforts to abolish 
slavery and other human rights abuses in the Sudan.
Whereas the efforts of the government of Khartoum to sub-
jugate the peoples of the southern Sudan have led to the 
death of more than 2,000,000 persons and the displace-
ment of another 4,000,000 persons; 
Whereas the 2001 State Department Country Report on 
Human Rights estimates that between 5,000 and 15,000 
Dinka women and children have been abducted during 
the past 15 years, and that between 10,000 and 12,000 
persons remain in captivity;
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Whereas credible observers report that some of the abductees 
were sold into slavery and others used as forced labor or 
drafted into the military, including children; 
Whereas the 2002 State Department Country Report on 
Human Rights notes that persons held in government 
controlled ‘‘Peace’’ camps for internally displaced persons 
were reportedly subjected to forced labor; 
Whereas the Special Rapporteur for Sudan to the General 
Assembly of the United Nations concluded, on November 
4, 2002, that the dire human rights situation in Sudan 
had not significantly changed; 
Whereas the United States Civilian Protection Monitoring 
Team (CPMT) reported in February 2003 that militia al-
lied with the Government of Sudan and supported di-
rectly by Government of Sudan troops continued to 
abduct civilians in the western Upper Nile region of 
Sudan; 
Whereas subsequent to the February 2003 report of the Ci-
vilian Protection Monitoring Team, the Government of 
Sudan has restricted the movements of the CPMT and 
prevented it from carrying out its mandate; 
Whereas the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights de-
clares ‘‘[n]o one shall be held in slavery or servitude: 
slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their 
forms’’; 
Whereas numerous human rights organizations, including 
Christian Solidarity International, the Center for Reli-
gious Freedom of Freedom House, and the American 
Anti-Slavery Group have demanded an end to slavery in
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all its forms and, in particular, to the abuses practiced 
by the Government of Sudan; 
Whereas the National Association for the Advancement of 
Colored People adopted, in May 1995, a Resolution to 
Combat Modern Day Slavery stating that slavery in 
Sudan was an ‘‘irrefutable fact, corroborated by numer-
ous sources,’’ and pledging that ‘‘we will not rest until 
these slaves are freed’’; 
Whereas the House of Representatives has repeatedly decried 
human rights abuses in Sudan and called for the aboli-
tion of the slave trade and of chattel slavery in Sudan; 
Whereas the House of Representatives committed itself to 
practical measures to suppress the slave trade and chat-
tel slavery in the Sudan by the passage, by a vote of 
359–8, in the 107th Congress of H.R. 5531, the ‘‘Sudan 
Peace Act’’, and the Senate passed a similar measure, S. 
180, unanimously; 
Whereas the United Nations Commission on Human Rights 
is now conducting its 59th session in Geneva from March 
17 through April 25, 2003; 
Whereas the United States rejoined the United Nations Com-
mission on Human Rights having been elected to a three-
term beginning in 2003; 
Whereas the head of the United States delegation to the 
United 
Nations 
Commission 
on 
Human 
rights, 
Ambassaador Jeane Kirkpatrick, declared in her opening 
address that ‘‘[t]he Commission has the solemn duty to 
speak for those who are denied the right to speak for 
themselves’’; 
Whereas Human Rights Watch and many other concerned 
persons and organizations have called upon the United
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Nations Commission on Human Rights to renew the 
mandate of the Special Rapporteur on human rights for 
Sudan, and to condemn gross abuses of human rights 
and violations of international humanitarian law by the 
Sudanese Government and rebel Sudan People’s Libera-
tion Movement/Army (SPLM/A) forces; and 
Whereas the current session of United Nations Commission 
on Human Rights will be discussing whether to change 
the status of Sudan from ‘‘Item 9’’, country with grave 
human rights problems justifying the appointment of a 
Special Rapporteur to investigate abuses and to report on 
them, to a lesser level of concern: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that—
(1) slavery, under any circumstances, is an un-
conscionable practice; 
(2) the subjection inherent in slavery inevitably 
leads to other abuses, including torture and rape; 
(3) human rights abuses and slavery in Sudan 
remain a matter of the most profound concern; 
(4) the United States must resist attempts to 
ignore or condone these outrages; 
(5) the United States must support the mainte-
nance, by the United Nations Commission on 
Human Rights, of Sudan as an ‘‘Item 9’’ country, 
requiring a Special Rapporteur; and 
(6) the United States should encourage the 
United Nations to consider reinstating sanctions
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against Sudan and urge the European Union, the 
African Union, and all others who express concern 
for human freedom and dignity to be engaged in ac-
tivities that will convince Sudan to abolish slavery 
and respect human rights.
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