(B) any person under age 18 who has been 
compulsorily recruited into governmental armed 
forces; 
(C) any person under age 16 voluntarily 
recruited into governmental armed forces; and 
(D) any person under age 18 recruited or 
used in hostilities by armed forces distinct from 
the armed forces of a state; and 
(2) includes any person described in subpara-
graphs (B), (C), and (D) of paragraph (1) who is 
serving in any capacity, including in a support role 
such as a cook, porter, messenger, medic, guard, or 
sex slave. 
SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress— 
(1) to condemn the conscription, forced recruit-
ment 
or 
use 
of 
children 
by 
governments, 
paramilitaries, or other organizations in hostilities; 
(2) that the United States Government should 
support and, where practicable, lead efforts to estab-
lish and uphold international standards designed to 
end this abuse of human rights; 
(3) that the United States Government should 
expand ongoing services to rehabilitate recovered 
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child soldiers and to reintegrate them back into their 
communities by— 
(A) offering ongoing psychological services 
to help victims recover from their trauma and 
relearn how to deal with others in nonviolent 
ways such that they are no longer a danger to 
their community; 
(B) facilitating reconciliation with their 
communities through negotiations with tradi-
tional leaders and elders to enable recovered 
abductees to resume normal lives in their com-
munities; and 
(C) providing educational and vocational 
assistance; 
(4) that the United States should work with the 
international community, including, where appro-
priate, third country governments, nongovernmental 
organizations, faith-based organizations, United Na-
tions agencies, local governments, labor unions, and 
private enterprise— 
(A) on efforts to bring to justice rebel or-
ganizations that kidnap children for use as 
child soldiers, including the Lord’s Resistance 
Army (LRA) in Uganda, Fuerzas Armadas 
Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), and Lib-
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eration Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), includ-
ing, where feasible, by arresting the leaders of 
such groups; and 
(B) on efforts to recover those children 
who have been abducted and to assist them in 
their rehabilitation and reintegration into com-
munities; 
(5) that the Secretary of State, the Secretary of 
Labor, and the Secretary of Defense should coordi-
nate programs to achieve the goals specified in para-
graph (3), and in countries where the use of child 
soldiers is an issue, whether or not it is supported 
or sanctioned by the governments of such countries, 
United States diplomatic missions should include in 
their mission program plans a strategy to achieve 
the goals specified in such paragraph; 
(6) that United States diplomatic missions in 
countries in which governments use or tolerate child 
soldiers should develop, as part of annual program 
planning, strategies to promote efforts to end this 
abuse of human rights; and 
(7) that, in allocating or recommending the al-
location of funds or recommending candidates for 
programs and grants funded by the United States 
Government, United States diplomatic missions 
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should give particular consideration to those pro-
grams and candidates deemed to promote the end to 
this abuse of human rights. 
SEC. 5. PROHIBITION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsections (b), (c), 
and (d), none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made 
available for international military education and training, 
foreign military financing, foreign military sales, direct 
commercial sales, or excess defense articles by the Foreign 
Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Ap-
propriations Act, 2006 (Public Law 109–102) or any 
other Act making appropriations for foreign operations, 
export financing, and related programs may be obligated 
or otherwise made available to the government of a coun-
try that is clearly identified by the Department of State 
in the Department of State’s most recent Country Reports 
on Human Rights Practices as having governmental 
armed forces or government supported armed groups, in-
cluding paramilitaries, militias, or civil defense forces, that 
recruit or use child soldiers. 
(b) NOTIFICATION TO COUNTRIES IN VIOLATION OF 
THE STANDARDS OF THIS ACT.—The Secretary of State 
shall formally notify any government identified pursuant 
to subsection (a). 
(c) NATIONAL INTEREST WAIVER.— 
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(1) WAIVER.—The President may waive the ap-
plication to a country of the prohibition in sub-
section (a) if the President determines that such 
waiver is in the interest of the United States. 
(2) PUBLICATION
AND
NOTIFICATION.—The 
President shall publish each waiver granted under 
paragraph (1) in the Federal Register and shall no-
tify the Committee on Foreign Relations and the 
Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on 
Appropriations of the House of Representatives of 
each such waiver, including the justification for the 
waiver, in accordance with the regular notification 
procedures of such Committees. 
(d) REINSTATEMENT OF ASSISTANCE.—The Presi-
dent may provide to a country assistance otherwise prohib-
ited under subsection (a) upon certifying to Congress that 
the government of such country— 
(1) has implemented effective measures to come 
into compliance with the standards of this Act; and 
(2) has implemented effective policies and 
mechanisms to prohibit and prevent future use of 
child soldiers and to ensure that no children are re-
cruited, conscripted, or otherwise compelled to serve 
as child soldiers. 
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(e) EXCEPTION FOR PROGRAMS DIRECTLY RELATED 
TO ADDRESSING THE PROBLEM OF CHILD SOLDIERS OR 
PROFESSIONALIZATION OF THE MILITARY.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The President may provide 
to a country assistance for international military 
education and training otherwise prohibited under 
subsection (a) upon certifying to Congress that— 
(A) the government of such country is im-
plementing effective measures to demobilize 
child soldiers in its forces or in government 
supported paramilitaries and to provide demobi-
lization, rehabilitation, and reintegration assist-
ance to those former child soldiers; and 
(B) the assistance provided by the United 
States Government to the government of such 
country will go to programs that will directly 
support professionalization of the military. 
(2) LIMITATION.—The exception under para-
graph (1) may not remain in effect for more than 
2 years following the date of notification specified in 
subsection (b). 
SEC. 6. REPORTS. 
(a) PREPARATION OF REPORTS REGARDING CHILD 
SOLDIERS.—United States missions abroad shall thor-
oughly investigate reports of the use of child soldiers. 
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(b) INFORMATION FOR ANNUAL HUMAN RIGHTS RE-
PORTS.—In preparing those portions of the Human Rights 
Reports that relate to child soldiers, the Secretary of State 
shall ensure that such reports shall include a description 
of the use of child soldiers in each foreign country, includ-
ing— 
(1) trends toward improvement in such country 
of the status of child soldiers or the continued or in-
creased tolerance of such practices; and 
(2) the role of the government of such country 
in engaging in or tolerating the use of child soldiers. 
(c) INCLUSION OF INFORMATION ON VIOLATIONS.— 
When the Secretary of State determines that a govern-
ment has violated the standards of this Act, the Secretary 
shall clearly indicate that fact in the relevant Annual 
Human Rights Report. 
(d) LETTER TO CONGRESS.—Not later than June 15 
of each year for 10 years following the enactment of this 
Act, the President shall submit to the Committee on For-
eign Relations and the Committee on Appropriations of 
the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 
Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representa-
tives— 
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(1) a list of the countries receiving notification 
that they are in violation of the standards of this 
Act; 
(2) a list of any waivers or exceptions exercised 
under this Act; 
(3) justification for those waivers and excep-
tions; and 
(4) a description of any assistance provided 
pursuant to this Act. 
SEC. 7. REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF ACT. 
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the President shall submit to the Com-
mittee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Appro-
priations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Af-
fairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the House 
of Representatives a report setting forth a strategy for 
achieving the policy objectives of this Act, including a de-
scription of an effective mechanism for coordination of 
United States Government efforts to implement this strat-
egy. 
SEC. 8. TRAINING FOR FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICERS. 
Section 708 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 
U.S.C. 4028) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new subsection: 
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‘‘(c) The Secretary of State, with the assistance of 
other relevant officials, shall establish as part of the stand-
ard training provided after January 1, 2008, for officers 
of the Service, including chiefs of mission, instruction on 
matters related to child soldiers and the substance of the 
Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2007.’’. 
SEC. 9. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICABILITY. 
This Act shall take effect 180 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act and shall apply to funds obli-
gated after such effective date. 
Æ 
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