I
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3294
To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to withhold United States
assistance from countries determined to be violating the human rights
of working children, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 23, 1996
Mr. MORAN (for himself, Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts, Mr. FRAZER, Mr.
GENE GREEN of Texas, Ms. NORTON, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. BRYANT of
Texas, Mr. WILSON, MR. LIPINSKI, Mr. RANGEL, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr.
SANDERS, and Ms. MCKINNEY ) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on International Relations
A BILL
To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to withhold
United States assistance from countries determined to
be violating the human rights of working children, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Working Children’s
Human Rights Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Principle 9 of the Declaration of the Rights
of the Child proclaimed by the United Nations Gen-
eral Assembly on November 20, 1959, states that
‘‘. . . the child shall not be admitted to employment
before an appropriate minimum age; he shall in no
case be caused or permitted to engage in any occu-
pation or employment which would prejudice his
health or education, or interfere with his physical,
mental, or moral development . . .’’.
(2) Article 2 of the International Labor Con-
vention No. 138 Concerning Minimum Age For Ad-
mission to Employment states that ‘‘The minimum
age specified in pursuance of paragraph 1 of this ar-
ticle shall not be less than the age of compulsory
schooling and, in any case, shall not be less than 15
years.’’.
(3) According to the International Labor Orga-
nization, an estimated 200,000,000 children under
the age of 15 are working in the world, many in
dangerous industries like mining and fireworks.
(4) Children under the age of 15 constitute ap-
proximately 11 percent of the workforce in some
Asian countries, 17 percent of the workforce in parts
of Africa, and a reported 12 to 26 percent of the
workforce in many countries in Latin America.
(5) The number of children under the age of 15
who are working, and the scale of their suffering, in-
creases every year, despite the existence of more
than 20 international labor organization conventions
on child labor and laws in many countries which
purportedly prohibit the employment of underage
children.
(6) In many countries, children under the age
of 15 lack either the legal standing or means to pro-
tect themselves from exploitation in the workplace.
(7) The prevalence of child labor in many devel-
oping countries is rooted in widespread poverty that
is attributable to unemployment and underemploy-
ment, precarious incomes, low living standards, and
insufficient education and training opportunities
among adult workers.
(8) The employment of children under the age
of 15 commonly deprives such children of the oppor-
tunity for basic education and also denies gainful
employment to millions of adults.
(9) The employment of children under the age
of 15, often at drastically low wages, undermines the
stability of families and ignores the importance of
increasing jobs, aggregated demand, and purchasing
power among adults as a catalyst to the development
of internal markets and the achievement of broad-
based, self-reliant economic development in many de-
veloping countries.
SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF
1961.
(a) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Section 116(d) of
the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d))
is amended—
(1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the
end;
(2) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(4) the United States policy to establish and
encourage an international strategy to reduce viola-
tions of the human rights of working children, in-
cluding—
‘‘(A) a description of the policies adopted,
agreements concluded, and programs imple-
mented by the Department of State and De-
partment of Labor in pursuit of their delegated
responsibilities for reducing worldwide viola-
tions of the human rights of working children,
for the fiscal year just ended, for the current
fiscal year, and for the next fiscal year, includ-
ing policy development, bilateral and multilat-
eral funding, and other support for projects de-
signed to reduce violations of the human rights
of working children; and
‘‘(B) for each country that receives assist-
ance under this part, the report shall include—
‘‘(i) a detailed status report on the
use of child labor within such country, not-
ing significant changes in conditions, such
as increases or decreases in the use of
child labor, and changes in the policy of
such country toward the use of child labor;
‘‘(ii) a description of United States
assistance provided or proposed to be pro-
vided to such country for the preceding fis-
cal year, the current fiscal year, and for
the next fiscal year, with an analysis of the
impact that the furnishing of each kind of
assistance has had or is expected to have
on the use of child labor in the country;
‘‘(iii) a description of the plans, pro-
grams, and timetables adopted by such
country for the progressive elimination of
the use of child labor and a discussion of
the legal and law enforcement measures
taken and the accomplishments achieved in
accord with these plans; and
‘‘(iv) a description of bribery of public
officials and other forms of public corrup-
tion that facilitate violations of the human
rights of working children.’’.
(b) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—Such Act is fur-
ther amended by adding at the end of part I the following:
‘‘CHAPTER 12—INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS OF
WORKING CHILDREN
‘‘SEC. 499. CONSULTATION REQUIREMENT.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—As soon as possible after the
transmittal of the report required by section 116(d), the
Secretary of State, in conjunction with the Secretary of
Labor, shall initiate appropriate consultations with the ap-
propriate congressional committees.
‘‘(b) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—Such consulta-
tions shall include the following:
‘‘(1) In-person discussions by designated rep-
resentatives of the President (including appropriate
representatives from the Department of Labor and
Department of State) to review the status worldwide
of violations of the human rights of working children
and the role that United States assistance to those
countries violating the human rights of working chil-
dren have in combating the exploitation of children.
‘‘(2) With respect to each country the President
is proposing to provide United States assistance for
the next year, the furnishing of—
‘‘(A) a description of the nature of the vio-
lations of the human rights of working children;
and
‘‘(B) an analysis of political, economic, and
social factors that affect violations of the
human rights of working children.
‘‘SEC. 499A. CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—After consultations have been
initiated pursuant to section 499, it is the sense of the
Congress that the appropriate congressional committees
should hold hearings to review the human rights of work-
ing children provisions of the report transmitted pursuant
to section 116(d).
‘‘(b) TYPE OF HEARINGS.—It is the further sense of
the Congress that the hearings described in subsection (a)
should be open to the public unless the appropriate con-
gressional committees determine, in accordance with the
rules of the House of Representatives or the rules of the
Senate, as the case may be, that the hearings should be
closed to the public.
‘‘SEC. 499B. ANNUAL CERTIFICATION PROCEDURES.
‘‘(a) DETERMINING
COUNTRIES
VIOLATING
THE
HUMAN RIGHTS OF WORKING CHILDREN.—
‘‘(1) CERTIFICATION.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-
graph (B), for each fiscal year, any country
that desires to receive United States assistance
shall certify to the Secretary of State that such
country—
‘‘(i) has adopted and is enforcing laws
that guarantee—
‘‘(I) a prohibition on the use of
any form of forced or compulsory
child labor;
‘‘(II) a reasonable minimum age
for the employment of children; and
‘‘(III) acceptable conditions of
work with respect to minimum wages,
hours of work, and occupational
health and safety relating to child
labor; and
‘‘(ii) has taken steps to prevent and
punish bribery of public officials and other
forms of public corruption which facilitate
the abuse of child labor laws.