•HRES 55 IH 
Whereas the borrower is usually in a situation where he or 
she is never able to repay the debt, and consequently the 
bonded laborer’s children inherit the debt in which people 
are enslaved from generation to generation; 
Whereas bonded labor affects at least 20 million people 
around the world; 
Whereas International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 
No. 105 on the Abolition of Forced Labor ‘‘prohibits the 
use of any form of forced or compulsory labor as a means 
of political coercion or education, punishment for the ex-
pression of political or ideological views, workforce mobili-
zation for purposes of economic development, labor dis-
cipline, punishment for participation in strikes, or racial, 
social, national or religious discrimination’’; 
Whereas at least 12.3 million people are victims of forced 
labor which includes at least 9,490,000 in Asia and the 
Pacific, at least 1,320,000 in Latin America and the Car-
ibbean, at least 360,000 in industrialized countries (i.e. 
England, France, and the United States), at least 
260,000 in the Middle East and North Africa, at least 
260,000 in transition countries, and at least 660,000 in 
sub-Saharan Africa; 
Whereas among such 12.3 million victims, at a minimum, 
there are at least 2.5 million people who are forced to 
work by the governments, military forces, or rebel mili-
tary groups; 
Whereas at least 9.8 million people are exploited by private 
agents and enterprises; 
Whereas the ILO estimates that there are at least 1.4 million 
victims of commercial sexual exploitation and at least 7.7 
million victims of economic exploitation; 
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•HRES 55 IH 
Whereas global profits from all forced labor total an esti-
mated $44.3 billion annually; 
Whereas Article 1 of the 1964 Convention on Consent to 
Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration 
of Marriages states that no marriage shall be legally en-
tered into without the full and free consent of both par-
ties; 
Whereas there is a clear distinction between an arranged 
marriage and a forced marriage, where in an arranged 
marriage the consent of both parties is sought and given 
but in a forced marriage, consent is not given and duress 
is invariably a factor; 
Whereas ILO Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of 
Child Labor defines the worst forms of child labor ‘‘as: 
all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such 
as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage, 
serfdom and forced or compulsory labor; forced or com-
pulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict; 
use of a child for prostitution, production of pornography 
or pornographic performances; use, procuring or offering 
of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the produc-
tion and trafficking of drugs; work which is likely to 
harm the health, safety or morals of children’’; 
Whereas Principle 9 of the Declaration of the Rights of the 
Child proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United 
Nations on November 20, 1959, states that ‘‘. . . the child 
shall not be admitted to employment before an appro-
priate minimum age; he shall in no case be caused or per-
mitted to engage in any occupation or employment which 
would prejudice his health or education, or interfere with 
his physical, mental, or moral development . . .’’; 
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•HRES 55 IH 
Whereas Article 2 of ILO Convention No. 138 Concerning 
Minimum Age For Admission to Employment states: 
‘‘The minimum age specified in pursuance of paragraph 
1 of this article shall not be less than the age of compul-
sory schooling and, in any case, shall not be less than 16 
years.’’; 
Whereas ILO Convention No. 182 has been ratified by more 
than 155 nations and requires immediate and effective 
action to eliminate the worst forms of child labor which 
involve children under the age of 18 and which include 
slavery, debt bondage, forced or compulsory labor, the 
sale or trafficking of children, including the forced or 
compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed con-
flict, child prostitution, the use of children in the produc-
tion and trafficking of narcotics, and any other work 
that, by its nature or due to the circumstances in which 
it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety, or 
morals of children; 
Whereas in particular, the ILO estimates that there are at 
least 60 million children worldwide currently trapped in 
the worst forms of child labor; 
Whereas the ILO estimates at least 179 million children af-
fected by child labor work in areas that are harmful to 
their health and welfare; 
Whereas according to the ILO, worldwide an estimated 250 
million children under the age of 15 are working, many 
of them in dangerous industries such as mining and fire-
works; 
Whereas children under the age of 15 constitute approxi-
mately 11 percent of the workforce in some Asian coun-
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•HRES 55 IH 
tries, 17 percent in parts of Africa, and a reported 12 
to 26 percent in many countries in Latin America; 
Whereas the number of children under the age of 15 who are 
working, and the scale of their suffering, increases every 
year, despite the existence of more than 20 ILO conven-
tions on child labor and laws in many countries that pur-
portedly prohibit the employment of under-age children; 
Whereas in many countries, children under the age of 15 lack 
either the legal standing or means to protect themselves 
from exploitation in the workplace; 
Whereas ILO Convention No. 182 focused world attention on 
the need to take immediate action to eradicate those 
forms of child labor that are hazardous and damaging to 
children’s physical, mental, or moral well-being; 
Whereas the prevalence of child labor in many developing 
countries is rooted in widespread poverty that is attrib-
utable to unemployment and underemployment, precar-
ious incomes, low living standards, and insufficient edu-
cation and training opportunities among adult workers; 
Whereas the employment of children under the age of 16 
commonly deprives such children of the opportunity for 
basic education and also denies gainful employment to 
millions of adults; 
Whereas modern-day slavery capitalizes on areas of conflict 
and post conflict, transitioning states, sudden political 
change, economic collapse, civil unrest, internal armed 
conflict, chronic unemployment, widespread poverty, per-
sonal disaster, lack of economic opportunity, and natural 
disasters; 
Whereas modern-day slavery preys upon the vulnerable, eth-
nic minorities, and people without citizenship; 
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•HRES 55 IH 
Whereas modern-day slavery uses threats, intimidation, ma-
nipulation, coercion, fraud, shame, and violence to force 
victims into modern-day slavery; 
Whereas populations vulnerable to modern-day slavery are 
growing due to the rising numbers of orphans in devel-
oping countries, which are due to civil conflicts and the 
HIV/AIDS pandemic; 
Whereas the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually-trans-
mitted diseases poses a global threat and creates a par-
ticular challenge for victims of modern-day slavery in-
volved in the international sex trade; 
Whereas modern-day slavery brutalizes men, women, and 
children, and exposes them to rape, torture, HIV/AIDS 
and other sexually-transmitted diseases, violence, dan-
gerous working conditions, poor nutrition, drug and alco-
hol addiction, and severe psychological trauma from sepa-
ration, coercion, sexual abuse, and depression; 
Whereas organized criminal groups, gangs, document forgers, 
brothel owners, and corrupt police or immigration offi-
cials funnel modern-day slavery profits into both legiti-
mate and criminal activities; 
Whereas modern-day slavery has a negative impact on the 
labor market in many countries and perpetuates a cycle 
of poverty; 
Whereas the loss of family-support networks due to modern- 
day slavery contributes to the breakdown of societies; and 
Whereas 2007 marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition 
of the transatlantic slave trade: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that— 
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