U.S. CONGRESS CONDEMNS THE USE OF CHILD SOLDIERS Human Rights Watch welcomes this important statement by the US Congress. While the
resolution is not binding, it is significant because it reflects the "sense of the Congress"--both
House and Senate. The provision: - condemns the use of child soldiers, particularly the abduction of Ugandan children by the
Lord's Resistance Army (LRA); - calls on the government of Sudan to use its influence with the LRA to gain the release of
captive children and halt any further abductions; - urges the US not to block international efforts to establish 18 as the minimum age for
participation in armed conflict; - calls on the US President and Secretary of State to support efforts to stop the abduction of
children in northern Uganda and efforts to facilitate the rehabilitation of former child soldiers. The full text of the provision follows. WHAT YOU CAN DO: Contact those members of Congress who have introduced resolutions condemning the use of
child soldiers, and thank them for their leadership on this issue. Congressman Donald Payne (D-NJ) Congressman Howard Berman (D-CA) Sample message: Dear Senator/Congressman ___: I am writing to thank you for your leadership in the US Congress on the issue of child soldiers. I
am deeply concerned about the use of children as soldiers around the world and fully support
international efforts to stop this horrible practice and establish a global ban on the recruitment
and use of any child under the age of eighteen. I was pleased to learn that because of your efforts, the US Congress has publicly condemned the
use of child soldiers, and called on the President and Secretary of State to support efforts to end
the abduction of children by the Lord's Resistance Army in northern Uganda, help facilitate
efforts to rehabilitate former child soldiers, and not to block international negotiations to
establish 18 as the minimum age for participation in armed conflict. Again, thank you for your important initiative to help stop the use of child soldiers. Sincerely, Appropriations for the Department of Defense for Fiscal Year 1999 Section 8128 (a) of the
Conference Report Accompanying H.R. 4103 (A) FINDINGS. - The Congress finds that - (1) child experts estimate that as many as 250,000 children under the age of 18 are currently
serving in armed forces or armed groups in more than thirty countries around the world; (2) contemporary armed conflict has caused the deaths of 2,000,000 minors in the last decade
alone, and has left an estimated 6,000,000 children seriously injured or permanently disabled; (3) children are uniquely vulnerable to military recruitment because of their emotional and
physical immaturity, are easily manipulated, and can be drawn into violence that they are too
young to resist or understand; (4) children are most likely to become child soldiers if they are poor, separated from their
families, displaced from their homes, living in a combat zone, or have limited access to
education; (5) orphans and refugees are particularly vulnerable to recruitment; (6) one of the most egregious
examples of the use of child soldiers is the abduction of some 10,000 children, some as young as
eight years of age, by the Lord's Resistance Army (in this section referred to as the "LRA") in
northern Uganda; (7) the Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in Uganda for 1997
reports that the LRA kills, maims, and rapes large numbers of civilians, and forces abducted
children into "virtual slavery as guards, concubines, and soldiers"; (8) children abducted by the LRA are forced to raid and loot villages, fight in the front line of
battle against the Ugandan army and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), serve as
sexual salves to rebel commanders, and participate in the killing of other children who try to
escape; (9) former LRA child captives report witnessing Sudanese soldiers delivering food supplies,
vehicles, ammunition and arms to LRA base camps in government-controlled southern Sudan; (10) children who manage to escape from LRA captivity have little access to trauma care and
rehabilitation programs, and many find their families displaced, unlocatable, dead, or fearful of
having the child return home; (11) Graca Machel, the former United Nations expert on the impact of armed conflict on
children, identified the immediate demobilization of all child soldiers as an urgent priority, and
recommended the establishment of through an optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights
of the Child of 18 as the minimum age for recruitment and participation in armed forces; and (12) the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF), the UN High Commission on Refugees, and the UN High Commissioner on Human
Rights, as well as many non-governmental organizations, also support the establishment of 18 as
the minimum age for military recruitment and participation in armed conflict. (B) IN GENERAL - The Congress hereby - (1) deplores the global use of child soldiers, and supports their immediate demobilization; (2) condemns the abduction of Ugandan children by the LRA; (3) calls on the government of Sudan to use its influence with the LRA to secure the release of
abducted children and to halt further abductions; and (4) encourages the United States delegation not to block the drafting of an optional protocol to
the Convention on the Rights of the Child that would establish 18 as the minimum age for
participation in armed conflict. (C) SENSE OF THE CONGRESS. - It is the sense of the Congress that the President and the
Secretary of State should - (1) support efforts to end the abduction of children by the LRA, secure their release, and facilitate
their rehabilitation and reintegration into society;(2) not block efforts to establish 18 as the
minimum age for participation in conflict through an optional protocol to the Convention on the
Rights of the Child; and (3) provide greater support to United Nations agencies and nongovernmental organizations
working for the rehabilitation and reintegration of former child soldiers into society.
A Congressional resolution condemning the use of child soldiers has been included in the
Defense Appropriations Authorization Act for 1999, just passed by Congress.
Washington DC 20510
202/224-5641
2244 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington DC 20515
202/225-3435
2330 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington DC 20515
202/225-4695
