[Pages S15941-S15943]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page S15941]]
CHILD SOLDIERS ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2007

Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 532, S. 2135.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:

A bill (S. 2135) to prohibit the recruitment or use of
child soldiers, to designate persons who recruit or use child
soldiers as inadmissible aliens, to allow the deportation of
persons who recruit or use child soldiers, and for other
purposes.

There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill,
which was reported by the Committee on the Judiciary with an amendment,
as follows:
[Insert the part printed in italic.]

S. 2135

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Child Soldiers
Accountability Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE RECRUITMENT AND USE OF CHILD
SOLDIERS.

(a) Crime for Recruiting or Using Child Soldiers.--
(1) In general.--Chapter 118 of title 18, United States
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

``Sec. 2442. Recruitment or use of child soldiers

``(a) Offense.--Any person who knowingly recruits, enlists,
or conscripts a person under 15 years of age into an armed
force or group or knowingly uses a person under 15 years of
age to participate actively in hostilities--
``(1) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more
than 20 years, or both; and
``(2) if the death of any person results, shall be fined
under this title and imprisoned for any term of years or for
life.
``(b) Attempt and Conspiracy.--Any person who attempts or
conspires to commit an offense under this section shall be
punished in the same manner as a person who completes the
offense.
``(c) Jurisdiction.--There is jurisdiction over an offense
described in subsection (a), and any attempt or conspiracy to
commit such offense, if--
``(1) the alleged offender is a national of the United
States (as defined in section 101(a)(22) of the Immigration
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(22))) or an alien
lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United
States (as defined in section 101(a)(20) of such Act (8
U.S.C. 1101(a)(20));
``(2) the alleged offender is a stateless person whose
habitual residence is in the United States;
``(3) the alleged offender is present in the United States,
irrespective of the nationality of the alleged offender; or
``(4) the offense occurs in whole or in part within the
United States.
``(d) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Participate actively in hostilities.--The term
`participate actively in hostilities' means taking part in--
``(A) combat or military activities related to combat,
including scouting, spying, sabotage, and serving as a decoy,
a courier, or at a military checkpoint; or
``(B) direct support functions related to combat, including
taking supplies to the front line and other services at the
front line.
``(2) Armed force or group.--The term `armed force or
group' means any army, militia, or other military
organization, whether or not it is state-sponsored.''.
(2) Statute of limitations.--Chapter 213 of title 18,
United States Code is amended by adding at the end the
following:

``Sec. 3300. Recruitment or use of child soldiers

``No person may be prosecuted, tried, or punished for a
violation of section 2442 unless the indictment or the
information is filed not later than 10 years after the
commission of the offense.''.
(3) Clerical amendment.--Title 18, United States Code, is
amended--
(A) in the table of sections for chapter 118, by adding at
the end the following:

``2442. Recruitment or use of child soldiers.'';

and
(B) in the table of sections for chapter 213, by adding at
the end the following:

``3300. Recruitment or use of child soldiers.''.

(b) Ground of Inadmissibility for Recruiting or Using Child
Soldiers.--Section 212(a)(3) of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)) is amended by adding at
the end the following:
``(G) Recruitment or use of child soldiers.--Any alien who
has committed, ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise
participated in the commission of the recruitment or use of
child soldiers in violation of section 2442 of title 18,
United States Code, is inadmissible.''.
(c) Ground of Removability for Recruiting or Using Child
Soldiers.--Section 237(a)(4) of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(4)) is amended by adding at
the end the following:
``(F) Recruitment or use of child soldiers.--Any alien
described in section 212(a)(3)(G) is deportable.''.
(d) Withholding of Removal.--Section 241(b)(3)(B) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1231(b)(3)(B)) is
amended by adding at the end the following: ``For purposes of
clause (iii), an alien who is removable under section
237(a)(4)(F) or inadmissible under section 212(a)(3)(G) shall
be considered an alien with respect to whom there are serious
reasons to believe that the alien committed a serious
nonpolitical crime.''.
(e) Asylum.--Section 208(b)(2)(B) of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1158(b)(2)(B) is amended by adding
at the end the following:
``(iii) Recruitment and use of child soldiers.--For
purposes of clause (iii) of subparagraph (A), an alien who is
removable under section 237(a)(4)(F) or inadmissible under
section 212(a)(3)(G) shall be considered an alien with
respect to whom there are serious reasons to believe that the
alien committed a serious nonpolitical crime.''.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise to speak in support of the Child
Soldiers Accountability Act of 2007. This narrowly tailored bipartisan
legislation would make it a crime and a violation of immigration law to
recruit or use child soldiers. Congress must ensure that perpetrators
who use children to wage war are held accountable and do not find safe
haven in our country.
I would like to thank the other original cosponsors of the Child
Soldiers Accountability Act, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Senator
Russell Feingold of Wisconsin, and Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas.
This bill is a product of the Judiciary Committee's new Subcommittee on
Human Rights and the Law, which is the first ever congressional
committee or subcommittee dealing specifically with human rights. I am
the chairman of this Subcommittee and Senator Coburn is its ranking
member.
The use of child soldiers has been reported in 21 ongoing or recent
conflicts throughout the world since 2001, including conflicts in
Colombia, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sri Lanka. The
proliferation of small arms, particularly lightweight automatic weapons
that can be used by children as easily as by adults, has contributed to
the increased use of child soldiers. Child soldiers are often used in
conflicts where high desertion rates and insufficient volunteers have
generated a shortage of soldiers.
For example, Burma is believed to be one of the countries with the
largest number of child soldiers in the world. Burmese military
recruiters reportedly buy and sell children in a desperate effort to
meet recruitment quotas in a setting where low morale, high desertion
rates and insufficient volunteers have created a military personnel
crisis. In a report to the U.N. Security Council on children and armed
conflict in Burma issued last month, the Secretary General stated that
there has been tremendous pressure to accelerate recruitment rates in
the Burmese armed forces and that recruitment centers have experienced
difficulty meeting their quotas. The U.N. Secretary General's report
also found that some children picked up by police in Burma without
national identification cards are told they can ``choose'' to be
arrested or enlist in the army. According to another report, children
constitute a large percentage of privates in some of the new Burmese
army battalions and some have been forced to participate in human
rights abuses, including burning villages.
One Burmese boy was reportedly forcibly recruited twice by the time
he was 16 years old. This boy was allegedly sold to a battalion by a
corporal for approximately US$15, a sack of rice and a tin of cooking
oil. When this boy's aunt and grandmother sought his release, the
captain of the battalion company apparently said he would let the boy
go in exchange for five new recruits. The boy reportedly told his aunt
that he didn't want five other people to have to face what he had
experienced in the army.
There is a clear legal prohibition on recruiting and using child
soldiers. Under customary international law, recruitment or use of
child soldiers under the age of 15 is a war crime. Over 110 countries,
including the United States, have ratified the Optional Protocol to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits the recruitment
and use of child soldiers under 18.
Over the last few years, significant progress has been made in the
prosecution of child soldier recruitment and use by international
courts. In 2005, the International Criminal Court issued its first
arrest warrants for five Lord's Resistance Army commanders from Uganda
for, among other crimes, enlisting

[[Page S15942]]

children as soldiers by two of the commanders. In February 2006, the
International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Thomas
Lubanga for the war crime of ``conscripting and enlisting children
under the age of 15 years and using them to participate actively in
hostilities.'' Mr. Lubanga, the first person to be arrested by the
International Criminal Court, allegedly recruited children as young as
ten years old to fight for the Union of Congolese Patriots in the
northeastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In June 2007, the Special Court for Sierra Leone became the first
international court to issue convictions for child soldier recruitment,
finding three defendants guilty of crimes that included conscripting or
enlisting children under the age of 15. In August 2007, the Special
Court for Sierra Leone found another defendant guilty of using child
soldiers.
Despite these positive developments, the ability of international
tribunals or hybrid courts to try these cases is limited. The average
perpetrator still runs very little risk of being prosecuted. National
courts can and should play a greater role in prosecuting perpetrators.
Unfortunately, recruiting and using child soldiers does not violate
U.S. criminal or immigration law. As a result, the U.S. government is
unable to punish individuals found in our country who have recruited or
used child soldiers. In contrast, other grave human rights violations,
including genocide and torture, are punishable under U.S. criminal and
immigration law.
This loophole in the law was identified during ``Casualties of War:
Child Soldiers and the Law,'' a hearing held by the Senate Subcommittee
on Human Rights and the Law. Ishmael Beah, a former child soldier and
author of the bestselling book A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy
Soldier, testified at this hearing. Mr. Beah said this gap in the law
``saddens me tremendously'' and that closing this loophole ``would set
a clear example that there is no safe haven anywhere for those who
recruit and use children in war.''
The Child Soldiers Accountability Act will help to ensure that the
war criminals who recruit or use children as soldiers will not find
safe haven in our country and will allow the U.S. Government to hold
these individuals accountable for their actions.
First, this bill will make it a crime to recruit or use persons under
the age of 15 as soldiers. Second, it will enable the government to
deport or deny admission to an individual who recruited or used child
soldiers under the age of 15.
This legislation will send a clear message to those adults who
deliberately and actively recruit or use children to wage war that
there are real consequences to their actions. By holding such
individuals criminally responsible, our country will help to deter the
recruitment and use of child soldiers.
Recognizing that adults often use drugs, threats, or other means to
pressure child soldiers into committing serious human rights
violations, including the recruitment of other children, this
legislation seeks to hold adults accountable for their actions and is
not intended to make inadmissible or deportable former child soldiers
who participated in the recruitment of other children.
Former child soldiers require extensive care and support from family
and others in order to be rehabilitated and reintegrated into society.
As Mr. Beah testified, ``[h]ealing from the war was a long-term process
that was difficult but very possible . . . Effective rehabilitation of
children is in itself a preventive measure, and this should be the
focus, not punitive measures against children that have no beneficial
outcome for the child and society.'' This legislation should not be
interpreted as placing new restrictions on or altering the legal status
of former child soldiers who are seeking admission or are already
present in the United States.
I urge my colleagues to ask themselves the question Ishmael Beah
posed: Would we want our children or grandchildren to endure the pain
and suffering that Mr. Beah and other child soldiers face? As Mr. Beah
reminded us, the lives of child soldiers are just as important as those
of our children and grandchildren. We have a moral obligation to take
action to help these young people and to stop the abhorrent practice of
recruiting and using child soldiers.
I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am pleased that the Senate today will
pass S. 2135, the Child Soldiers Accountability Act of 2007. I commend
Senator Durbin and Senator Coburn for their leadership on this
important legislation to combat the unconscionable practice of using
children as soldiers in violent conflicts, and I was proud to join as a
cosponsor of this bill. I am glad that Senators Durbin and Coburn
worked with me and others on the Senate Judiciary Committee to produce
a consensus bill and to move it through Committee and the Senate. The
United States should do all it can to prevent and punish this conduct
which is so contrary to our values.
This bill creates a tough new criminal provision aimed at those who
recruit or conscript children under the age of 15 into armed conflict.
It extends U.S. jurisdiction to perpetrators of this crime who are
present in the United States, regardless of their nationality and where
the crime takes place, so that those who commit human rights violations
cannot come to this country as a sanctuary from prosecution. The bill
also amends immigration law to allow those who have used children as
soldiers to be barred or removed from the United States.
This bill is another example of the good work of the Judiciary
Committee's new Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law. I am glad
that the efforts Subcommittee Chairman Durbin and I have made to make
this subcommittee a force for change and to bring focus on these
important issues is resulting in legislative action, as well as
providing a forum to put a spotlight on important issues. This is an
area in which I have worked for many years as the chair and ranking
member of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the Appropriations
Committee.
During the last 5 years, America's reputation has suffered
tremendously. Some of our ability to lead on human rights issues has
been needlessly and carelessly squandered. Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and
torture have tarnished that role and that tradition. The secret prisons
that the President confirmed last year, this Administration's role in
sending people to other countries where they would be tortured, and
recent revelations of the destruction of videotapes showing cruel
interrogations by the CIA have led to condemnation by our allies, to
legal challenges, and to possible criminal investigations.
I was proud to work with Senator Durbin to create the Human Rights
and the Law Subcommittee. This subcommittee will continue to closely
examine some of the important and difficult legal issues that are now a
focus of the Judiciary Committee and will work to reverse and correct
the damaging policies established by this administration over the last
6 years. The subcommittee has already spearheaded the Genocide
Accountability Act, which will soon provide a powerful new tool in
America's efforts to prevent and punish genocide, and has made further
progress with hearings and legislation dealing with human trafficking
and other vital issues.
The conduct prohibited by the Child Soldiers Accountability Act is
appalling but happens all too often throughout the world. We should do
everything we can to stop this offense to human rights and human
dignity, which exacts such great costs from too many of the world's
children. I commend the Senate for passing this important legislation
today.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
Mr. PRYOR. I ask unanimous consent that a Feingold amendment, which
is at the desk, be agreed to; the committee amendment be agreed to; the
bill, as amended, be read three times and passed; the motions to
reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate,
and any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment (No. 3882) was agreed to, as follows:

[[Page S15943]]

AMENDMENT NO. 3882

(Purpose: To exclude groups assembled solely for non-violent political
association from the definition of an armed force or group)

On page 4, line 7, insert after ``state-sponsored'' the
following: ``, excluding any group assembled solely for non-
violent political association''.

The committee amendment was agreed to.
The bill (S. 2135), as amended, was ordered to be engrossed for a
third reading, was read the third time, and passed, as follows:

S. 2135

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Child Soldiers
Accountability Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE RECRUITMENT AND USE OF CHILD
SOLDIERS.

(a) Crime for Recruiting or Using Child Soldiers.--
(1) In general.--Chapter 118 of title 18, United States
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

``Sec. 2442. Recruitment or use of child soldiers

``(a) Offense.--Any person who knowingly recruits, enlists,
or conscripts a person under 15 years of age into an armed
force or group or knowingly uses a person under 15 years of
age to participate actively in hostilities--
``(1) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more
than 20 years, or both; and
``(2) if the death of any person results, shall be fined
under this title and imprisoned for any term of years or for
life.
``(b) Attempt and Conspiracy.--Any person who attempts or
conspires to commit an offense under this section shall be
punished in the same manner as a person who completes the
offense.
``(c) Jurisdiction.--There is jurisdiction over an offense
described in subsection (a), and any attempt or conspiracy to
commit such offense, if--
``(1) the alleged offender is a national of the United
States (as defined in section 101(a)(22) of the Immigration
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(22))) or an alien
lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United
States (as defined in section 101(a)(20) of such Act (8
U.S.C. 1101(a)(20));
``(2) the alleged offender is a stateless person whose
habitual residence is in the United States;
``(3) the alleged offender is present in the United States,
irrespective of the nationality of the alleged offender; or
``(4) the offense occurs in whole or in part within the
United States.
``(d) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Participate actively in hostilities.--The term
`participate actively in hostilities' means taking part in--
``(A) combat or military activities related to combat,
including scouting, spying, sabotage, and serving as a decoy,
a courier, or at a military checkpoint; or
``(B) direct support functions related to combat, including
taking supplies to the front line and other services at the
front line.
``(2) Armed force or group.--The term `armed force or
group' means any army, militia, or other military
organization, whether or not it is state-sponsored, excluding
any group assembled solely for nonviolent political
association.''.
(2) Statute of limitations.--Chapter 213 of title 18,
United States Code is amended by adding at the end the
following:

``Sec. 3300. Recruitment or use of child soldiers

``2442. Recruitment or use of child soldiers.'';

and
(B) in the table of sections for chapter 213, by adding at
the end the following:

``3300. Recruitment or use of child soldiers.''.

____________________