[Pages S8513-S8516]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

CHILD SOLDIERS ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2008

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I am going to make a short statement in
reference to S. 2135. After that statement, I will ask to lay before
the Senate a Message from the House with respect to that.
I would like to say at the outset that this bill, S. 2135, is known
as the Child Soldiers Accountability Act.
In January of 2007, at the beginning of this Congress, the Senate
Judiciary Committee embarked on an experiment, establishing a new
subcommittee, called the Human Rights and the Law Subcommittee. It was
the first time in the 219-year history of the Senate that a
subcommittee or committee focused specifically on the issue of human
rights was formed.
I thank Senator Patrick Leahy, the Chairman of the Judiciary
committee, for giving me the opportunity to serve as the first chairman
of the Human Rights and the Law Subcommittee.
Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, is the ranking member of
the subcommittee. Senator Coburn and I disagree on many issues, but we
have formed an unusual partnership in this subcommittee, working across
party lines to address some of the most urgent human rights crises in
the world.
One of the first hearings we held focused on the scourge of child
soldiers.
We learned that up to 250,000 children currently serve as combatants,
porters, human mine detectors and sex slaves in state-run armies,
paramilitaries and guerilla groups around the world.
Under treaties that we have ratified, there is a clear legal
prohibition on recruiting and using child soldiers. But, as we learned
at our hearing, recruiting and using child soldiers does not violate
U.S. criminal or immigration law.
Senator Coburn and I introduced the Child Soldiers Accountability Act
to close this loophole in the law. This legislation will make it
illegal under U.S. criminal and immigration law to recruit or use child
soldiers.
This bipartisan bill will ensure that those who recruit or use
children as soldiers will not find safe haven in our country. It will
give the U.S. Government the tools to prosecute or deport the war
criminals who commit this horrible human rights abuse.
The Child Soldiers Accountability Act passed the Senate unanimously
last December. The Judiciary Committee in the House of Representatives
held a hearing on the bill and made some thoughtful revisions. Earlier
this week, the House passed the legislation unanimously. Now, the
Senate is poised to send it to President Bush for his signature.
I would like to thank all of my colleagues in the Senate for
supporting the Child Soldiers Accountability Act, especially, Senator
Coburn, the bill's lead Republican cosponsor; Judiciary Committee
Chairman Leahy, a cosponsor who helped shepherd the bill through the
Committee; and Senators Russ Feingold and Sam Brownback, the bill's
other original cosponsors
I would also like to thank Members of the House of Representatives
for their support, especially John Conyers and Lamar Smith, the
chairman and ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee; Bobby
Scott and Louie Gohmert, the chairman and ranking member of the Crime
Subcommittee; and Zoe Lofgren and Steve King, the chairman and ranking
member of the House Immigration Subcommittee.
At our hearing on child soldiers, we heard moving testimony from a
remarkable young man named Ismael Beah. Mr. Beah is a former child
soldier and author of the bestselling book ``A Long Way Gone: Memoirs
of a Boy

[[Page S8514]]

Soldier.'' Mr. Beah said the Child Soldiers Accountability Act ``would
set a clear example that there is no safe haven anywhere for those who
recruit and use children in war.'' Mr. Beah also posed a challenge to
all of us:

When you go home tonight to your children, your cousins,
and your grandchildren and watch them carrying out their
various childhood activities, I want you to remember that at
that same moment, there are countless children elsewhere who
are being killed; injured; exposed to extreme violence; and
forced to serve in armed groups, including girls who are
raped. . . . As you watch your loved ones, those children you
adore most, ask yourselves whether you would want these kinds
of suffering for them. If you don't, then you must stop this
from happening to other children around the world whose lives
and humanity are as important and of the same value as all
children everywhere.

We have a moral obligation to respond to Mr. Beah's challenge. I hope
the Child Soldiers Accountability Act is one small step towards ending
the scourge of child soldiers.
Madam President, 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.
The Child Soldiers Accountability Act passed the Senate unanimously
in December 19, 2007. On September 8, 2008, the House passed the bill
unanimously with modest revisions. Now the Senate is poised to pass
this.
I would like to again thank all of my colleagues in the Senate who
have worked with me to enact the Child Soldiers Accountability Act,
especially, Senator Tom Coburn, the bill's lead Republican cosponsor
and the Ranking Member of the Human Rights and the Law Subcommittee,
which I chair; Senator Patrick Leahy, a cosponsor of this bill and
Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who has been a leader on
this and so many other human rights issues; Senator Russell Feingold,
and Senator Sam Brownback, the bill's other original cosponsors; and
Senators Christopher Dodd, John Kerry, Blanche Lincoln, Barack Obama,
and Robert Menendez, the bill's other sponsors.
I would also like to thank members of the House of Representatives
who worked diligently to revise and pass the Child Soldiers
Accountability Act with overwhelming bipartisan support, especially
Representatives John Conyers and Lamar Smith, the Chairman and Ranking
Member of the House Judiciary Committee; Representatives Bobby Scott
and Louie Gohmert, the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Crime,
Terrorism, and Homeland Security Subcommittee; and Representatives Zoe
Lofgren and Steve King the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House
Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International
Law Subcommittee.
Of all the unspoken casualties of war, the use of children as
soldiers is among the most heartbreaking and horrific. Up to 250,000
children are currently serving as soldiers around the world. State-run
armies, paramilitaries and guerrilla groups use these girls and boys--
some as young as 7 or 8 years old--as combatants, porters, sex slaves,
spies and human mine detectors. These child soldiers are denied the
childhood that our children and grandchildren have and to which every
child has an inalienable right.
In Burma, Chad, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda, government forces continue
to recruit children, often through intimidation, coercion and violence.
Government forces in countries such as Burundi, Colombia and the
Democratic Republic of Congo often use children as spies or informants.
Government-backed militias in the Darfur region of Sudan, Sri Lanka and
Cote d'Ivoire use children in hostilities. Armed groups in Colombia,
Cote d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo and northern Uganda
have raped girl soldiers and subjected them to other forms of abuse. A
senior officer in the Chadian National Army summed up the cold calculus
that drives government forces and armed groups to continue this
abhorrent practice:

Child soldiers are ideal because they don't complain, they
don't expect to be paid, and if you tell them to kill, they
kill.

Despite all of this, there are signs that the world is beginning to
rise to the challenge of stopping the use of children in armed
conflict. Since 2004, there has been a decrease in the number of
conflicts in which children are directly involved, from 27 in 2004 to
17 by the end of 2007. More than 110 countries, including the United
States, have adopted the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the
Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict,
an international agreement that sets the minimum age for compulsory
recruitment of soldiers at 18. International courts have begun
prosecuting those who use child soldiers.
While these are important and positive developments, the reality is
that war criminals around the world continue to use children to wage
war with virtual impunity. The ability of international courts to
prosecute those who recruit child soldiers is severely limited. Too
many perpetrators still believe they are outside the reach of the law.
National courts can and must play a greater role in prosecuting
perpetrators.
As a nation founded upon the principle of individual freedom and a
historical leader on human rights, the United States has a special
obligation to lead the effort to end the use of child soldiers
worldwide.
Unfortunately, recruiting and using child soldiers does not violate
U.S. criminal or immigration law. As a result, war criminals who have
forced children into combat can find safe haven in the U.S. and our
government has no power to prosecute them. In contrast, other grave
human rights violations, including genocide and torture, are punishable
under U.S. criminal and immigration law.
I introduced the Child Soldiers Accountability Act to close this
loophole. This bill will make it a crime to recruit or use persons
under the age of 15 as soldiers. It will also enable the government to
deport or deny admission to an individual who recruited or used child
soldiers under the age of 15.
Only a handful of countries have passed legislation creating criminal
penalties for the use or recruitment of child soldiers to date. By
enacting this legislation, the United States will lead the way towards
a future where war criminals who recruit or use child soldiers will not
find safe haven anywhere in the world. We will send a clear message to
those adults who deliberately recruit or use children to wage war that
there are real consequences for their actions.
By holding such individuals criminally responsible, our country will
help to deter the recruitment and use of child soldiers. This bill will
provide an important new tool to the Domestic Security Section in the
Justice Department's Criminal Division, which bears primary
responsibility for criminal prosecutions of human rights abusers.
We can help to end impunity for the recruitment and use of child
soldiers by deporting or denying admission to foreign perpetrators and
working with their home governments to ensure they will be prosecuted
upon return. There have been only a few international and national
prosecutions for child soldier use or recruitment to date. Under the
Child Soldiers Accountability Act, an individual who recruited or used
child soldiers need not have been convicted of doing so in order to be
denied admission or deported. Requiring a conviction would allow those
who use children to wage war to benefit from the prevailing impunity
for this crime.
Recognizing that perpetrators often use drugs, threats, violence 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 child soldiers who
participated in the recruitment of other children. This legislation
should not be interpreted as placing new restrictions on or altering
the legal status of former child soldiers who are seeking admission to
or are already present in the United States.
Former child soldiers should be treated as victims and should not be
subjected to punitive measures for offenses they committed while they
were children. Effectively rehabilitating and reintegrating child
soldiers into society requires extensive care and support from family
and others. In the absence of such support, former child soldiers

[[Page S8515]]

may become a generation of adults that will perpetuate conflict and
undermine security, creating unforeseen challenges that our children
will have to address.
Last month, at the Beijing Olympic Games, Lopez Lomong, who was
abducted at the age of six to be trained as a child soldier in Sudan,
carried the United States flag at the opening ceremony. Mr. Lomong
escaped the militia camp where he was held with three other boys and,
after ten years at a refugee camp, resettled in the United States with
a family in New York and went on to represent the United States at the
Olympics. This incredible journey shows us how important it is to
provide opportunities to those children who have been recruited or used
to serve as combatants.
Recruiting and using child soldiers is morally wrong and must be
stopped. Unfortunately, neither moral suasion nor international
agreements has brought this abhorrent practice to an end. We must end
impunity for this horrific crime by closing the loopholes in our laws
and prosecuting those who use or recruit child soldiers as the war
criminals they are.
Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I am pleased that the Senate today will
pass S. 2135, the Child Soldiers Accountability Act, which will combat
the unconscionable practice of using children as soldiers in violent
conflicts. I thank Senator Durbin and Senator Coburn for introducing
this important legislation and I am proud to be a cosponsor. I also
thank them for their leadership on the Judiciary Committee's new
Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law. Their leadership in working
with the House sponsors to produce a consensus bill that we can all
support has been critical. The United States should do all it can to
prevent and punish this conduct, which is so contrary to our values.
The use of children as soldiers has been universally condemned as
abhorrent and unacceptable. Yet over the last decade hundreds of
thousands of children have fought and died in conflicts around the
world. This legislation would close the gap in our law and enable the
U.S. Government to bring child soldier perpetrators that are found in
our country to justice.
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 exploit children will not find
this country to be 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 the second piece of legislation to pass both houses of
Congress resulting from the work of the Judiciary Committee's
Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law. I was proud to work with
Senator Durbin to create the Human Rights and the Law Subcommittee. I
am glad that the efforts Senator 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. The aubcommittee has already
worked to make the Genocide Accountability Act law, and it will soon
provide a powerful new tool in America's efforts to prevent and punish
genocide. The Subcommittee 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 and I hope the President will quickly sign this legislation into
law.
Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask the Chair to lay before the Senate
a message from the House with respect to S. 2135.
The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate a message from the House
as follows:

S. 2135

Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 2135) entitled
``An Act 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'', do pass with the following amendment:
Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Child Soldiers
Accountability Act of 2008''.

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.--Whoever knowingly--
``(1) recruits, enlists, or conscripts a person to serve
while such person is under 15 years of age in an armed force
or group; or
``(2) uses a person under 15 years of age to participate
actively in hostilities;
knowing such person is under 15 years of age, shall be
punished as provided in subsection (b).
``(b) Penalty.--Whoever violates, or attempts or conspires
to violate, subsection (a) shall be fined under this title or
imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both and, if death of
any person results, shall be fined under this title and
imprisoned for any term of years or for life.
``(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 sabotage and serving as a decoy, a courier, or at a
military checkpoint; or
``(B) direct support functions related to combat, including
transporting supplies or providing other services.
``(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

``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 engaged in 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 who
has engaged in the recruitment or use of child soldiers in
violation of section 2442 of title 18, United States Code, is
deportable.''.
(d) Asylum and Withholding of Removal.--
(1) Issuance of regulations.--Not later than 60 days after
the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General and
the Secretary of Homeland Security shall promulgate final
regulations establishing that, for purposes of sections
241(b)(3)(B)(iii) and 208(b)(2)(A)(iii) of the Immigration
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1231(b)(3)(B)(iii); 8 U.S.C.
1158(b)(2)(A)(iii)), an alien who is deportable under section
237(a)(4)(F) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(4)(F)) or
inadmissible under section 212(a)(3)(G) of such Act (8 U.S.C.
1182(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.
(2) Authority to waive certain regulatory requirements.--
The requirements of chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code
(commonly referred to as the ``Administrative Procedure
Act''), chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code (commonly
referred to as the ``Paperwork Reduction

[[Page S8516]]

Act''), or any other law relating to rulemaking, information
collection, or publication in the Federal Register, shall not
apply to any action to implement paragraph (1) to the extent
the Attorney General or the Secretary Homeland of Security
determines that compliance with any such requirement would
impede the expeditious implementation of such paragraph.

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate
concur in the House amendment, the motion to reconsider be laid upon
the table with no intervening action or debate, and any statements
related to the measure be printed in the Record,
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

____________________