H.Res. 195 (rh) Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 1401) to authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2000 and 2001 for military activities of the Department of Defense, to prescribe military personnel strengths for fiscal years 2000 and 2001,...

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108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 194

 Regarding the importance of international efforts to abolish slavery 
              and other human rights abuses in the Sudan.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 10, 2003

  Mr. Capuano (for himself, Mr. Payne, Mr. Wolf, Mr. Abercrombie, Mr. 
 Frank of Massachusetts, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, and Mr. 
 Wexler) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                  Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Regarding the importance of international efforts to abolish slavery 
              and other human rights abuses in the Sudan.

Whereas the efforts of the government of Khartoum to subjugate the peoples of 
        the southern Sudan have led to the death of more than 2,000,000 persons 
        and the displacement of another 4,000,000 persons;
Whereas the 2001 State Department Country Report on Human Rights estimates that 
        between 5,000 and 15,000 Dinka women and children have been abducted 
        during the past 15 years, and that between 10,000 and 12,000 persons 
        remain in captivity;
Whereas credible observers report that some of the abductees were sold into 
        slavery and others used as forced labor or drafted into the military, 
        including children;
Whereas the 2002 State Department Country Report on Human Rights notes that 
        persons held in government controlled ``Peace'' camps for internally 
        displaced persons were reportedly subjected to forced labor;
Whereas the Special Rapporteur for Sudan to the General Assembly of the United 
        Nations concluded, on November 4, 2002, that the dire human rights 
        situation in Sudan had not significantly changed;
Whereas the United States Civilian Protection Monitoring Team (CPMT) reported in 
        February 2003 that militia allied with the Government of Sudan and 
        supported directly by Government of Sudan troops continued to abduct 
        civilians in the western Upper Nile region of Sudan;
Whereas subsequent to the February 2003 report of the Civilian Protection 
        Monitoring Team, the Government of Sudan has restricted the movements of 
        the CPMT and prevented it from carrying out its mandate;
Whereas the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant 
        on Civil and Political Rights declares ``[n]o one shall be held in 
        slavery or servitude: slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in 
        all their forms'';
Whereas numerous human rights organizations, including Christian Solidarity 
        International, the Center for Religious Freedom of Freedom House, and 
        the American Anti-Slavery Group have demanded an end to slavery in all 
        its forms and, in particular, to the abuses practiced by the Government 
        of Sudan;
Whereas the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People adopted, 
        in May 1995, a Resolution to Combat Modern Day Slavery stating that 
        slavery in Sudan was an ``irrefutable fact, corroborated by numerous 
        sources,'' and pledging that ``we will not rest until these slaves are 
        freed'';
Whereas the House of Representatives has repeatedly decried human rights abuses 
        in Sudan and called for the abolition of the slave trade and of chattel 
        slavery in Sudan;
Whereas the House of Representatives committed itself to practical measures to 
        suppress the slave trade and chattel slavery in the Sudan by the 
        passage, by a vote of 359-8, in the 107th Congress of H.R. 5531, the 
        ``Sudan Peace Act'', and the Senate passed a similar measure, S. 180, 
        unanimously;
Whereas the United Nations Commission on Human Rights is now conducting its 59th 
        session in Geneva from March 17 through April 25, 2003;
Whereas the United States rejoined the United Nations Commission on Human Rights 
        having been elected to a three-term beginning in 2003;
Whereas the head of the United States delegation to the United Nations 
        Commission on Human rights, Ambassaador Jeane Kirkpatrick, declared in 
        her opening address that ``[t]he Commission has the solemn duty to speak 
        for those who are denied the right to speak for themselves'';
Whereas Human Rights Watch and many other concerned persons and organizations 
        have called upon the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to renew 
        the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on human rights for Sudan, and to 
        condemn gross abuses of human rights and violations of international 
        humanitarian law by the Sudanese Government and rebel Sudan People's 
        Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) forces; and
Whereas the current session of United Nations Commission on Human Rights will be 
        discussing whether to change the status of Sudan from ``Item 9'', 
        country with grave human rights problems justifying the appointment of a 
        Special Rapporteur to investigate abuses and to report on them, to a 
        lesser level of concern: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That is the sense of the House of Representatives that--
            (1) slavery, under any circumstances, is an unconscionable 
        practice;
            (2) the subjection inherent in slavery inevitably leads to 
        other abuses, including torture and rape;
            (3) human rights abuses and slavery in Sudan remain a 
        matter of the most profound concern;
            (4) the United States must resist attempts to ignore or 
        condone these outrages;
            (5) the United States must support the maintenance, by the 
        United Nations Commission on Human Rights, of Sudan as an 
        ``Item 9'' country, requiring a Special Rapporteur; and
            (6) the United States should encourage the United Nations 
        to consider reinstating sanctions against Sudan and urge the 
        European Union, the African Union, and all others who express 
        concern for human freedom and dignity to be engaged in 
        activities that will convince Sudan to abolish slavery and 
        respect human rights.
                                 <all>

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