S.Con.Res. 158 (es) [Engrossed in Senate] ...

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        S.Con.Res.158
                                     Agreed to December 15, 2000        

                       One Hundred Sixth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

           Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday,
             the twenty-fourth day of January, two thousand


                          Concurrent Resolution

Whereas from December 1941 to April 1942, members of the United States 
  Armed Forces fought valiantly against overwhelming Japanese military 
  forces on the Bataan peninsula of the Island of Luzon in the 
  Philippines, thereby preventing Japan from accomplishing strategic 
  objectives necessary for achieving early military victory in the 
  Pacific during World War II;
Whereas after receiving orders to surrender on April 9, 1942, many of 
  those valiant combatants were taken prisoner of war by Japan and 
  forced to march 85 miles from the Bataan peninsula to a prisoner-of-
  war camp at former Camp O'Donnell;
Whereas of the members of the United States Armed Forces captured by 
  Imperial Japanese forces during the entirety of World War II, a total 
  of 36,260 of them survived their capture and transit to Japanese 
  prisoner-of-war camps to be interned in those camps, and 37.3 percent 
  of those prisoners of war died during their imprisonment in those 
  camps;
Whereas that march resulted in more than 10,000 deaths by reason of 
  starvation, disease, and executions;
Whereas many of those prisoners of war were transported to Japan where 
  they were forced to perform slave labor for the benefit of private 
  Japanese companies under barbaric conditions that included torture 
  and inhumane treatment as to such basic human needs as shelter, 
  feeding, sanitation, and health care;
Whereas the private Japanese companies unjustly profited from the 
  uncompensated labor cruelly exacted from the American personnel in 
  violation of basic human rights;
Whereas these Americans do not make any claims against the Japanese 
  Government or the people of Japan, but, rather, seek some measure of 
  justice from the Japanese companies that profited from their slave 
  labor;
Whereas they have asserted claims for compensation against the private 
  Japanese companies in various courts in the United States;
Whereas the United States Government has, to date, opposed the efforts 
  of these Americans to receive redress for the slave labor and 
  inhumane treatment, and has not made any effort to facilitate 
  discussions among the parties;
Whereas in contrast to the claims of the Americans who were prisoners 
  of war in Japan, the Department of State has facilitated a settlement 
  of the claims made against private German businesses by individuals 
  who were forced into slave labor by the Government of the Third Reich 
  of Germany for the benefit of the German businesses during World War 
  II: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), 
That it is the sense of Congress that it is in the interest of justice 
and fairness that the United States, through the Secretary of State or 
other appropriate officials, put forth its best efforts to facilitate 
discussions designed to resolve all issues between former members of 
the Armed Forces of the United States who were prisoners of war forced 
into slave labor for the benefit of Japanese companies during World War 
II and the private Japanese companies who profited from their slave 
labor.
  Attest:

                                               Secretary of the Senate.

  Attest:

                                 Clerk of the House of Representatives.

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