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HR 3294 104th Congress House

Working Children's Human Rights Act

Official title: To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to withhold United States assistance from countries determined to be violating the human rights of working children, and for other purposes.

Introduced: April 23, 1996 See on congress.gov
International Affairs Administrative remediesAge (Law)American economic assistanceAmerican military assistance
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BriberyChild laborCongressCongress and foreign policyCongressional hearingsCongressional oversightCongressional reporting requirementsCrime and Law EnforcementDepartment of StateDeveloping countriesExport creditExport financeFamiliesForced laborForeign Trade and International FinanceForeign loansGovernment Operations and PoliticsHealthHours of laborHuman rightsLabor and EmploymentLawLegislative resolutionsMinimum wagesMultilateral development banksOccupational health and safetyPresident and foreign policyPublic corruptionPublic meetings of legislative bodies
This bill died when the 104th Congress ended
It never became law before the 104th Congress (1995–1996) adjourned, and bills don't carry over to the next Congress. It would have to be reintroduced. You can still save it for reference, but it won't receive updates.
 Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Apr 23, 1996
Referred to the House Committee on International Relations.
Apr 23, 1996
Introduced in House
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 Latest action April 23, 1996

Referred to the House Committee on International Relations.

 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Working Children's Human Rights Act - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to include in the annual report to the Congress on the status of human rights in foreign countries slated to receive development assistance the U.S. policy to establish and encourage an international strategy to reduce worldwide violations of human rights of working children. Requires consultations with specified congressional committees as well as congressional hearings on the findings of such report.

Requires any country that desires to receive U.S. assistance to certify to the Secretary of State that it has: (1) adopted and is enforcing laws that guarantee a prohibition on the use of forced child labor; and (2) taken steps to prevent and punish bribery of public officials which facilitate the abuse of child labor laws. Requires the withholding of 50 percent of U.S. assistance allocated for each country that has not been certified or for which a certification has been revoked. Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. Executive Director of each international financial institution to oppose any loan to any country that has not been certified or for which a certification has been revoked.

Permits assistance to a non-certified country only if the President certifies to the Congress that it in the vital national interest to do so.

 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1
Cite this page click to expand
APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 3294: Working Children's Human Rights Act. 104th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/104-HR-3294/
MLA
"H.R. 3294: Working Children's Human Rights Act." 104th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/104-HR-3294/.
Bluebook (legal)
H.R. 3294, 104th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/104-HR-3294/.
Markdown link
[H.R. 3294: Working Children's Human Rights Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/104-HR-3294/)
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