CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS—OCT. 21, 1998 112 STAT. 3695 Whereas children who have been abducted by an estranged father are very rarely returned, through legal remedies, from countries that only recognize the custody rights of the father; Whereas there are at least 140 cases that need to be resolved in which children have been abducted by family members and taken to foreign countries; Whereas, although the Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, done at the Hague on October 25, 1980, has made progress in aiding the return of abducted children, the Convention does not address the criminal aspects of child abduction, and there is a need to reach agreements regarding child abduction with countries that are not parties to the Convention; and Whereas decisions on awarding custody of children should be made in the children's best interest, and persons who violate laws of the United States by abducting their children should not be rewarded by being grsmted custody of those children: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring). That the Congress urges international cooperation in working to resolve those cases in which children in the United States are abducted by family members who are foreign nationals and taken to foreign countries, and in seeing that justice is served by holding accountable the abductors for violations of criminal law. Agreed to October 21, 1998. JOANNE CHESIMARD AND OTHER FUGITIVES— Oct. 21.1998 RETURN FROM CUBA [HCon.Res.254] Whereas on May 2, 1973, Joanne Chesimard and 2 friends were stopped in their vehicle by New Jersey State Troopers James Harper and Werner Foerster on the New Jersey Turnpike; Whereas while being questioned, Ms. Chesimard and the driver opened fire with automatic pistols striking Trooper Werner Foerster twice in the chest and Trooper James Harper in the left shoulder; Whereas the suspects then turned Trooper Foerster's own weapon on him firing an additional two bullets into his head execution style; Whereas this heinous and premeditated act resulted in the tragic death of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster; Whereas Trooper Foerster left behind a wife. Rose Foerster, and family; Whereas in 1977, after a 6 week trial, a jury found Ms. Chesimard guilty of first-degree murder for the slaying of Trooper Foerster, a respected New Jersey State Trooper; Whereas as a result of this conviction Ms. Chesimard was sentenced to life in a New Jersey State prison; Whereas in 1979, Ms. Chesimard broke free from a maximum security cell at the Reformatory for Women in Clinton, New
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