Whereas in the face of a serious food shortage and political
repression, thousands of North Koreans have fled across the border
to China;
Whereas hundreds, possibly thousands, of North Koreans have
been detained by the Chinese authorities and forcibly returned
across the border where they face arbitrary detention, torture,
and even summary execution;
Whereas in 2004, Mr. Vitit Muntarbhorn, the United Nations Special
Rapporteur on Human Rights in North Korea, concluded that because
North Korea considers fleeing the country a criminal offense
punishable by death, North Koreans who have fled to other countries
should be considered 'refugees sur place', and therefore China,
as a signatory to 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees
and its 1969 Protocol, should not repatriate refugees to North
Korea;
Whereas the Chinese regime continues to violate its commitments
under the 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees and its
1969 Protocol by repatriating North Korean refugees against their
will to North Korea, where such refugees face imprisonment, torture,
and at times execution, for the crime of leaving their country,
rather than allowing them safe passage to countries like the
Republic of Korea where such refugees would have automatic citizenship,
and the United States which has offered them resettlement;
Whereas Chinese security officials, rather than working with
the humanitarian community to help these refugees, hunt down
and jail humanitarian workers who try to feed and shelter refugees,
including United States citizen Steve Kim of Huntington, New
York, and South Korean, Japanese, and Chinese citizens;
Whereas the Chinese regime refuses to allow the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the internationally-recognized
organization whose sole function is to help refugees, access
to the North Korean refugees in China and denies the refugees
access to the UNHCR and therefore to much needed assistance......;
Whereas China is preparing to host the Summer Olympic Games
in August 2008, the most honorable, venerated, and prestigious
international sporting event, and China has selected 'One World,
One Dream' as a slogan for those games;
Whereas China should act consistently with the Olympic standard
of preserving human dignity for its citizens and for the people
of the Darfur region of Sudan, Burma, and North Korea;
Whereas the spirit of the Olympics, which is to bring together
nations and people from all over the world in peace, is incompatible
with Chinese actions; and
Whereas China continues to seriously abuse the rights of its
citizens and continues to assist Sudan, Burma, and North Korea
in committing human rights abuses against their citizens: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That--
| (1) |
it
is the duty and responsibility of the United States to
take effective steps to stop serious human rights abuses
by the Chinese regime against its citizens and to stop
the Chinese regime from supporting serious human rights
abuses by Sudan, Burma, and North Korea against their citizens;
and |
| (2) |
it is the
sense of the House of Representatives that the United States
Government should take immediate steps to boycott the Summer
Olympic Games in Beijing in August 2008 unless the Chinese
regime stops engaging in serious human rights abuses against
its citizens and stops supporting serious human rights
abuses by the Governments of Sudan, Burma, and North Korea
against their citizens. |
FULL TEXT OF HRES 610
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the
United States Government should take immediate steps to boycott
the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing in August 2008 unless...
(Introduced in House)
HRES 610 IH 110th CONGRESS
1st Session H. RES. 610
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the
United States Government should take immediate steps to boycott
the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing in August 2008 unless the
Chinese regime stops engaging in serious human rights abuses
against its citizens and stops supporting serious human rights
abuses by the Governments of Sudan, Burma, and North Korea against
their citizens.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
August 3, 2007
Mr. ROHRABACHER (for himself, Mr. PITTS, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr.
MCCOTTER, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. WOLF, and
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey) submitted the following resolution;
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the
United States Government should take immediate steps to boycott
the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing in August 2008 unless the
Chinese regime stops engaging in serious human rights abuses
against its citizens and stops supporting serious human rights
abuses by the Governments of Sudan, Burma, and North Korea against
their citizens.
Whereas the Games of the XI Olympiad in Berlin in 1936 showed
that the integrity of the host country is of the utmost importance
so as not to stain the participating athletes or the character
of the Games;
Whereas the Chinese regime regularly denies the right to freedom
of conscience, expression, religion, and association;
Whereas the Chinese regime also holds thousands of political
prisoners without charge or trial, including democracy activists,
lawyers, human rights defenders, religious leaders, journalists,
trade unionists, Tibetan Buddhists, Uighurs, unregistered church
members, Falun Gong practitioners, and political dissidents;
Whereas the Chinese regime has long-standing economic and military
ties with Sudan and continues to strengthen these ties, including
providing military assistance, in spite of the ongoing human
rights abuses amounting to genocide in Darfur, Sudan;
Whereas China reportedly purchases as much as 70 percent of
Sudan's oil, currently has at least $3 billion invested in the
Sudanese energy sector, for a total of $10 billion since the
1990s; is building infrastructure in Sudan and provided funds
for a presidential palace in Sudan at a reported cost of approximately
$20 million; and has reportedly cancelled approximately $100
million in debt owed by the Sudanese Government;
Whereas the Chinese regime has long-standing political, economic,
and military ties with Burma and continues to strengthen these
ties in spite of serious human rights abuses and house arrest
of Noble Peace Price winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi;
Whereas in May 2007, the military junta in Rangoon extended
for one year the house arrest order against Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi and continues to deny access to her by United States Government
officials and others in the international community, including
representatives of human rights organizations;
Whereas China is one of the largest importers of Burma's natural
resources, extraction of which has led to destruction of villages,
increased human rights abuses against civilians, particularly
ethnic minorities, and the rampant use of forced labor;
Whereas China has sold Burma's military regime over $2 billion
worth of arms and military equipment since 1989, which have been
used to commit grave human rights violations and mass atrocities
against Burma's ethnic minority civilians resulting in the destruction
of over 3,000 villages;
Whereas China's steadfast support for Burma's military regime
in the United Nations Security Council, including by vetoing
a United Nations Security Council resolution on Burma, and other
international fora is emboldening the regime to further perpetrate
economic mismanagement, crackdowns, and attacks on civilians
that harm the stability of the region;
Whereas according to Amnesty International, China holds more
than a quarter of a million people under the 'Re-Education through
Labor' detention system in labor camps, without benefit of charge
or trial;
Whereas local police officers in China are empowered to imprison
people under this detention system;
Whereas in the face of a serious food shortage and political
repression, thousands of North Koreans have fled across the border
to China;
Whereas hundreds, possibly thousands, of North Koreans have
been detained by the Chinese authorities and forcibly returned
across the border where they face arbitrary detention, torture,
and even summary execution;
Whereas in 2004, Mr. Vitit Muntarbhorn, the United Nations Special
Rapporteur on Human Rights in North Korea, concluded that because
North Korea considers fleeing the country a criminal offense
punishable by death, North Koreans who have fled to other countries
should be considered 'refugees sur place', and therefore China,
as a signatory to 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees
and its 1969 Protocol, should not repatriate refugees to North
Korea;
Whereas the Chinese regime continues to violate its commitments
under the 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees and its
1969 Protocol by repatriating North Korean refugees against their
will to North Korea, where such refugees face imprisonment, torture,
and at times execution, for the crime of leaving their country,
rather than allowing them safe passage to countries like the
Republic of Korea where such refugees would have automatic citizenship,
and the United States which has offered them resettlement;
Whereas Chinese security officials, rather than working with
the humanitarian community to help these refugees, hunt down
and jail humanitarian workers who try to feed and shelter refugees,
including United States citizen Steve Kim of Huntington, New
York, and South Korean, Japanese, and Chinese citizens;
Whereas the Chinese regime refuses to allow the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the internationally-recognized
organization whose sole function is to help refugees, access
to the North Korean refugees in China and denies the refugees
access to the UNHCR and therefore to much needed assistance;
Whereas China continues to hold the 11th Panchen Lama, who was
selected by the Dalai Lama;
Whereas the Panchen Lama was only 6 years old when he was taken
away by the Chinese authorities and is held in a secret location;
Whereas according to Amnesty International, China continues
to execute political prisoners and nonviolent offenders, and
accounts for over 80 percent of all executions documented in
the world;
Whereas Chinese authorities have engaged in removing organs
from executed prisoners as well as Falun Gong practitioners held
in detention, frequently without the consent of the prisoners,
the Falun Gong practitioners, or the families of both;
Whereas China continues to allow forced abortion and sterilization
to enforce its 'One Child' policy, as per family population control
measures;
Whereas according to United States Department of State's Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2006, the Chinese regime's
birth planning policies retain harshly coercive elements in law
and practice;
Whereas the laws restrict the rights of families to choose the
number of children they have and the period of time between births;
Whereas the penalties for violating these laws are strict, leaving
some women little choice but to abort pregnancies;
Whereas in addition, the implementation of these laws by local
officials has resulted in serious violations of human rights;
Whereas reports of forced sterilization and abortions, in violation
of the national law, continue to be documented in rural areas;
Whereas in 2007, officials in Chongqing municipality and in
Fujian Province reportedly forcibly sterilized women;
Whereas according to the Department of State's Country Reports
on Human Rights Practices for 2006, the Chinese regime consistently
blocked access to Internet sites it deemed controversial, such
as sites discussing Tibetan independence, underground religious
and spiritual organizations, democracy activists, and the 1989
Tiananmen massacre;
Whereas the Chinese regime at times blocked access to selected
Internet sites operated by major foreign news outlets, health
organizations, and educational institutions;
Whereas China's Internet control system reportedly employs tens
of thousands of persons;
Whereas according to the Department of State's Country Reports
on Human Rights Practices for 2006, sexual and physical abuse
and extortion were reported in some detention centers;
Whereas Falun Gong activists reported that police raped female
practitioners, including an incident in November 2005 at the
Dongchengfang police station in Tunzhou City, Hebei Province,
in which two women were raped while in detention;
Whereas according to Amnesty International, China executes political
prisoners from the Uighur ethnic minority in the Xinjiang Uighur
Autonomous Region;
Whereas there are concerns that abuses committed against the
Uighur ethnic minority could amount to genocide;
Whereas according to the Department of State's Country Reports
on Human Rights Practices for 2006, the Chinese regime has not
provided a comprehensive, credible account of all those killed,
missing, or detained in connection with the violent suppression
of the 1989 Tiananmen demonstrations;
Whereas there are nongovernmental organization reports of hundreds,
if not thousands, who died during the crackdown against the Tiananmen
demonstrations;
Whereas according the Department of State's Country Reports
on Human Rights Practices for 2006, since the crackdown on Falun
Gong began in 1999, estimates of the numbers of Falun Gong adherents
who have died in custody because of torture, abuse, and neglect
range from several hundred to a few thousand;
Whereas in March 2006, United Nations Special Rapporteur Manfred
Nowak reported that Falun Gong practitioners accounted for 66
percent of victims of alleged torture while in custody by the
Chinese regime;
Whereas according to the Department of State's Country Reports
on Human Rights Practices for 2006, regulations for committing
a person into the psychiatric facility at Ankang, China, were
not clear;
Whereas credible reports indicate that a number of political
and trade union activists, underground religious believers, persons
who repeatedly petitioned the Chinese regime, members of the
banned China Democratic Party, and Falun Gong adherents were
incarcerated in such psychiatric facilities during 2006;
Whereas China is preparing to host the Summer Olympic Games
in August 2008, the most honorable, venerated, and prestigious
international sporting event, and China has selected 'One World,
One Dream' as a slogan for those games;
Whereas China should act consistently with the Olympic standard
of preserving human dignity for its citizens and for the people
of the Darfur region of Sudan, Burma, and North Korea;
Whereas the spirit of the Olympics, which is to bring together
nations and people from all over the world in peace, is incompatible
with Chinese actions; and
Whereas China continues to seriously abuse the rights of its
citizens and continues to assist Sudan, Burma, and North Korea
in committing human rights abuses against their citizens: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That--
| (1) |
it
is the duty and responsibility of the United States to
take effective steps to stop serious human rights abuses
by the Chinese regime against its citizens and to stop
the Chinese regime from supporting serious human rights
abuses by Sudan, Burma, and North Korea against their citizens;
and |
| (2) |
it is the
sense of the House of Representatives that the United States
Government should take immediate steps to boycott the Summer
Olympic Games in Beijing in August 2008 unless the Chinese
regime stops engaging in serious human rights abuses against
its citizens and stops supporting serious human rights
abuses by the Governments of Sudan, Burma, and North Korea
against their citizens. |
