US Lawmakers Call for Boycott of Beijing Olympics
US Lawmakers Introduce Legislation
Legislation was introduced in the U.S. Congress by Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (CA-46th) and Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Joseph Pitts, Thaddeus McCotter, John Doolittle, Dan Burton, Frank Wolf, and Chris Smith, calling for the U.S. government to take steps to boycott the Beijing Olympics unless the Chinese regime stops its human rights abuses against its own citizens and other nations.
In addition to Sudan and Burma, the legislation also cites China’s treatment of North Korean refugees and jailed humanitarian workers including Steve Kim.
The portion detailing North Korean refugees is reprinted below as well as the full text of the legislation.
In addition, for your reference here is a PDF downloadable version of the Dear Colleague Letter sent to Members of Congress urging support for the legislation.
For those of you in the U.S., please urge your Congressional Representatives to join this legislation and co-sponsor H.RES. 610! You can use the attached Dear Colleague as ideas for your own letter.
For those of you in other countries, please encourage your legislatures to adopt similar measures.
The Olympic Games are less than one year away, and every day is sheer terror for North Korean refugees in China as the round up of refugees continues.
Human rights activist Suzanne Scholte of Defense Forum Foundation writes:
I just returned from South Korea and can affirm, that as hard as it is to imagine, the situation facing the North Korean refugees is worse than ever before.
North Korean agents are working aggressively with the Chinese government to find North Korea refugees hiding in China to force them back to North Korea.
Among the new arrivals in South Korea that I met were a North Korean married couple who had traveled through three countries with razor blades hidden in their shoes. They had made a suicide pact: if they were caught to be repatriated to North Korea, they would slash their wrists to not only avoid the inevitable torture they would face but also to protect their families back in North Korea from being sent to political prison camps.
Precious lives are at stake! Do not let the government of China continue its barbaric and inhumane policies.
Soon, we will be announcing the date of the next International Protest Against China’s Violent Treatment of North Korea Refugues. The last major protest involved demonstrations and activities at Chinese embassies and consulates in 15 countries and 23 cities. We hope to increase the number of cities and countries for this next round. I hope you will take the time to contact your Representative to join this legislation, but also join in the next International Protest.
Warm regards,
Suzanne Scholte
Portion of H. Res. 610 that details the government of China’s treatment of North Korean Refugees
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. |