[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2047 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2047

      Concerning the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 17, 1995

 Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. Lipinski, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, 
  Mr. Wolf, Mr. King, and Mr. Salmon) introduced the following bill; 
     which was referred to the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      Concerning the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing.
    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. CONDITIONS ON EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS FOR TRAVEL TO THE FOURTH 
              WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN.

    No funds shall be expended for travel by any United States official 
or delegate to the Fourth World Conference on Women, to be held in 
Beijing, August and September 1995, unless the Secretary of State 
certifies to Congress that--
            (1) the process of accrediting nongovernmental 
        organizations for the conference was conducted fairly, 
        according to clear criteria, with full opportunity for 
        substantive appeal of denials of accreditation;
            (2) no nongovernmental organization seeking accreditation 
        to such a conference was denied such accreditation by the 
        conference organizers on the basis of that organization's 
        actual or supposed political orientation, or its affiliation 
        with a particular ethnic or religious group;
            (3) accreditation was granted to--
                    (A) at least one group representing the people of 
                Taiwan; and
                    (B) at least one group representing the people of 
                Tibet;
            (4) all representatives of nongovernmental organizations 
        whose names were submitted to conference officials in a timely 
        fashion were granted visas by the People's Republic of China;
            (5) arrangements were made by the People's Republic of 
        China to provide the accredited nongovernmental organizations 
        with access to the main conference site that is substantially 
        equivalent in manner and degree to access afforded at previous 
        major United Nations conferences;
            (6) assurances have been received that the Government of 
        the People's Republic of China will respect the internationally 
        recognized human rights of delegates to the conference and 
        representatives of accredited nongovernmental organizations, 
        including but not limited to freedom of religion, freedom of 
        speech, and freedom of the press; and
            (7) the Government of the People's Republic of China has 
        released unharmed United States citizen Peter H. Wu, known as 
        Harry Wu, and has allowed him to return to the United States.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON PROMOTION OF WOMEN'S RIGHTS BY THE UNITED 
              STATES DELEGATION.

    It is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, 
        should promote an authentic women's perspective on issues of 
        equality, peace, and development; and
            (2) if the United States sends a delegation to the 
        Conference, the delegation should--
                    (A) in accordance with the United Nations Universal 
                Declaration of Human Rights, ensure that ``motherhood 
                [is] entitled to special care and assistance.'';
                    (B) in accordance with the Universal Declaration of 
                Human Rights, uphold the family as ``the natural and 
                fundamental group unit of society'' and therefore 
                ``entitled to protection by society and the state'';
                    (C) in accordance with the commonly used and 
                generally accepted usage of the word, make clear that 
                gender refers to woman and man as the two sexes of the 
                human being;
                    (D) in accordance with the United Nations 
                Declaration of Human Rights uphold ``the freedom of 
                conscience and religion [and the] manifestation [of] 
                one's religion or belief in practice'' with particular 
                regard to those who provide health care services; and
                    (E) oppose abortion and infanticide inflicted on 
                account of the sex of the child, as well as forced 
                abortion, forced sterilization, and other coercive 
                population control measures, and refrain from promoting 
                the recognition or establishment of an internationally 
                protected right to abortion.
                                 <all>