[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 218 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 218


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 19, 1999

      Received and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
    Expressing the sense of the Congress that the Government of the 
 People's Republic of China should stop its persecution of Falun Gong 
                             practitioners.

Whereas Falun Gong is a peaceful and nonviolent form of personal belief and 
        practice with millions of adherents in China and elsewhere;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China has forbidden Falun 
        Gong practitioners to practice their beliefs;
Whereas this prohibition violates China's own Constitution as well as the 
        International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal 
        Declaration of Human Rights;
Whereas thousands of ordinary citizens from all over China have been jailed for 
        refusing to give up their practice of Falun Gong and for appealing to 
        the government for protection of their constitutional rights;
Whereas there are many credible reports of torture and other cruel, degrading 
        and inhuman treatment of detained Falun Gong practitioners;
Whereas the People's Republic of China has enacted new criminal legislation that 
        the government's official newspaper hailed as a ``powerful new weapon to 
        smash evil cultist organizations, especially Falun Gong'';
Whereas some of the detained Falun Gong members have been charged with political 
        offenses, such as violations of China's vague ``official state secrets'' 
        law, and under the new legislation Falun Gong practitioners will be 
        chargeable with such offenses as murder, fraud, and endangering national 
        security;
Whereas other Falun Gong members have been sentenced to labor camps, apparently 
        under administrative procedures allowing such sentences without trial;
Whereas Chinese authorities in recent months have reportedly confiscated, 
        burned, or otherwise destroyed millions of Falun Gong books and tapes;
Whereas thousands of Falun Gong practitioners in China have lost their jobs and 
        students have been expelled from schools for refusing to give up their 
        beliefs; and
Whereas the brutal crackdown by the Chinese Government on Falun Gong is in 
        direct violation of the fundamental human rights to freedom of personal 
        belief and practice, expression, and assembly: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) the Government of the People's Republic of China should 
        stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners; and
            (2) the Government of the United States should use every 
        appropriate public and private forum, including but not limited 
        to the United Nations Human Rights Commission, to urge the 
        Government of the People's Republic of China--
                    (A) to release from detention all Falun Gong 
                practitioners and put an immediate end to the practices 
                of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading 
                treatment against them and other prisoners of 
                conscience;
                    (B) to allow Falun Gong practitioners to pursue 
                their personal beliefs in accordance with article 36 of 
                the Constitution of the People's Republic of China; and
                    (C) to abide by the International Covenant on Civil 
                and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of 
                Human Rights.

            Passed the House of Representatives November 18, 1999.

            Attest:

                                                 JEFF TRANDAHL,

                                                                 Clerk.