[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 81 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        S.Con.Res.81
                                         Agreed to July 24, 2000        

                       One Hundred Sixth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

           Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday,
             the twenty-fourth day of January, two thousand


                          Concurrent Resolution

Whereas Rabiya Kadeer, a prominent ethnic Uighur from the Xinjiang 
  Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of the People's Republic of China, 
  her secretary, and her son were arrested on August 11, 1999, in the 
  city of Urumqi;
Whereas Rabiya Kadeer's arrest occurred outside the Yindu Hotel in 
  Urumqi as she was attempting to meet a group of congressional staff 
  staying at the Yindu Hotel as part of an official visit to China 
  organized under the auspices of the Mutual Educational and Cultural 
  Exchange Program of the United States Information Agency;
Whereas Rabiya Kadeer's husband Sidik Rouzi, who has lived in the 
  United States since 1996 and works for Radio Free Asia, has been 
  critical of the policies of the People's Republic of China toward 
  Uighurs in Xinjiang;
Whereas Rabiya Kadeer was sentenced on March 10 to 8 years in prison 
  ``with deprivation of political rights for two years'' for the crime 
  of ``illegally giving state information across the border'';
Whereas the Urumqi Evening Paper of March 12 reported Rabiya Kadeer's 
  case as follows: ``The court investigated the following: The 
  defendant Rabiya Kadeer, following the request of her husband, Sidik 
  Haji, who has settled in America, indirectly bought a collection of 
  the Kashgar Paper dated from 1995-1998, 27 months, and some copies of 
  the Xinjiang Legal Paper and on 17 June 1999 sent them by post to 
  Sidik Haji. These were found by the customs. During July and August 
  1999 defendant Rabiya Kadeer gave copies of the Ili Paper and Ili 
  Evening Paper collected by others to Mohammed Hashem to keep. 
  Defendant Rabiya Kadeer sent these to Sidik Haji. Some of these 
  papers contained the speeches of leaders of different levels; 
  speeches about the strength of rectification of public safety, news 
  of political legal organisations striking against national 
  separatists and terrorist activities etc. The papers sent were marked 
  and folded at relevant articles. As well as this, on 11 August that 
  year, defendant Rabiya Kadeer, following her husband's phone 
  commands, took a previously prepared list of people who had been 
  handled by judicial organisations, with her to Kumush Astana Hotel 
  [Yingdu Hotel] where she was to meet a foreigner'';
Whereas reports indicate that Ablikim Abdyirim was sent to a labor camp 
  on November 26 for 2 years without trial for ``supporting Uighur 
  separatism'', and Rabiya Kadeer's secretary was recently sentenced to 
  3 years in a labor camp;
Whereas Rabiya Kadeer has 5 children, 3 sisters, and a brother living 
  in the United States, in addition to her husband, and Kadeer has 
  expressed a desire to move to the United States;
Whereas the People's Republic of China stripped Rabiya Kadeer of her 
  passport long before her arrest;
Whereas reports indicate that Kadeer's health may be at risk;
Whereas the People's Republic of China signed the International 
  Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on October 5, 1998;
Whereas that Covenant requires signatory countries to guarantee their 
  citizens the right to legal recourse when their rights have been 
  violated, the right to liberty and freedom of movement, the right to 
  presumption of innocence until guilt is proven, the right to appeal a 
  conviction, freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, freedom of 
  opinion and expression, and freedom of assembly and association;
Whereas that Covenant forbids torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, 
  and arbitrary arrest and detention;
Whereas the first Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on 
  Civil and Political Rights enables the Human Rights Committee, set up 
  under that Covenant, to receive and consider communications from 
  individuals claiming to be victims of violations of any of the rights 
  set forth in the Covenant; and
Whereas in signing that Covenant on behalf of the People's Republic of 
  China, Ambassador Qin Huasun, Permanent Representative of the 
  People's Republic of China to the United Nations, said the following: 
  ``To realize human rights is the aspiration of all humanity. It is 
  also a goal that the Chinese Government has long been striving for. 
  We believe that the universality of human rights should be respected 
  . . . As a member state of the United Nations, China has always 
  actively participated in the activities of the organization in the 
  field of human rights. It attaches importance to its cooperation with 
  agencies concerned in the U.N. system . . .'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), 
That Congress calls on the Government of the People's Republic of 
China--
        (1) immediately to release Rabiya Kadeer, her secretary, and 
    her son; and
        (2) to permit Kadeer, her secretary, and her son to move to the 
    United States, if they so desire.
  Attest:

                                               Secretary of the Senate.

  Attest:

                                 Clerk of the House of Representatives.