[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 81 Referred in House (RFH)]

  2d Session
S. CON. RES. 81


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 3, 2000

          Referred to the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
    Expressing the sense of the Congress that the Government of the 
 People's Republic of China should immediately release Rabiya Kadeer, 
   her secretary, and her son, and permit them to move to the United 
                       States if they so desire.

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.

            Passed the Senate May 2, 2000.

            Attest:

                                                    GARY SISCO,

                                                             Secretary.