[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 45 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

  1st Session
S. RES. 45

Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the human rights situation 
                   in the People's Republic of China.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 12, 1999

Mr. Hutchinson (for himself, Mr. Wellstone, Mr. Mack, Mr. Feingold, Mr. 
 Abraham, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Helms, Mr. Torricelli, Mr. Lott, Mr. Inhofe, 
  Mr. Sessions, Mr. Ashcroft, Mr. DeWine, Mr. Kyl, Mr. Brownback, Mr. 
 Lugar, Mr. Kohl, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Thurmond, Mr. Bunning, Mr. Specter, 
     Mr. Hagel, Ms. Collins, and Mr. Enzi) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

                           February 25, 1999

             Committee discharged; considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the human rights situation 
                   in the People's Republic of China.

Whereas the annual meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 
        Geneva, Switzerland, provides a forum for discussing human rights and 
        expressing international support for improved human rights performance;
Whereas, according to the United States Department of State and international 
        human rights organizations, the Government of the People's Republic of 
        China continues to commit widespread and well-documented human rights 
        abuses in China and Tibet and continues the coercive implementation of 
        family planning policies and the sale of human organs taken from 
        executed prisoners;
Whereas such abuses stem from an intolerance of dissent and fear of civil unrest 
        on the part of authorities in the People's Republic of China and from a 
        failure to adequately enforce laws in the People's Republic of China 
        that protect basic freedoms;
Whereas such abuses violate internationally accepted norms of conduct enshrined 
        by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
Whereas the People's Republic of China recently signed the International 
        Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, but has yet to take the steps 
        necessary to make the covenant legally binding;
Whereas the President decided not to sponsor a resolution criticizing the 
        People's Republic of China at the United Nations Human Rights Commission 
        in 1998 in consideration of commitments by the Government of the 
        People's Republic of China to sign the International Covenant on Civil 
        and Political Rights and based on a belief that progress on human rights 
        in the People's Republic of China could be achieved through other means;
Whereas authorities in the People's Republic of China have recently escalated 
        efforts to extinguish expressions of protest or criticism and have 
        detained scores of citizens associated with attempts to organize a legal 
        democratic opposition, as well as religious leaders, writers, and others 
        who petitioned the authorities to release those arbitrarily arrested; 
        and
Whereas these efforts underscore that the Government of the People's Republic of 
        China continues to commit serious human rights abuses, despite 
        expectations to the contrary following two summit meetings between 
        President Clinton and President Jiang in which assurances were made 
        regarding improvements in the human rights record of the People's 
        Republic of China: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that at the 55th 
Session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, 
Switzerland, the United States should introduce and make all efforts 
necessary to pass a resolution calling upon the People's Republic of 
China to end its human rights abuses in China and Tibet.
                                 <all>