[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 476 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 476

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding several 
   individuals who are being held as prisoners of conscience by the 
Chinese Government for their involvement in efforts to end the Chinese 
                          occupation of Tibet.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              July 9, 2002

 Mr. Udall of New Mexico submitted the following resolution; which was 
          referred to the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding several 
   individuals who are being held as prisoners of conscience by the 
Chinese Government for their involvement in efforts to end the Chinese 
                          occupation of Tibet.

Whereas for more than 1,000 years Tibet has maintained a sovereign national 
        identity that is distinct from the national identity of China;
Whereas armed forces of the People's Republic of China invaded Tibet in 1949 and 
        1950 and have occupied it since then;
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;
Whereas the People's Republic of China has yet to demonstrate its willingness to 
        abide by internationally accepted norms of freedom of belief, 
        expression, and association by repealing or amending laws and decrees 
        that restrict those freedoms;
Whereas the Chinese Government has detained several nuns, monks, and individuals 
        as prisoners of conscience for their efforts in speaking out against the 
        Chinese occupation of Tibet;
Whereas on October 14, 1989, Phuntsog Nyidron, a Tibetan Buddhist nun, and 5 
        other nuns from the Michungri Nunnery were arrested in Lhasa after 
        chanting some slogans and marching in a procession as part of a peaceful 
        demonstration that they organized to protest the Chinese occupation of 
        Tibet;
Whereas Nyidron and the other nuns were kicked, beaten, and given electric 
        shocks on their hands, shoulders, breasts, tongue, and face at the time 
        of the arrest;
Whereas 4 years later, Nyidron and 13 other nuns sang and recorded songs about 
        Tibetan independence in front of prison guards;
Whereas the Chinese Government determined that the public distribution of these 
        songs constituted ``spreading counter-revolutionary propaganda'' and on 
        October 8, 1993, extended Nyidron's sentence by 8 years;
Whereas Nyidron is now serving a 17-year sentence, one of the longest reported 
        sentences of any female prisoner of conscience in Tibet;
Whereas Phuntsog Nyidron was awarded the Reebok Human Rights Award in 1995;
Whereas Phuntsog Nyidron is just one of many individuals whom the Chinese 
        Government has held as a prisoner of conscience;
Whereas the Chinese Government continues to imprison individuals as prisoners of 
        conscience for involvement in efforts to end the Chinese occupation of 
        Tibet; and
Whereas the Chinese Government continues to exert control over religious and 
        cultural institutions in Tibet, abusing human rights through torture, 
        arbitrary arrest, and detention without public trial of Tibetans who 
        peacefully expressed their political or religious views: Now, therefore, 
        be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the Government of the People's Republic of China should, as a gesture 
of good will and in order to promote human rights, release prisoners of 
conscience such as Phuntsog Nyidron.
                                 <all>