[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 56 Engrossed in House (EH)]


                 In the House of Representatives, U.S.,

                                                         April 3, 2001.
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 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 Government of the People's Republic of China continues to ban and 
        criminalize groups it labels as cults or heretical organizations;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China has repressed 
        unregistered religious congregations and spiritual movements, including 
        Falun Gong, and persists in persecuting persons on the basis of 
        unauthorized religious activities using such measures as harassment, 
        prolonged detention, physical abuse, incarceration, and closure or 
        destruction of places of worship;
Whereas authorities in the People's Republic of China have continued their 
        efforts to extinguish expressions of protest or criticism, have detained 
        scores of citizens associated with attempts to organize a peaceful 
        opposition, to expose corruption, to preserve their ethnic minority 
        identity, or to use the Internet for the free exchange of ideas, and 
        have sentenced many citizens so detained to harsh prison terms;
Whereas Chinese authorities continue to exert control over religious and 
        cultural institutions in Tibet, abusing human rights through instances 
        of torture, arbitrary arrest, and detention of Tibetans without public 
        trial for peacefully expressing their political or religious views;
Whereas bilateral human rights dialogues between several nations and the 
        People's Republic of China have yet to produce substantial adherence to 
        international norms; and
Whereas the People's Republic of China has signed the International Covenant on 
        Civil and Political Rights, but has yet to take the steps necessary to 
        make the treaty legally binding: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) strongly supports the decision of the United States Government 
        to offer and solicit cosponsorship for a resolution at the 57th Session 
        of the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Switzerland, 
        calling upon the Government of the People's Republic of China to end its 
        human rights abuses in China and Tibet, in compliance with its 
        international obligations; and
            (2) urges the United States Government to take the lead in 
        organizing multilateral support to obtain passage by the Commission of 
        such resolution.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.