[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 27 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. CON. RES. 27

Expressing the sense of Congress that the 2008 Olympic Games should not 
 be held in Beijing unless the Government of the People's Republic of 
  China releases all political prisoners, ratifies the International 
 Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and observes internationally 
                        recognized human rights.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 21, 2001

Mr. Helms (for himself, Mr. Wellstone, Mr. Hutchinson, and Mr. Smith of 
New Hampshire) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of Congress that the 2008 Olympic Games should not 
 be held in Beijing unless the Government of the People's Republic of 
  China releases all political prisoners, ratifies the International 
 Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and observes internationally 
                        recognized human rights.

Whereas the International Olympic Committee is in the process of determining the 
        venue of the Olympic Games in the year 2008 and is scheduled to make 
        that decision at the International Olympic Committee meeting scheduled 
        for Moscow in July 2001;
Whereas the city of Beijing has made a proposal to the International Olympic 
        Committee that the summer Olympic Games in the year 2008 be held in 
        Beijing;
Whereas the Olympic Charter states that Olympism and the Olympic ideal seek to 
        foster ``respect for universal fundamental ethical principles'';
Whereas the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 48/11 (October 25, 1993) 
        recognized ``that the Olympic goal of the Olympic Movement is to build a 
        peaceful and better world by educating the youth of the world through 
        sport, practiced without discrimination of any kind and the Olympic 
        spirit, which requires mutual understanding, promoted by friendship, 
        solidarity, and fair play'';
Whereas United Nations General Assembly Resolution 50/13 (November 7, 1995) 
        stressed ``the importance of the principles of the Olympic Charter, 
        according to which any form of discrimination with regard to a country 
        or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, sex, or otherwise is 
        incompatible with the Olympic Movement'';
Whereas the Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 
        2000 reports the following:

    (1) ``The [Chinese] government continued to commit widespread and well-
documented human rights abuses, in violation of internationally accepted 
norms.''.

    (2) ``Abuses included instances of extra judicial killings, the use of 
torture, forced confessions, arbitrary arrest and detention, the 
mistreatment of prisoners, lengthy incommunicado detention, and denial of 
due process.''.

    (3) ``The Government infringed on citizens' privacy rights.''.

    (4) ``The Government maintained tight restrictions on freedom of speech 
and of the press, and increased its efforts to control the Internet; self-
censorship by journalists continued.''.

    (5) ``The Government severely restricted freedom of assembly and 
continued to restrict freedom of association.''.

    (6) ``The Government continued to restrict freedom of religion and 
intensified controls on some unregistered churches.''.

    (7) ``The Government continued to restrict freedom of movement.''.

    (8) ``The Government does not permit independent domestic 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to monitor publicly human rights 
conditions.''.

    (9) ``[The Government has not stopped] violence against women 
(including coercive family planning practices--which sometimes include 
forced abortion and forced sterilization).''.

    (10) ``The Government continued to restrict tightly worker rights, and 
forced labor in prison facilities remains a serious problem. Child labor 
exists and appears to be a growing problem in rural areas as adult workers 
leave for better employment opportunities in urban areas.''.

    (11) ``Some minority groups, particularly Tibetan Buddhists and Muslim 
Uighurs, came under increasing pressure as the Government clamped down on 
dissent and `separatist' activities.'';

Whereas the egregious human rights abuses committed by the Government of the 
        People's Republic of China are inconsistent with the Olympic ideal;
Whereas 119 Chinese dissidents and relatives of imprisoned political prisoners, 
        from 22 provinces and cities, issued an open letter on January 16, 2001, 
        signed at enormous political risk which expresses the ``grief and 
        indignation for each of China's political prisoners and their 
        families'', asks the Chinese Government to release all of China's 
        political prisoners, and asserts that the release of China's political 
        prisoners will improve ``Beijing's stature in its bid for the 2008 
        Olympics''; and
Whereas although the Government of the People's Republic of China signed the 
        International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1998, but has 
        failed to ratify the treaty, and has indicated that it will not fully 
        implement the recently ratified International Covenant on Economic, 
        Social and Cultural Rights: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), 
That the Congress--
            (1) acknowledges and supports the January 16, 2001, open 
        letter released by Chinese dissidents and the families of 
        imprisoned Chinese political prisoners stating that the release 
        of China's political prisoners would improve Beijing's stature 
        in its bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games;
            (2) expresses the view that, consistent with its stated 
        principles, the International Olympic Committee should not 
        award the 2008 Olympics to Beijing unless the Government of the 
        People's Republic of China releases all of China's political 
        prisoners, ratifies the International Covenant on Civil and 
        Political Rights without major reservations, fully implements 
        the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural 
        Rights, and observes internationally recognized human rights;
            (3) calls for the creation of an international Beijing 
        Olympic Games Human Rights Campaign in the event that Beijing 
        receives the Olympics to focus international pressure on the 
        Government of the People's Republic of China to grant a general 
        amnesty for all political prisoners prior to the commencement 
        of the 2008 Olympics as well as to ratify the International 
        Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
            (4) calls on the Secretary of State to endorse publicly the 
        creation of the Beijing Olympic Games Human Rights Campaign in 
        the event that Beijing receives the Olympics, and to utilize 
        all necessary diplomatic resources to encourage other nations 
        to endorse and support the campaign as well, focusing 
        particular attention on member states of the European Union and 
        the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Japan, 
        Canada, Australia, the Nordic countries, and all other 
        countries engaged in human rights dialogue with China;
            (5) requests that the President, during his expected 
        participation in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 
        Leaders Summit in Shanghai in October 2001, call for the 
        release of all Chinese political prisoners and Chinese 
        ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and 
        Political Rights;
            (6) recommends that the Congressional-Executive Commission 
        on the People's Republic of China, established under title III 
        of the U.S.-China Relations Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-286), 
        devote significant resources to monitoring any violations of 
        the rights of political dissidents and political prisoners, or 
        other increased abuses of internationally recognized human 
        rights, in the preparation to the 2008 Olympic Games and during 
        the Olympic Games themselves; and
            (7) directs the Secretary of the Senate to transmit a copy 
        of this resolution to the senior International Olympic 
        Committee representative in the United States with the request 
        that it be circulated to all members of the Committee.
                                 <all>