[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 157 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 157

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

                             March 20, 2003

Mr. Udall of New Mexico (for himself, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. 
Smith of New Jersey, and Mr. Wolf) 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 hundreds of Tibetan nuns, monks and 
        lay persons 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 Phuntsog Nyidron and the other nuns were kicked, beaten and given 
        electric shocks on their hands, shoulders, breasts, tongue, and face 
        while in Chinese custody;
Whereas in 1993, Phuntsog Nyidron and 13 other nuns secretly recorded songs 
        about Tibetan independence and smuggled the recordings out of Drapchi 
        prison;
Whereas the Chinese Government charged Phuntsog Nyidron with ``spreading 
        counter-revolutionary propaganda'' for her role in recording and 
        smuggling out the taped songs and, on October 9, 1993, extended her 
        prison sentence to 17 years, one of the longest reported sentences of 
        any female Tibetan political prisoner;
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 their involvement in peaceful protests against the brutal 
        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 goodwill and in order to promote human rights, immediately release 
all prisoners of conscience, including Phuntsog Nyidron.
                                 <all>