[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 220 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 220

Concerning the response of the United States to forced abortion and the 
 coercive one-child policy in the People's Republic of China, and the 
           resulting ``gendercide'' of girls in that country.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 27, 2007

Mr. Smith of New Jersey submitted the following concurrent resolution; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
Concerning the response of the United States to forced abortion and the 
 coercive one-child policy in the People's Republic of China, and the 
           resulting ``gendercide'' of girls in that country.

Whereas since the 1980s the Government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) 
        has enforced a general one-child policy, which limits most women to 
        bearing one child, though some women in rural areas are permitted to 
        bear a second child, particularly if their first child is female;
Whereas the PRC Government coerces compliance with this policy by pervasive 
        propaganda, mandatory monitoring of women's reproductive cycles, 
        mandatory contraception, mandatory birth permits, mandatory 
        sterilization or contraceptive implantation, and government control of 
        birth spacing;
Whereas the PRC Government coerces compliance with this policy by punishing 
        failure to comply and refusal to abort ``out-of-plan'' children with 
        fines (called ``social compensation fees'') which often range from 
        roughly one-half to ten times the average Chinese annual income;
Whereas the PRC Government coerces compliance with this policy and pressures 
        women to abort ``out-of-plan'' children by means of job loss, group 
        punishments (imposing penalties or denying benefits to entire villages, 
        factories, and work units in the event of a single ``out-of-plan'' 
        birth), and beating and abducting relatives of women who are pregnant 
        ``out-of-plan'', so that they are socially ostracized and put under 
        social pressure to have an abortion;
Whereas the PRC Government physically destroys the homes of some of those who do 
        not pay social compensation fees;
Whereas the PRC Government creates an atmosphere of fear in which most Chinese 
        women feel they have little choice to comply with the Government's 
        draconian birth-limitation policy;
Whereas as recently as May 2007 it was credibly reported by the New York Times 
        and the Washington Post that the PRC Government ordered a crackdown on 
        population quotas and ``out-of-plan'' births in Guangxi province, that 
        Guangxi family planning officials conducted a campaign of violence in 
        detaining citizens, searching homes, confiscating valuables, and 
        destroying homes, and that this campaign provoked riots in which 
        thousands of citizens in eight townships fought with riot police, 
        overturned official vehicles, and damaged government offices, and that 
        several officials were killed in these riots;
Whereas the PRC Government has passed legislation that makes it illegal to force 
        women to have abortions;
Whereas at least 7 PRC provinces require abortion of children whose birth would 
        violate provincial regulations, while at least 10 PRC provinces require 
        unspecified ``remedial measures'';
Whereas many Congressional hearings and reports in leading newspapers and 
        newsmagazines throughout the world have established that PRC officials 
        charged with implementing the one-child policy frequently violate PRC 
        law by physically coercing abortions;
Whereas the PRC Government encourages its officials' illegal coercion of 
        abortions and sterilizations by making the promotions and bonuses of 
        local officials depend on meeting population targets, and by failing to 
        punish officials who physically coerce abortions;
Whereas PRC officials have punished citizens, including legal advocate Chen 
        Guangcheng, who have publicized population planning abuses by local 
        officials;
Whereas the PRC's policy of coercive birth limitation has caused Chinese 
        couples, many of whom have a cultural preference for sons, to abort or 
        abandon female infants so that they may try later to have a son, 
        resulting in a male to female birth ratio for first births of 121 to 100 
        and a male to female birth ratio for second births of 152 to 100, 
        according to official PRC figures;
Whereas the male to female birth ratio has been growing steadily wider since the 
        1980s, according to official PRC figures;
Whereas the ``gendercide'' caused by the PRC's policies has already created a 
        generation of young men of whom tens of millions will not be able to 
        find wives, due to the tens of millions of missing women;
Whereas the coercive birth limitation, in limiting most couples to one child, 
        has created generations of young people, few of whom know what it is to 
        have brothers or sisters, or aunts or uncles, and the cultural impact on 
        the PRC of this historically unprecedented situation is unknown;
Whereas in June 2006 the PRC's National People's Congress withdrew a proposed 
        law that would have criminalized sex-selective abortion;
Whereas the Population and Family Planning Law of the PRC contravenes standards 
        set by the 1995 Beijing Declaration and the 1994 Programme of Action of 
        the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development, to 
        which the PRC is a signatory, by limiting the number of children that 
        married women may bear and by banning unmarried women from bearing any 
        children;
Whereas the PRC Government contravenes standards set by the Universal 
        Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant of Economic, 
        Social, and Cultural Rights, to which the PRC is a signatory, by 
        discriminating against ``out-of-plan'' children by denying them basic 
        health care, education, and the right to marry;
Whereas the PRC Government contravenes the 1994 Programme of Action of the Cairo 
        International Conference on Population and Development, to which the PRC 
        is a signatory, by setting population targets;
Whereas the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child proclaims that 
        the child ``needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate 
        legal protection, before as well as after birth'';
Whereas since 1979 the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has been involved 
        in supporting, promoting, and facilitating the PRC's oppressive one-
        child program;
Whereas Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush have 
        determined that UNFPA supports the PRC Government's program of coercive 
        abortion or involuntary sterilization;
Whereas UNFPA support for the PRC Government's program of coerced abortion and 
        involuntary sterilization violates the ``Kemp-Kasten'' provision of 
        United States law;
Whereas former UNFPA Representative in Beijing, Sven Burmester, has said that, 
        ``China has had the most successful family planning policy in the 
        history of mankind in terms of quantity and with that, China has done 
        mankind a favor'';
Whereas former UNFPA Executive Director, Nafis Sadik, has said, ``I have had the 
        honor of being associated with China's reproductive health and family 
        planning programme for more than two decades. I was instrumental in 
        initiating UNFPA's cooperation with China in 1979 ... I also feel proud 
        that UNFPA made the wise decision to resist external pressures and 
        continued its fruitful cooperation with China.'', and moreover claimed 
        that, ``the implementation of the policy [in China] and the acceptance 
        of the policy is purely voluntary. There is no such thing as, you know, 
        a license to have a birth and so on.'';
Whereas UNFPA Executive Director Sadik also said, ``China has every reason to 
        feel proud of and pleased with its remarkable achievements made in its 
        family planning policy. The country could offer its experiences and 
        special expertise to help other countries,'' adding that the ``UNFPA is 
        going to employ some of [China]'s family planning experts to work in 
        other countries and popularize China's experiences in population growth 
        control and family planning''; and
Whereas paragraph 31 of the UNFPA Country Program Document for China, issued on 
        October 10, 2005, states that the UNFPA will seek to ``enhance the role 
        of China in the international arena, including through greater South-
        South collaboration'' and to ``seek to strengthen the capacity for 
        South-South Collaboration in the areas of reproductive health, ageing, 
        gender and HIV/AIDS'', thereby indicating its plans to assist the PRC 
        Government in exporting its population planning program to other 
        countries: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That Congress--
            (1) strongly condemns the continued violations of human 
        rights by the Government of the People's Republic of China 
        (PRC), including--
                    (A) the limitation of the number of children a 
                woman may bear, as well as the intrusive system that 
                supports this limitation, which includes setting 
                population targets, mandatory monitoring of women's 
                reproductive cycles, requiring that women obtain 
                ``birth permits'', and government control of birth 
                spacing;
                    (B) coercing compliance with its birth limitations 
                through job loss, social ostracization, fines, and the 
                creation of an atmosphere of fear; and
                    (C) violent enforcement of its birth limitations 
                through policies that encourage officials to physically 
                force women to have abortions and to be sterilized, to 
                destroy homes, to beat and abduct the relatives and 
                friends of women pregnant ``out-of-plan,'' and the 
                punishment of those who publicize such abuses;
            (2) urges the PRC Government to cease these policies, which 
        have led to the social catastrophe of ``gendercide'';
            (3) urges the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to 
        cease all its activities in the PRC and to withdraw from that 
        country;
            (4) affirms certain internationally recognized human 
        rights, including--
                    (A) the right of women to bear children 
                unconstrained by government policies which would limit 
                the number of children they bear or prevent them from 
                bearing children; and
                    (B) the right of children not to be discriminated 
                against by a government because they were born contrary 
                to a government plan; and
            (5) asks that the President and the Secretary of State--
                    (A) raise the concerns expressed in this concurrent 
                resolution with the PRC Government;
                    (B) call upon the PRC Government to cease 
                immediately the policies outlined in this concurrent 
                resolution; and
                    (C) continue to withhold funds from UNFPA due to 
                UNFPA's continued involvement in supporting coercive 
                abortion and sterilization, which violates the ``Kemp-
                Kasten'' provision of United States law.
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