[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 608 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 608

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United 
  States Government should take immediate steps to boycott the Summer 
 Olympic Games in Beijing in August 2008 unless the Government of the 
   People's Republic of China stops engaging in serious human rights 
 abuses against its citizens and stops supporting serious human rights 
  abuses by the Governments of Sudan, Burma, and North Korea against 
                            their citizens.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 2, 2007

Mr. Rohrabacher (for himself, Mr. Pitts, and Mr. Shimkus) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United 
  States Government should take immediate steps to boycott the Summer 
 Olympic Games in Beijing in August 2008 unless the Government of the 
   People's Republic of China stops engaging in serious human rights 
 abuses against its citizens and stops supporting serious human rights 
  abuses by the Governments of Sudan, Burma, and North Korea against 
                            their citizens.

Whereas the Games of the XI Olympiad in Berlin in 1936 showed that the integrity 
        of the host country is of the utmost importance so as not to stain the 
        participating athletes or the character of the Games;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China regularly denies the 
        right to freedom of conscience, expression, religion, and association;
Whereas Chinese Government also holds thousands of political prisoners without 
        charge or trial, including democracy activists, lawyers, human rights 
        defenders, religious leaders, journalists, trade unionists, Tibetan 
        Buddhists, Uighurs, ``unofficial'' church members, Falun Gong 
        practitioners, and political dissidents;
Whereas the Chinese Government has long-standing economic and military ties with 
        Sudan and continues to strengthen these ties, including providing 
        military assistance, in spite of the ongoing human rights abuses 
        amounting to genocide in Dafur, Sudan;
Whereas the Chinese Government has long-standing political, economic, and 
        military ties with Burma and continues to strengthen these ties in spite 
        of serious human rights abuses and house arrest of Noble Peace Price 
        winner Daw Aung Saan Suu Kyi;
Whereas China also vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution on human 
        rights in Burma;
Whereas according to Amnesty International, China holds more than a quarter of a 
        million people under the ``Re-Education through Labor'' detention system 
        in labor camps, without benefit of charge or trial;
Whereas local police officers in China are empowered to imprison people under 
        this detention system;
Whereas in the face of a serious food shortage and political repression, 
        thousands of North Koreans have fled across the border to China;
Whereas hundreds, possibly thousands, of North Koreans have been detained by the 
        Chinese authorities and forcibly returned across the border where they 
        face arbitrary detention, torture, and even summary execution;
Whereas China continues to hold the 11th Panchen Lama, who was selected by the 
        Dalai Lama;
Whereas the Panchen Lama was only 6 years old when the he was taken away by the 
        Chinese authorities and is held in a secret location;
Whereas according to Amnesty International, China continues to execute political 
        prisoners and nonviolent offenders, and accounts for over 80 percent of 
        all executions documented in the world, and China also harvests organs 
        from executed prisoners, frequently without consent;
Whereas China continues to allow forced abortion and sterilization to enforce 
        its ``One Child'' policy, as per family population control measures;
Whereas according to United States Department of State's Country Reports on 
        Human Rights Practices for 2006, the Chinese Government's birth planning 
        policies retain harshly coercive elements in law and practice;
Whereas the laws restrict the rights of families to choose the number of 
        children they have and the period of time between births;
Whereas the penalties for violating these laws are strict, leaving some women 
        little choice but to abort pregnancies;
Whereas in addition, the implementation of these laws by local officials has 
        resulted in serious violations of human rights;
Whereas reports of forced sterilization and abortions, in violation of the 
        national law, continue to be documented in rural areas;
Whereas in 2007, officials in Chongqing municipality and in Fujian Province 
        reportedly forcibly sterilized women;
Whereas according to the Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights 
        Practices for 2006, the Chinese Government consistently blocked access 
        to Internet sites it deemed controversial, such as sites discussing 
        Tibetan independence, underground religious and spiritual organizations, 
        democracy activists, and the 1989 Tiananmen massacre;
Whereas the Chinese Government at times blocked access to selected Internet 
        sites operated by major foreign news outlets, health organizations, and 
        educational institutions;
Whereas China's Internet control system reportedly employs tens of thousands of 
        persons;
Whereas according to the Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights 
        Practices for 2006, sexual and physical abuse and extortion were 
        reported in some detention centers;
Whereas Falun Gong activists reported that police raped female practitioners, 
        including an incident in November 2005 at the Dongchengfang police 
        station in Tunzhou City, Hebei Province, in which two women were raped 
        while in detention;
Whereas according to Amnesty International, China executes political prisoners 
        from the Uighur ethnic minority in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous 
        Region;
Whereas there are concerns that abuses committed against Uighur ethnic minority 
        could amount to genocide;
Whereas according to the Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights 
        Practices for 2006, the Chinese Government has not provided a 
        comprehensive, credible account of all those killed, missing, or 
        detained in connection with the violent suppression of the 1989 
        Tiananmen demonstrations;
Whereas there are nongovernmental organization reports of hundreds, if not 
        thousands, who died during the crackdown against the Tiananmen 
        demonstrations;
Whereas according the Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights 
        Practices for 2006, since the crackdown on Falun Gong began in 1999, 
        estimates of the numbers of Falun Gong adherents who have died in 
        custody because of torture, abuse, and neglect range from several 
        hundred to a few thousand;
Whereas in March 2006, United Nations Special Rapporteur Manfred Nowak reported 
        that Falun Gong practitioners accounted for 66 percent of victims of 
        alleged torture while in custody by the Chinese Government;
Whereas according to the Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights 
        Practices for 2006, regulations for committing a person into the 
        psychiatric facility at Ankang, China, were not clear;
Whereas credible reports indicate that a number of political and trade union 
        activists, underground religious believers, persons who repeatedly 
        petitioned the Chinese Government, members of the banned China 
        Democratic Party, and Falun Gong adherents were incarcerated in such 
        psychiatric facilities during 2006;
Whereas China is preparing to host the Summer Olympic Games in August 2008, the 
        most honorable, venerated, and prestigious international sporting event, 
        and China has selected ``One World, One Dream'' as a slogan for those 
        games;
Whereas China should act consistently with the Olympic standard of preserving 
        human dignity for its citizens and for the people of the Dafur region of 
        Sudan, Burma, and North Korea;
Whereas the spirit of the Olympics, which is to bring together nations and 
        people from all over the world in peace, is incompatible with Chinese 
        actions; and
Whereas China continues to seriously abuse the rights of its citizens and 
        continues to assist Sudan, Burma, and North Korea in committing human 
        rights abuses against their citizens: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That--
            (1) it is the duty and responsibility of the United States 
        to take effective steps to stop serious human rights abuses by 
        the Government of the People's Republic of China against its 
        citizens and to stop the Chinese Government from supporting 
        serious human rights abuses by Sudan, Burma, and North Korea 
        against their citizens; and
            (2) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
        the United States Government should take immediate steps to 
        boycott the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing in August 2008 
        unless the Chinese Government stops engaging in serious human 
        rights abuses against its citizens and stops supporting serious 
        human rights abuses by the Governments of Sudan, Burma, and 
        North Korea against their citizens.
                                 <all>