[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 610 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 610

 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 Chinese regime 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 3, 2007

    Mr. Rohrabacher (for himself, Mr. Pitts, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. 
McCotter, Mr. Doolittle, Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mr. Wolf, and Mr. Smith 
 of New Jersey) 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 Chinese regime 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 Chinese regime regularly denies the right to freedom of conscience, 
        expression, religion, and association;
Whereas the Chinese regime 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, unregistered church members, Falun Gong 
        practitioners, and political dissidents;
Whereas the Chinese regime 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 Darfur, Sudan;
Whereas China reportedly purchases as much as 70 percent of Sudan's oil, 
        currently has at least $3 billion invested in the Sudanese energy 
        sector, for a total of $10 billion since the 1990s; is building 
        infrastructure in Sudan and provided funds for a presidential palace in 
        Sudan at a reported cost of approximately $20 million; and has 
        reportedly cancelled approximately $100 million in debt owed by the 
        Sudanese Government;
Whereas the Chinese regime 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 San Suu Kyi;
Whereas in May 2007, the military junta in Rangoon extended for one year the 
        house arrest order against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and continues to deny 
        access to her by United States Government officials and others in the 
        international community, including representatives of human rights 
        organizations;
Whereas China is one of the largest importers of Burma's natural resources, 
        extraction of which has led to destruction of villages, increased human 
        rights abuses against civilians, particularly ethnic minorities, and the 
        rampant use of forced labor;
Whereas China has sold Burma's military regime over $2 billion worth of arms and 
        military equipment since 1989, which have been used to commit grave 
        human rights violations and mass atrocities against Burma's ethnic 
        minority civilians resulting in the destruction of over 3,000 villages;
Whereas China's steadfast support for Burma's military regime in the United 
        Nations Security Council, including by vetoing a United Nations Security 
        Council resolution on Burma, and other international fora is emboldening 
        the regime to further perpetrate economic mismanagement, crackdowns, and 
        attacks on civilians that harm the stability of the region;
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 in 2004, Mr. Vitit Muntarbhorn, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on 
        Human Rights in North Korea, concluded that because North Korea 
        considers fleeing the country a criminal offense punishable by death, 
        North Koreans who have fled to other countries should be considered 
        ``refugees sur place'', and therefore China, as a signatory to 1951 
        United Nations Convention on Refugees and its 1969 Protocol, should not 
        repatriate refugees to North Korea;
Whereas the Chinese regime continues to violate its commitments under the 1951 
        United Nations Convention on Refugees and its 1969 Protocol by 
        repatriating North Korean refugees against their will to North Korea, 
        where such refugees face imprisonment, torture, and at times execution, 
        for the crime of leaving their country, rather than allowing them safe 
        passage to countries like the Republic of Korea where such refugees 
        would have automatic citizenship, and the United States which has 
        offered them resettlement;
Whereas Chinese security officials, rather than working with the humanitarian 
        community to help these refugees, hunt down and jail humanitarian 
        workers who try to feed and shelter refugees, including United States 
        citizen Steve Kim of Huntington, New York, and South Korean, Japanese, 
        and Chinese citizens;
Whereas the Chinese regime refuses to allow the United Nations High Commissioner 
        for Refugees (UNHCR), the internationally-recognized organization whose 
        sole function is to help refugees, access to the North Korean refugees 
        in China and denies the refugees access to the UNHCR and therefore to 
        much needed assistance;
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 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;
Whereas Chinese authorities have engaged in removing organs from executed 
        prisoners as well as Falun Gong practitioners held in detention, 
        frequently without the consent of the prisoners, the Falun Gong 
        practitioners, or the families of both;
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 regime'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 regime 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 regime 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 the 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 regime 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 regime;
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 regime, 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 Darfur 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 Chinese regime against its citizens and to stop the Chinese 
        regime 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 regime 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>