[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 342 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 342

     Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the practice of 
   politically motivated imprisonment of women around the world and 
   calling on governments for the immediate release of women who are 
                          political prisoners.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 7, 2021

   Mr. Menendez (for himself, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Markey, Mr. 
   Merkley, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Van Hollen, Mrs. Shaheen, and Mr. Coons) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                          on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
     Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the practice of 
   politically motivated imprisonment of women around the world and 
   calling on governments for the immediate release of women who are 
                          political prisoners.

Whereas Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees the 
        right to life, liberty, and security of person, Article 9 of the 
        Declaration prohibits arbitrary arrests or detentions, and Article 18 of 
        the Declaration guarantees the right to freedom of thought, conscience, 
        and religion;
Whereas women around the world face enormous risks when seeking to advance human 
        rights and pursue progress for their communities, including--

    (1) discriminatory policies and attitudes;

    (2) repressive governments;

    (3) abusive authorities; and

    (4) critical threats to their health, especially amid the COVID-19 
pandemic;

Whereas women activists around the world are being unjustly or wrongfully 
        detained in order to silence their voices and end their activism;
Whereas women journalists are being unjustly or wrongfully detained for speaking 
        truth to power and exposing corruption and abuses by governments and 
        other authorities;
Whereas, according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for 
        Human Rights, many women detainees face inhumane and degrading treatment 
        upon arrest, including threats of rape, invasive body searches, and 
        humiliations of a sexual nature, and once unjustly imprisoned, many 
        women are subjected to sexual violence and other forms of torture at the 
        hands of security forces;
Whereas the COVID-19 pandemic presents a severe threat to women who are detained 
        unjustly and who are often housed in overcrowded prisons with limited 
        access to medical care, which can convert unjust prison sentences into 
        death sentences for vulnerable, detained women;
Whereas the People's Republic of China has waged a brutal campaign to suppress 
        political dissent and vibrant ethnic minority communities;
Whereas the People's Republic of China has suppressed and detained human rights 
        defenders and journalists, including--

    (1) Li Yuhan, a human rights lawyer jailed for representing cases 
concerning freedom of belief and access to government information, who has 
been subject to verbal abuse and other mistreatment while held in extended 
pre-trial detention; and

    (2) Zhang Zhan, a citizen-journalist sentenced to 4 years in prison for 
reporting on COVID-19 in Wuhan;

Whereas the People's Republic of China has subjected Uyghurs and other ethnic 
        minorities in Xinjiang to mass surveillance, forced labor, forced birth 
        control, forced sterilization, coerced abortion, sexual assault, rape, 
        unjust or wrongful detainment, and extrajudicial internment, including--

    (1) Rahile Dawut, a professor of traditional Uyghur culture and 
recipient of the 2020 ``Courage to Think'' award, who has been held 
incommunicado since her disappearance in December 2017;

    (2) Gulmira Imin, a former Uyghur-language website administrator and 
writer, who is serving out a 19-year sentence for her alleged role in 
organizing demonstrations in 2009 and her online criticism of Chinese 
repression of the Uyghurs; and

    (3) Nigare Abdushukur, who was sentenced to 19 years imprisonment after 
calling her brother in Germany to tell him about their mother's detention;

Whereas the People's Republic of China has targeted Tibetans for peaceful 
        political or cultural expression, including--

    (1) Bonkho Kyi, who was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment for 
organizing a picnic celebration for His Holiness the Dalai Lama's 80th 
birthday; and

    (2) Yeshe Choedron, who was sentenced in 2008 to 15 years imprisonment 
for allegedly contacting the Tibetan government in exile after 
participating in the 2008 Lhasa protests;

Whereas the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong has been subjected to harsh 
        government persecution at the direction of the People's Republic of 
        China, and activists have been unjustly jailed, including Quinn Moon, 
        who was among 12 activists captured while trying to flee persecution in 
        Hong Kong and was subsequently sentenced to 2 years in prison;
Whereas, in Iran, human rights defenders have been steadfast in their advocacy 
        despite repeated abuse and arrest by authorities, including currently 
        detained human rights activists--

    (1) Nasrin Sotoudeh, who spoke out against the death penalty and laws 
forcing women to wear hijabs and who has recently been returned to prison 
after a medical leave despite serious health conditions; and

    (2) Atena Daemi, a human rights activist who has been sentenced to an 
additional 2 years in prison and 74 lashes for participating in a peaceful 
sit-in protest in Evin prison during her initial 5-year sentence;

Whereas Iranian authorities have also recently arrested and imprisoned 
        environmentalists working for the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, 
        including Sepideh Kashani and Niloufar Bayani, who previously worked for 
        the United Nations Environment Programme, subjecting them to torture and 
        threats of sexual assault;
Whereas Turkey is the world's second worst jailer of journalists, with 37 
        journalists imprisoned in 2020 alone, including--

    (1) Hatice Duman, owner and editor at Atilim, which published 
editorials condemning President Erdogan's policies; and

    (2) Aysenur Parildak, journalist for Zaman;

Whereas the Government of Egypt has attempted to quash dissent by jailing and 
        abusing human rights defenders, including Sanaa Seif, who was detained 
        while filing a complaint at the Public Prosecutor's office regarding her 
        violent assault outside Cairo's Tora prison, which houses her brother, 
        who is a political activist;
Whereas Belarusian authorities, as a means of silencing popular protests, have 
        attacked and jailed journalists, human rights defenders, and members of 
        civil society, including--

    (1) Katsiaryna Bakhvalova and Darya Chultsova, 2 members of the media 
covering anti-Lukashenko protests who were sentenced to 2 years in prison 
for ``organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order'';

    (2) Yulia Slutskaya, founder of a nongovernmental organization that 
investigates government persecution of journalists covering protests;

    (3) Maryia Kalesnikava, a prominent Belarusian opposition leader 
abducted and charged with incitement to undermine national security for her 
pro-democracy advocacy; and

    (4) Marfa Rabkova, a human rights defender targeted for observing 
demonstrations and documenting evidence of law enforcement officials 
torturing peaceful protestors;

Whereas Saudi Arabian women's rights and human rights activist Maya'a al-Zahrani 
        remains wrongfully imprisoned;
Whereas the Government of Nicaragua has detained human rights defenders Maria 
        Esperanza Sanchez and Karla Vanessa Escobar Maldonado in terrible 
        conditions for their participation in demonstrations in 2018;
Whereas Senator Leila de Lima remains unjustly imprisoned in the Philippines for 
        her vocal criticism of extrajudicial killings carried out during 
        President Duterte's ``war on drugs'';
Whereas the Government of Vietnam has jailed civil and human rights activist 
        Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hanh and journalist Pham Thi Doan Trang for their 
        peaceful work to preserve and expand rights afforded to Vietnamese 
        citizens; and
Whereas in Eritrea, political dissident Aster Fissehatsion and dual United 
        States-Eritrean national Ciham Ali have been held incommunicado without 
        charge or trial since 2001 and 2012, respectively: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) supports women who are being unjustly or wrongfully 
        detained around the world;
            (2) affirms that a government should never detain its 
        citizens for exercising the rights of freedom of assembly, 
        association, and speech;
            (3) calls on governments that are unjustly or wrongfully 
        detaining women for exercising their fundamental rights to 
        immediately and unconditionally release these political 
        prisoners; and
            (4) urges the United States Government, in all its 
        interactions with foreign governments--
                    (A) to raise individual cases of women political 
                prisoners; and
                    (B) to press for the immediate release of such 
                political prisoners.
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