[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 77 (Thursday, May 22, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1049-E1050]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     A TRIBUTE TO MIKE JENDRZEJCZYK

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 22, 2003

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to express my fundamental 
sadness over the sudden and tragic death of my good friend and fellow 
human rights defender, Mike Jendrzejczyk. Mike died unexpectedly on May 
1 in Washington, D.C., at the age of 53. I would also like to take this 
opportunity to express the condolences of the entire Chamber to Mike's 
wife, Janet. I thank Mike for his indefatigable efforts in the defense 
of human rights, which was his service not only to this country but the 
entire world community. Mike's death leaves a void in the human rights 
community that we will continue to feel.
  Mr. Speaker, we all knew Mike as the Washington Director of Human 
Rights Watch for the Asia division. In this capacity, Mike has worked 
with many of my colleagues and our staffs. In his 13 years with Human 
Rights Watch, all of us have relied on his expert opinions, his 
professional insights, and his undying commitment to human rights, 
which was an inspiration to all of us. His testimonies were a fixture 
of all committee proceedings dealing with Asia, as well as the 
Congressional

[[Page E1050]]

Human Rights Caucus. Mike's range of expertise was astounding by any 
standards, and included China, Japan, Burma, the World Bank, trade 
policy and human rights as well as the entire range of U.S. foreign 
policy in Asia. He was the leading human rights voice condemning the 
1989 Chinese military crackdown in Tiananmen Square, he was the most 
vocal advocate of ethnic groups such as the Tibetans in China and the 
Montagnards in Vietnam. Increasingly, Mike raised our awareness for 
issues pertaining to Afghanistan, the consequences of the military coup 
in Pakistan and the increase in religious fundamentalism in this area.
  Mike, we all will miss you terribly. We will miss your voice of 
reason, your expertise, your enthusiasm and your humor, and most of 
all, your guidance, as we face new and troubling challenges and dangers 
emanating from a region of the world which is not easy to understand, 
but which had become a second home to you. Your life will be a constant 
reminder and challenge to all of us to try harder, to reach further in 
the defense of human rights, to believe in a better world and to never 
accept things as they are, unchallenged.

                          ____________________