[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 79 (Thursday, May 21, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5874-S5875]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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  SENATE RESOLUTION 155--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT THE 
 GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA SHOULD IMMEDIATELY CEASE 
  ENGAGING IN ACTS OF CULTURAL, LINGUISTIC, AND RELIGIOUS SUPPRESSION 
                   DIRECTED AGAINST THE UYGHUR PEOPLE

  Mr. BROWN (for himself and Mr. Inhofe) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 155

       Whereas protecting the human rights of minority groups is 
     consistent with the actions of a responsible member of the 
     international community;
       Whereas recent actions taken against the Uyghur minority by 
     authorities in the People's Republic of China and, 
     specifically, by local officials in the Xinjiang Uyghur 
     Autonomous Region, have included major violations of human 
     rights and acts of cultural suppression;
       Whereas the authorities of the People's Republic of China 
     have manipulated the strategic objectives of the 
     international war on terrorism to increase their cultural and 
     religious oppression of the Muslim population residing in the 
     Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region;
       Whereas an official campaign to encourage the migration of 
     Han Chinese people into the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region 
     has resulted in the Uyghur population becoming a minority in 
     the Uyghur traditional homeland and has placed immense 
     pressure on people and organizations that are seeking to 
     preserve the linguistic, cultural, and religious traditions 
     of the Uyghur people;
       Whereas, pursuant to a new policy of the Government of the 
     People's Republic of China, young Uyghur women are recruited 
     and forcibly relocated to work in factories in

[[Page S5875]]

     urban areas in far-off eastern provinces, resulting in tens 
     of thousands of Uyghur women being separated from their 
     families and placed into substandard working conditions 
     thousands of miles from their homes;
       Whereas the legal system of the People's Republic of China 
     is used as a tool of repression, including to arbitrarily 
     detain and torture Uyghurs who have only voiced discontent 
     with the Government of the People's Republic of China;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     continues to charge innocent Uyghurs with political crimes 
     and to impose the death penalty on those Uyghurs and other 
     political dissidents, contrary to international humanitarian 
     standards;
       Whereas the People's Republic of China is implementing a 
     monolingual Chinese language education system that undermines 
     the linguistic basis of Uyghur culture by transitioning 
     minority students from education in their mother tongue to 
     education in Chinese, shifting dramatically away from past 
     policies that provided choice for the Uyghur people; and
       Whereas there have been recent armed crackdowns throughout 
     the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region against the entire 
     Uyghur population: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the 
     Government of the People's Republic of China should--
       (1) recognize, and seek to ensure, the linguistic, 
     cultural, and religious rights of the Uyghur people of the 
     Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region;
       (2) immediately release all Uyghur political and religious 
     prisoners that are being held without good cause or evidence, 
     whether those prisoners are held in prisons or are under 
     house arrest;
       (3) cease harassment and intimidation of family members and 
     innocent associates of peaceful Uyghur political activists; 
     and
       (4) immediately cease all Government-sponsored violence and 
     crackdowns against people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous 
     Region, including against people involved in peaceful 
     protests or religious or political expression.

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