[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 137 (Tuesday, September 22, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6898-S6899]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SENATE RESOLUTION 262--TO SUPPORT THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN AND URGE
COUNTRIES TO #FREETHE20
Ms. AYOTTE (for herself, Ms. Klobuchar, Ms. Collins, Mrs. Shaheen,
Mrs. Feinstein, Mrs. McCaskill, Mrs. Fischer, Ms. Baldwin, Mrs.
Gillibrand, Ms. Murkowski, Ms. Heitkamp, Ms. Stabenow, Ms. Mikulski,
Ms. Warren, Mrs. Capito, Mrs. Ernst, Mrs. Boxer, Ms. Hirono, Ms.
Cantwell, and Mrs. Murray) submitted the following resolution; which
was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:
S. Res. 262
Whereas, in 1995, representatives from 189 governments and
tens of thousands of organizations met in Beijing at the
Fourth World Conference on Women for the purpose of
empowering women;
Whereas, at the Fourth World Conference on Women, the
governments represented produced the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action, a roadmap seeking to advance gender
equality and women's rights;
Whereas, on September 27, 2015, the United Nations will
host the ``Global Leaders' Meeting on Gender Equality and
Women's Empowerment: A Commitment to Action'' at the United
Nations headquarters in New York City;
Whereas, at this high level conference, governments will be
invited to make commitments to achieve gender equality and
the empowerment of women;
Whereas the ongoing imprisonment by many countries of
innocent women is contrary to Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, as well as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for
Action;
Whereas some countries attending the conference at the
United Nations imprison women for exercising universal human
rights; and
Whereas, on September 1, 2015, the United States Permanent
Representative to the United Nations began a government-wide
campaign to highlight the cases of women prisoners held
unjustly around the world, including--
(1) Wang Yu of China, who--
(A) after being assaulted attempting to board a train in
2008, was sentenced to 2\1/2\-years in prison for assault;
(B) has taken on the cases of clients who other lawyers
fear representing;
(C) has been harassed, threatened, and smeared in the
state-run media; and
(D) was detained again on July 9, 2015;
(2) Khadija Ismayilova of Azerbaijan, who was--
(A) arrested in December 2014 in a crackdown on civil
society activists and journalists; and
(B) sentenced on September 1, 2015, to 7\1/2\-years in
prison after alleging government fraud;
(3) Bahareh Hedayat of Iran, a student activist and
campaigner for women's rights, who--
(A) was arrested December 31, 2009 and charged with several
``offenses'' including interviews with foreign media and
insulting the President and leader;
(B) was sentenced in May 2010 to--
(i) 6 months in prison for ``insulting the president'';
(ii) 2 years in prison for ``insulting the leader''; and
(iii) 5 years in prison for ``gathering and colluding to
commit crimes against national security'';
(C) received an additional 6 months in prison for having
written a letter in December 2010 encouraging students to
continue struggling peacefully for freedom; and
(D) was given an additional 2 year prison sentence on
August 28, 2015;
(4) Blen Mesfin, Meron Alemayehu, and Nigist Wondifraw of
Ethiopia, who were imprisoned after being charged with
inciting violence during anti-Islamic State in Libya
demonstrations in Addis Ababa in April 2015;
(5) Gao Yu of China, a 71 year old veteran journalist, who
was initially arrested in April 2014 as authorities detained
dozens of
[[Page S6899]]
rights activists and dissidents ahead of the 25th anniversary
of the June 4 Tiananmen Square Massacre and was sentenced to
7 years in jail on April 17, 2015, on charges of ``leaking
state secrets overseas'';
(6) Aster Yohannes of Eritrea, the wife of an imprisoned
political activist, who--
(A) was arrested in 2003 upon returning from the United
States;
(B) was never publicly accused of a crime or tried in a
court of law; and
(C) is of unknown whereabouts;
(7) Matlyuba Kamilova of Uzbekistan, who--
(A) was jailed in September 2010 for alleged drug
possession;
(B) was arrested under highly suspicious circumstances in
the midst of efforts to expose police corruption; and
(C) remains in prison;
(8) Leyla Yunus of Azerbaijan, who--
(A) was arrested with her husband in August 2014 during a
broad crackdown on civil society activists;
(B) was sentenced to an 8\1/2\-year prison term on August
13, 2015;
(C) was named by France as a Chevalier of the National
Order of the Legion of Honour in 2013 in recognition of her
human rights work; and
(D) received the Polish Prize of Sergio Vieira de Mello in
2014;
(9) Phyoe Aung of Burma, who was arrested in March 2015,
with over 100 participants, for leading protests advocating
for reform to the education system of Burma;
(10) Ta Phong Tan of Vietnam, who was arrested in 2011 for
``anti-state propaganda'' for writing online articles
alleging government corruption and was sentenced in 2012 to
10 years in prison with 2 years of house arrest to follow;
(11) Liu Xia of China, who--
(A) has been under house arrest since the 2010 announcement
that her husband received the Nobel Peace Prize;
(B) is confined to her Beijing apartment without internet
or phone access;
(C) is allowed only weekly trips to buy groceries and visit
her parents;
(D) is allowed to visit Liu Xiaobo once a month; and
(E) reportedly suffers from heart problems and severe
depression;
(12) Sanaa Seif of Egypt, who was sentenced in October
2014, with 23 other people, to 3 years in prison for
conducting a peaceful demonstration without permission, a
sentence which was reduced to 2 years in December 2014;
(13) Judge Maria Lourdes Afuini Mora of Venezuela, who--
(A) was imprisoned in December 2009 on charges of
corruption and abuse of authority for releasing an imprisoned
banker, was placed on house arrest until June 2013, and,
according to President Chavez, ``must pay for what she has
done''; and
(B) is on conditional release awaiting trial and is
forbidden to leave the country or speak publicly;
(14) Naw Ohn Hla of Burma, who--
(A) is the co-founder of the Democracy and Peace Women
Network and a prominent land rights and political prisoners
advocate;
(B) was sentenced to a 4 years and 4 month term in prison
on May 15, 2015, for protesting, in front of the Chinese
Embassy in Rangoon, the deadly police crackdown at the
Chinese company Wanbao's Letpadaung copper mine; and
(C) was, on June 29, 2015, given an additional 6 month
prison term with hard labor for conducting a peaceful prayer
service in 2007 protesting against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's
house arrest;
(15) Nadiya Savchenko of Russia, who--
(A) is a member of the parliament of Ukraine, the Verkhovna
Rada, and a helicopter pilot in the Ukrainian military;
(B) was seized in Ukraine by Russian-backed separatists in
2014; and
(C) was illegally transferred to Russian custody, where she
remains;
(16) serving as a composite for prisoners of concern
worldwide, an estimated 80,000 to 120,000 political
prisoners, including men, women, and children, who are
detained in the brutal political prison camps of North Korea
where starvation, forced labor, executions, rape, sexual
violence, forced abortions, and torture are commonplace and
whose offenses, according to defectors, include--
(A) burning old currency or criticizing the currency
revaluation of the Government;
(B) sitting on newspapers bearing the picture of Kim Il
Sung or Kim Jong Il;
(C) mentioning the limited formal education of Kim Il Sung;
and
(D) defacing photographs of the Kims;
(17) Bui Thi Minh Hang of Vietnam--
(A) is an active anti-China demonstrator and vocal
supporter of human rights and democracy, with a particular
focus on helping victims and their families;
(B) was arrested on February 12, 2014 and is serving a 3
year sentence for ``disrupting public order''; and
(C) was detained without trial for 6 months at a
``reeducation center'' prior to her arrest in February of
2014; and
(18) Rasha Chorbaji of Syria--
(A) who was arrested trying to obtain a passport in 2014
with 3 of her children because her husband opposed the regime
during the revolution; and
(B) whose children were taken by the Government of Syria
and placed in an orphanage, and whose husband drowned in the
Mediterranean Sea while fleeing Syria: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) recognizes the 20th anniversary of the Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action, as well as the high
level conference in September 2015 at the United Nations to
empower women;
(2) recognizes that many women will not be able to
participate in the dialogue about the conference in September
2015 because they are imprisoned unjustly;
(3) reiterates support for efforts to empower women and
secure universal human rights for women;
(4) reminds governments attending the conference that
unjustly imprisoning women is inconsistent with the Beijing
Declaration and does not empower women;
(5) welcomes the release of Ta Phong Tan of Vietnam on
September 19, 2015, whose release was called for as part of
the campaign;
(6) calls for the immediate release of the women mentioned
in the preamble of this resolution, most of whom remain
wrongfully imprisoned or under house arrest; and
(7) encourages conference attendees to fulfill previous
commitments related to the empowerment of women and to commit
to meaningful and concrete steps to advance women's rights,
for the betterment of all people.
____________________