[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.

                          ____________________