Text: Senate Urges U.S. to Spotlight China's Rights Record at Geneva
(Senate Resolution 22 passes by unanimous consent)The Senate passed by unanimous consent March 20 a resolution that calls on the United States to call attention to Beijing's human rights record in China and Tibet at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) in Geneva.
Senate Resolution 22 urges the United States to seek co-sponsorships for a resolution at the UNCHR meeting that "calls upon the People's Republic of China to end its human rights violations in China and Tibet."
The United States, the resolution says, should take the lead "in organizing multilateral support to obtain passage by the Commission of such resolution."
Senator John Warner (Republican of Virginia) brought the resolution, which had 17 co-sponsors, before the Senate. Warner is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Among the co-sponsors were Senator Jesse Helms (Republican of North Carolina), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Senator Paul Wellstone (Democrat of Minnesota), one of the Senate's more liberal members.
Following is the March 20 text of the resolution, as provided by the Congressional Record:
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107th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 22Urging the appropriate representative of the United States to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to introduce at the annual meeting of the Commission a resolution calling upon the People's Republic of China to end its human rights violations in China and Tibet, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 14, 2001
Mr. HUTCHINSON (for himself, Mr. WELLSTONE, Mr. HELMS, Mr. TORRICELLI, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. DAYTON, Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire, Mr. KYL, Mr. SPECTER, Mr. FEINGOLD, Mr. HARKIN, MR. SANTORUM, Mr. HAGEL, Ms. SNOWE, Mr. LIEBERMAN, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. CORZINE, and Mr. GRASSLEY) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
March 20, 2001
Committee discharged; considered and agreed to
RESOLUTION
Urging the appropriate representative of the United States to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to introduce at the annual meeting of the Commission a resolution calling upon the People's Republic of China to end its human rights violations in China and Tibet, and for other purposes.
Whereas the annual meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland, provides a forum for discussing human rights and expressing international support for improved human rights performance;
Whereas, according to the Department of State and international human rights organizations, the Government of the People's Republic of China continues to commit widespread and well-documented human rights abuses in China and Tibet;
Whereas the People's Republic of China has yet to demonstrate its willingness to abide by internationally accepted norms of freedom of belief, expression, and association by repealing or amending laws and decrees that restrict those freedoms;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China continues to ban and criminalize groups it labels as cults or heretical organizations;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China has repressed unregistered religious congregations and spiritual movements, including Falun Gong, and persists in persecuting persons on the basis of unauthorized religious activities using such measures as harassment, prolonged detention, physical abuse, incarceration, and closure or destruction of places of worship;
Whereas authorities in the People's Republic of China have continued their efforts to extinguish expressions of protest or criticism, have detained scores of citizens associated with attempts to organize a peaceful opposition, to expose corruption, to preserve their ethnic minority identity, or to use the Internet for the free exchange of ideas, and have sentenced many citizens so detained to harsh prison terms;
Whereas Chinese authorities continue to exert control over religious and cultural institutions in Tibet, abusing human rights through instances of torture, arbitrary arrest, and detention of Tibetans without public trial for peacefully expressing their political or religious views;
Whereas bilateral human rights dialogues between several nations and the People's Republic of China have yet to produce substantial adherence to international norms; and
Whereas the People's Republic of China has signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, but has yet to take the steps necessary to make the treaty legally binding: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) at the 57th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Switzerland, the appropriate representative of the United States should solicit cosponsorship for a resolution calling upon the Government of the People's Republic of China to end its human rights abuses in China and Tibet, in compliance with its international obligations; and
(2) the United States Government should take the lead in organizing multilateral support to obtain passage by the Commission of such resolution.
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