IV 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 608 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States 

Government should take immediate steps to boycott the Summer Olympic 

Games in Beijing in August 2008 unless the Government of the People’s 

Republic of China stops engaging in serious human rights abuses against 

its citizens and stops supporting serious human rights abuses by the 

Governments of Sudan, Burma, and North Korea against their citizens. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 2, 2007 

Mr. ROHRABACHER (for himself, Mr. PITTS, and Mr. SHIMKUS) submitted the 

following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 

the United States Government should take immediate 

steps to boycott the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing 

in August 2008 unless the Government of the People’s 

Republic of China stops engaging in serious human 

rights abuses against its citizens and stops supporting 

serious human rights abuses by the Governments of 

Sudan, Burma, and North Korea against their citizens. 

Whereas the Games of the XI Olympiad in Berlin in 1936 

showed that the integrity of the host country is of the utmost importance so as not to stain the participating athletes or the character of the Games; 


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Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China 

regularly denies the right to freedom of conscience, expression, religion, and association; 

Whereas Chinese Government also holds thousands of political prisoners without charge or trial, including democracy activists, lawyers, human rights defenders, religious 

leaders, journalists, trade unionists, Tibetan Buddhists, 

Uighurs, ‘‘unofficial’’ church members, Falun Gong practitioners, and political dissidents; 

Whereas the Chinese Government has long-standing economic 

and military ties with Sudan and continues to strengthen 

these ties, including providing military assistance, in spite 

of the ongoing human rights abuses amounting to genocide in Dafur, Sudan; 

Whereas the Chinese Government has long-standing political, 

economic, and military ties with Burma and continues to 

strengthen these ties in spite of serious human rights 

abuses and house arrest of Noble Peace Price winner 

Daw Aung Saan Suu Kyi; 

Whereas China also vetoed a United Nations Security Council 

resolution on human rights in Burma; 

Whereas according to Amnesty International, China holds 

more than a quarter of a million people under the ‘‘ReEducation through Labor’’ detention system in labor 

camps, without benefit of charge or trial; 

Whereas local police officers in China are empowered to imprison people under this detention system; 

Whereas in the face of a serious food shortage and political 

repression, thousands of North Koreans have fled across 

the border to China; 


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Whereas hundreds, possibly thousands, of North Koreans 

have been detained by the Chinese authorities and forcibly returned across the border where they face arbitrary 

detention, torture, and even summary execution; 

Whereas China continues to hold the 11th Panchen Lama, 

who was selected by the Dalai Lama; 

Whereas the Panchen Lama was only 6 years old when the 

he was taken away by the Chinese authorities and is held 

in a secret location; 

Whereas according to Amnesty International, China continues to execute political prisoners and nonviolent offenders, and accounts for over 80 percent of all executions documented in the world, and China also harvests 

organs from executed prisoners, frequently without consent; 

Whereas China continues to allow forced abortion and sterilization to enforce its ‘‘One Child’’ policy, as per family 

population control measures; 

Whereas according to United States Department of State’s 

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2006, 

the Chinese Government’s birth planning policies retain 

harshly coercive elements in law and practice; 

Whereas the laws restrict the rights of families to choose the 

number of children they have and the period of time between births; 

Whereas the penalties for violating these laws are strict, leaving some women little choice but to abort pregnancies; 

Whereas in addition, the implementation of these laws by 

local officials has resulted in serious violations of human 

rights; 


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Whereas reports of forced sterilization and abortions, in violation of the national law, continue to be documented in 

rural areas; 

Whereas in 2007, officials in Chongqing municipality and in 

Fujian Province reportedly forcibly sterilized women; 

Whereas according to the Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2006, the Chinese 

Government consistently blocked access to Internet sites 

it deemed controversial, such as sites discussing Tibetan 

independence, underground religious and spiritual organizations, democracy activists, and the 1989 Tiananmen 

massacre; 

Whereas the Chinese Government at times blocked access to 

selected Internet sites operated by major foreign news 

outlets, health organizations, and educational institutions; 

Whereas China’s Internet control system reportedly employs 

tens of thousands of persons; 

Whereas according to the Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2006, sexual and 

physical abuse and extortion were reported in some detention centers; 

Whereas Falun Gong activists reported that police raped female practitioners, including an incident in November 

2005 at the Dongchengfang police station in Tunzhou 

City, Hebei Province, in which two women were raped 

while in detention; 

Whereas according to Amnesty International, China executes 

political prisoners from the Uighur ethnic minority in the 

Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region; 

Whereas there are concerns that abuses committed against 

Uighur ethnic minority could amount to genocide; 


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Whereas according to the Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2006, the Chinese 

Government has not provided a comprehensive, credible 

account of all those killed, missing, or detained in connection with the violent suppression of the 1989 Tiananmen 

demonstrations; 

Whereas there are nongovernmental organization reports of 

hundreds, if not thousands, who died during the crackdown against the Tiananmen demonstrations; 

Whereas according the Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2006, since the 

crackdown on Falun Gong began in 1999, estimates of 

the numbers of Falun Gong adherents who have died in 

custody because of torture, abuse, and neglect range from 

several hundred to a few thousand; 

Whereas in March 2006, United Nations Special Rapporteur 

Manfred Nowak reported that Falun Gong practitioners 

accounted for 66 percent of victims of alleged torture 

while in custody by the Chinese Government; 

Whereas according to the Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2006, regulations 

for committing a person into the psychiatric facility at 

Ankang, China, were not clear; 

Whereas credible reports indicate that a number of political 

and trade union activists, underground religious believers, 

persons who repeatedly petitioned the Chinese Government, members of the banned China Democratic Party, 

and Falun Gong adherents were incarcerated in such psychiatric facilities during 2006; 

Whereas China is preparing to host the Summer Olympic 

Games in August 2008, the most honorable, venerated, 


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and prestigious international sporting event, and China 

has selected ‘‘One World, One Dream’’ as a slogan for 

those games; 

Whereas China should act consistently with the Olympic 

standard of preserving human dignity for its citizens and 

for the people of the Dafur region of Sudan, Burma, and 

North Korea; 

Whereas the spirit of the Olympics, which is to bring together 

nations and people from all over the world in peace, is 

incompatible with Chinese actions; and 

Whereas China continues to seriously abuse the rights of its 

citizens and continues to assist Sudan, Burma, and 

North Korea in committing human rights abuses against 

their citizens: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That— 

2 (1) it is the duty and responsibility of the 

3 United States to take effective steps to stop serious 

4 human rights abuses by the Government of the Peo5 ple’s Republic of China against its citizens and to 

6 stop the Chinese Government from supporting seri7 ous human rights abuses by Sudan, Burma, and 

8 North Korea against their citizens; and 

9 (2) it is the sense of the House of Representa10 tives that the United States Government should take 

11 immediate steps to boycott the Summer Olympic 

12 Games in Beijing in August 2008 unless the Chinese 

13 Government stops engaging in serious human rights 

14 abuses against its citizens and stops supporting seriVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:00 Aug 03, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR608.IH HR608

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1 ous human rights abuses by the Governments of 

2 Sudan, Burma, and North Korea against their citi3 zens. 

Æ 


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