IV

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 218

Expressing the sense of the Congress that the Government of the People’s

Republic of China should stop its persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NOVEMBER 2, 1999

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. GILMAN, Mr.

GEJDENSON, Mr. WOLF, Mr. GEPHARDT, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. PORTER, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr.

MALONEY of Connecticut, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. PITTS, Mr. EVANS, Ms.

KAPTUR, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, and Mr. ACKERMAN) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the

Committee on International Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Congress that the Government

of the People’s Republic of China should stop its persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

Whereas Falun Gong is a peaceful and nonviolent form of religious belief and practice with millions of adherents in

China and elsewhere;

Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China

has forbidden Falun Gong practitioners to practice their

faith;
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HCON 218 IH

Whereas this prohibition violates China’s own Constitution as

well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political

Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

Whereas thousands of ordinary citizens from all over China

have been jailed for refusing to give up their practice of

Falun Gong and for appealing to the government for protection of their constitutional rights;

Whereas there are many credible reports of torture and other

cruel, degrading and inhuman treatment of detained

Falun Gong practitioners, including a report that a 42-

year-old woman, Zhao Jinhua, was tortured to death by

Chinese government officials;

Whereas the People’s Republic of China has enacted new

criminal legislation that the government’s official newspaper hailed as a ‘‘powerful new weapon to smash evil

cultist organizations, especially Falun Gong’’;

Whereas some of the detained Falun Gong members have

been charged with political offenses, such as violations of

China’s vague ‘‘official state secrets’’ law, and under the

new legislation Falun Gong practitioners will be chargeable with such offenses as murder, fraud, and endangering national security;

Whereas other Falun Gong members have been sentenced to

labor camps, apparently under administrative procedures

allowing such sentences without trial;

Whereas Chinese authorities in recent months have reportedly

confiscated, burned, or otherwise destroyed millions of

Falun Gong books and tapes;

Whereas thousands of Falun Gong practitioners in China

have lost their jobs and students have been expelled from

schools for refusing to give up their beliefs; and
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HCON 218 IH

Whereas the brutal crackdown by the Chinese Government on

Falun Gong is in direct violation of the fundamental

human rights to freedom of religious belief and practice,

expression, and assembly: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that—

3 (1) the Government of the People’s Republic of

4 China should stop persecuting Falun Gong practi5 tioners and other religious believers;

6 (2) the Government of the United States should

7 use every appropriate public and private forum, in8 cluding but not limited to the United Nations

9 Human Rights Commission, to urge the Government

10 of the People’s Republic of China—

11 (A) to release from detention all Falun

12 Gong practitioners and put an immediate end

13 to the practices of torture and other cruel, in14 human and degrading treatment against them

15 and other prisoners of conscience;

16 (B) to allow Falun Gong practitioners to

17 pursue their religious beliefs in accordance with

18 article 36 of the Constitution of the People’s

19 Republic of China; and
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HCON 218 IH

1 (C) to abide by the International Covenant

2 on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal

3 Declaration of Human Rights.

Æ