IV

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 73

Expressing the sense of Congress that the 2008 Olympic Games should

not be held in Beijing unless the Government of the People’s Republic

of China releases all political prisoners, ratifies the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and observes internationally recognized human rights.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 21, 2001

Mr. LANTOS (for himself, Mr. COX, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr.

BROWN of Ohio, Mr. BLAGOJEVICH, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. WOLF, Mr. HORN,

Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. HOYER, Mr. EVANS,

Mr. FRANK, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. WYNN, Mr. HOEFFEL,

Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. WAMP, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. DELAY, Mr.

FALEOMAVAEGA, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania,

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. PALLONE,

Mr. BONIOR, Ms. BERKLEY, Ms. LEE, Mr. STRICKLAND, Mr. JONES of

North Carolina, Mr. STARK, Mr. KIRK, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. GEPHARDT, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. GOODE,

Mr. SOUDER, Mr. TANCREDO, Mr. DEMINT, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. SCHAFFER, Mr. HOSTETTLER, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. DOOLITTLE,

Mr. SHADEGG, and Mr. PENCE) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of Congress that the 2008 Olympic

Games should not be held in Beijing unless the Government of the People’s Republic of China releases all political prisoners, ratifies the International Covenant on Civil

and Political Rights, and observes internationally recognized human rights.
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•HCON 73 IH

Whereas the International Olympic Committee is in the process of determining the venue of the Olympic Games in

the year 2008 and is scheduled to make that decision at

the IOC meeting scheduled for Moscow in July 2001;

Whereas the city of Beijing has made a proposal to the International Olympic Committee that the summer Olympic

Games in the year 2008 be held in Beijing;

Whereas the Olympic Charter states that Olympism and the

Olympic ideal seek to foster ‘‘respect for universal fundamental ethical principles’’;

Whereas the United Nations General Assembly Resolution

48/11 (October 25, 1993) recognized ‘‘that the Olympic

goal of the Olympic Movement is to build a peaceful and

better world by educating the youth of the world through

sport, practiced without discrimination of any kind and

the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding,

promoted by friendship, solidarity and fair play’’;

Whereas United National General Assembly Resolution 50/13

(November 7, 1995) stressed ‘‘the importance of the

principles of the Olympic charter, according to which any

form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, sex or otherwise

is incompatible with the Olympic Movement’’;

Whereas the Department of State’s Country Reports on

Human Rights Practices for 2000 reports the following:

(1) ‘‘The [Chinese] government continued to commit

widespread and well-documented human rights abuses, in

violation of internationally accepted norms.’’.

(2) ‘‘Abuses included instances of extra judicial

killings, the use of torture, forced confessions, arbitrary

arrest and detention, the mistreatment of prisoners,
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lengthy incommunicado detention, and denial of due process.’’.

(3) ‘‘The Government infringed on citizens’ privacy

rights.’’.

(4) ‘‘The Government maintained tight restrictions

on freedom of speech and of the press, and increased its

efforts to control the Internet; self-censorship by journalists continued.’’.

(5) ‘‘The Government severely restricted freedom of

assembly and continued to restrict freedom of association.’’.

(6) ‘‘The Government continued to restrict freedom

of religion and intensified controls on some unregistered

churches.’’.

(7) ‘‘The Government continued to restrict freedom

of movement.’’.

(8) ‘‘The Government does not permit independent

domestic nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to monitor publicly human rights conditions.’’.

(9) ‘‘[The Government has not stopped] violence

against women (including coercive family planning practices—which sometimes include forced abortion and

forced sterilization).’’.

(10) ‘‘The Government continued to restrict tightly

worker rights, and forced labor in prison facilities remains a serious problem. Child labor exists and appears

to be a growing problem in rural areas as adult workers

leave for better employment opportunities in urban

areas.’’.

(11) ‘‘Some minority groups, particularly Tibetan

Buddhists and Muslim Uighurs, came under increasing

pressure as the Government clamped down on dissent

and ‘separatist’ activities.’’;
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Whereas the egregious human rights abuses committed by

the Government of the People’s Republic of China are inconsistent with the Olympic ideal;

Whereas 119 Chinese dissidents and relatives of imprisoned

political prisoners, from 22 provinces and cities, issued

an open letter on January 16, 2001, signed at enormous

political risk which expresses the ‘‘grief and indignation

for each of China’s political prisoners and their families’’,

asks the Chinese Government to release all of China’s political prisoners, and asserts that the release of China’s

political prisoners will improve ‘‘Beijing’s stature in its

bid for the 2008 Olympics’’; and

Whereas, although the Government of the People’s Republic

of China signed the International Covenant on Civil and

Political Rights in 1998, but has failed to ratify the treaty, and has indicated that it will not fully implement the

recently ratified International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That the Congress—

3 (1) acknowledges and supports the January 16,

4 2001, open letter released by Chinese dissidents and

5 the families of imprisoned Chinese political prisoners

6 stating that the release of China’s political prisoners

7 would improve Beijing’s stature in its bid to host the

8 2008 Olympic Games;

9 (2) expresses the view that, consistent with its

10 stated principles, the International Olympic Com11 mittee should not award the 2008 Olympics to Bei-
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1 jing unless the Government of the People’s Republic

2 of China releases all of China’s political prisoners,

3 ratifies the International Covenant on Civil and Po4 litical Rights without major reservations, fully imple5 ments the International Covenant on Economic, So6 cial and Cultural Rights, and observes internation7 ally recognized human rights;

8 (3) calls for the creation of an international

9 Beijing Olympic Games Human Rights Campaign in

10 the event that Beijing receives the Olympics to focus

11 international pressure on the Government of the

12 People’s Republic of China to grant a general am13 nesty for all political prisoners prior to the com14 mencement of the 2008 Olympics as well as to ratify

15 the International Covenant on Civil and Political

16 Rights;

17 (4) calls on the Secretary of State to endorse

18 publicly the creation of the Beijing Olympic Games

19 Human Rights Campaign in the event that Beijing

20 receives the Olympics, and to utilize all necessary

21 diplomatic resources to encourage other nations to

22 endorse and support the campaign as well, focusing

23 particular attention on member states of the Euro24 pean Union and the Association of Southeast Asian

25 Nations (ASEAN), Japan, Canada, Australia, the
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1 Nordic countries, and all other countries engaged in

2 human rights dialogue with China;

3 (5) requests that the President, during his ex4 pected participation in the Asia-Pacific Economic

5 Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Summit in Shanghai

6 in October 2001, call for the release of all Chinese

7 political prisoners and Chinese ratification of the

8 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;

9 (6) recommends that the Congressional-Execu10 tive Commission on the People’s Republic of China,

11 established under title III of the U.S.-China Rela12 tions Act of 2000 (Public Law 106–286), devote sig13 nificant resources to monitoring any violations of the

14 rights of political dissidents and political prisoners,

15 or other increased abuses of internationally-recog16 nized human rights, in the preparation to the 2008

17 Olympic Games and during the Olympic Games

18 themselves; and

19 (7) directs the Clerk of the House of Represent20 atives to transmit a copy of this resolution to the

21 senior International Olympic Committee representa22 tive in the United States with the request that it be

23 circulated to all members of the Committee.

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