III 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 155 

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

Republic of China should immediately cease engaging in acts of cultural, 

linguistic, and religious suppression directed against the Uyghur people. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 21, 2009 

Mr. BROWN (for himself and Mr. INHOFE) submitted the following resolution; 

which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the Government 

of the People’s Republic of China should immediately 

cease engaging in acts of cultural, linguistic, and religious suppression directed against the Uyghur people. 

Whereas protecting the human rights of minority groups is 

consistent with the actions of a responsible member of 

the international community; 

Whereas recent actions taken against the Uyghur minority by 

authorities in the People’s Republic of China and, specifically, by local officials in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, have included major violations of human 

rights and acts of cultural suppression; 

Whereas the authorities of the People’s Republic of China 

have manipulated the strategic objectives of the interVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:31 May 22, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR155.IS SR155

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•SRES 155 IS 

national war on terrorism to increase their cultural and 

religious oppression of the Muslim population residing in 

the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; 

Whereas an official campaign to encourage the migration of 

Han Chinese people into the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region has resulted in the Uyghur population becoming a minority in the Uyghur traditional homeland 

and has placed immense pressure on people and organizations that are seeking to preserve the linguistic, cultural, 

and religious traditions of the Uyghur people; 

Whereas, pursuant to a new policy of the Government of the 

People’s Republic of China, young Uyghur women are recruited and forcibly relocated to work in factories in 

urban areas in far-off eastern provinces, resulting in tens 

of thousands of Uyghur women being separated from 

their families and placed into substandard working conditions thousands of miles from their homes; 

Whereas the legal system of the People’s Republic of China 

is used as a tool of repression, including to arbitrarily detain and torture Uyghurs who have only voiced discontent 

with the Government of the People’s Republic of China; 

Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China 

continues to charge innocent Uyghurs with political 

crimes and to impose the death penalty on those Uyghurs 

and other political dissidents, contrary to international 

humanitarian standards; 

Whereas the People’s Republic of China is implementing a 

monolingual Chinese language education system that undermines the linguistic basis of Uyghur culture by 

transitioning minority students from education in their 

mother tongue to education in Chinese, shifting dramatiVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:31 May 22, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR155.IS SR155

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•SRES 155 IS 

cally away from past policies that provided choice for the 

Uyghur people; and 

Whereas there have been recent armed crackdowns throughout the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region against the 

entire Uyghur population: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the 

2 Government of the People’s Republic of China should— 

3 (1) recognize, and seek to ensure, the linguistic, 

4 cultural, and religious rights of the Uyghur people 

5 of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; 

6 (2) immediately release all Uyghur political and 

7 religious prisoners that are being held without good 

8 cause or evidence, whether those prisoners are held 

9 in prisons or are under house arrest; 

10 (3) cease harassment and intimidation of family 

11 members and innocent associates of peaceful Uyghur 

12 political activists; and 

13 (4) immediately cease all Government-sponsored 

14 violence and crackdowns against people in the 

15 Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, including 

16 against people involved in peaceful protests or reli17 gious or political expression. 

Æ 


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