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[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 232 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 232

 Recognizing the continued persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in 
China on the 12th anniversary of the campaign by the Chinese Communist 
  Party to suppress the Falun Gong movement, recognizing the Tuidang 
 movement whereby Chinese citizens renounce their ties to the Chinese 
Communist Party and its affiliates, and calling for an immediate end to 
          the campaign to persecute Falun Gong practitioners.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 13, 2011

   Mr. Menendez (for himself and Mr. Coburn) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
 Recognizing the continued persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in 
China on the 12th anniversary of the campaign by the Chinese Communist 
  Party to suppress the Falun Gong movement, recognizing the Tuidang 
 movement whereby Chinese citizens renounce their ties to the Chinese 
Communist Party and its affiliates, and calling for an immediate end to 
          the campaign to persecute Falun Gong practitioners.

Whereas Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) is a Chinese spiritual discipline 
        founded by Li Hongzhi in 1992 that consists of spiritual and moral 
        teachings, meditation, and exercise based upon the universal principles 
        of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance;
Whereas, during the mid-1990s, Falun Gong acquired a large and diverse 
        following, with as many as 70,000,000 practitioners at its peak;
Whereas, on April 25, 1999, an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 Falun Gong 
        practitioners gathered in Beijing to protest growing restrictions by the 
        Government of the People's Republic of China on the activities of Falun 
        Gong practitioners, and the Government of the People's Republic of China 
        responded with an intensive, comprehensive, and unforgiving campaign 
        against the movement that began on July 20, 1999, with the outlawing of 
        Falun Gong;
Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China has stated that it 
        fully respects and protects citizen's freedom of religion in accordance 
        with the law, but that ``Falun Gong is neither a religion nor a 
        spiritual movement; rather it is an evil cult against humanity, science 
        and society'';
Whereas, on October 30, 1999, China's National People's Congress promulgated an 
        ``anti-cult'' law (article 300 of the Criminal Law), effective 
        retroactively, to suppress the Falun Gong movement and thousands of 
        religious sects across the country;
Whereas, since 1999, more than 6,000 Falun Gong practitioners have reportedly 
        served time in prison, with estimates of those in reeducation through 
        labor camps reaching as many as 125,000 people, and Falun Gong 
        practitioners are said to constitute approximately two-thirds of all 
        prisoners and detainees of conscience in China (roughly 15,000 people);
Whereas the publication of ``Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party'' in 
        November 2004 by the United States-based newspaper, the Epoch Times, led 
        to the creation of the Tuidang movement;
Whereas the Tuidang movement, which translates literally as ``withdraw from the 
        communist party'', has encouraged as many as 90,000,000 people to 
        publicly renounce their membership in the Chinese Communist Party and 
        its affiliates since 2004;
Whereas, in the lead up to and during the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, 
        authorities conducted propaganda campaigns portraying ``cults'' like 
        Falun Gong as ``dangers'' to society that ``wreck families'' and 
        ``poison the minds of youth'', carried out strict surveillance of 
        practitioners, and detained and imprisoned large numbers of 
        practitioners;
Whereas, according to estimates by the Department of State and human rights 
        organizations, since 1999, from several hundred to a few thousand Falun 
        Gong adherents have died in custody from torture, abuse, and neglect;
Whereas a review of the Government of the People's Republic of China by the 
        United Nations Human Rights Council's Working Group on the Universal 
        Periodic Review in February 2009 reiterated concerns regarding human 
        rights violations against Falun Gong practitioners, including arrests, 
        detention, torture, and reeducation through labor camps;
Whereas the Department of State's 2010 Human Rights Report on China cited 
        reports of Falun Gong adherents being committed to mental health 
        facilities, medicated against their will, and forcibly subjected to 
        electric shock treatment;
Whereas the Department of State's 2010 Human Rights Report on China stated that 
        the Government of the People's Republic of China automatically censored 
        e-mail and web chats based on an ever-changing list of sensitive key 
        words, such as ``Falun Gong'', and periodically blocked the blogs of a 
        number of prominent activists, artists, scholars, and university 
        professors; and
Whereas the 2010 Annual Report of the Congressional-Executive Commission on 
        China found that lawyers involved in human rights advocacy work--
        including in legal cases involving Falun Gong practitioners and others 
        deemed by the Government of the People's Republic of China to threaten 
        ``social stability''--have been harassed by the Government of the 
        People's Republic of China based on who their clients are and the causes 
        those clients represent: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) expresses solidarity with Falun Gong practitioners and 
        their families for the lives, freedoms, and rights they lost 
        for adhering to their beliefs and practices;
            (2) calls upon the Chinese Communist Party to immediately 
        cease and desist from its campaign to persecute Falun Gong 
        practitioners and promptly release all Falun Gong practitioners 
        who have been confined, detained, or imprisoned in retaliation 
        for pursuing their right to hold and exercise spiritual 
        beliefs;
            (3) emphasizes to the Government of the People's Republic 
        of China that freedom of religion includes the right of Falun 
        Gong practitioners to freely practice Falun Gong in China;
            (4) calls upon the President, the Secretary of State, and 
        Members of Congress to--
                    (A) mark the anniversary of the Government of the 
                People's Republic of China's official repression of the 
                Falun Gong spiritual movement;
                    (B) express solidarity with persecuted Falun Gong 
                practitioners in China; and
                    (C) meet with Falun Gong practitioners; and
            (5) expresses support for volunteers and participants of 
        the Tuidang movement for their peaceful efforts to reclaim 
        Chinese history and culture, and for their pursuit of a fair 
        and open government, a free people, and a society rooted in the 
        practice of virtue.
                                 <all>
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