III
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. CON. RES. 218
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
NOVEMBER 19, 1999
Received and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the Congress that the Government
of the People’s Republic of China should stop its persecu-
tion of Falun Gong practitioners.
Whereas Falun Gong is a peaceful and nonviolent form of
personal 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
beliefs;
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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 pro-
tection of their constitutional rights;
Whereas there are many credible reports of torture and other
cruel, degrading and inhuman treatment of detained
Falun Gong practitioners;
Whereas the People’s Republic of China has enacted new
criminal legislation that the government’s official news-
paper 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 charge-
able with such offenses as murder, fraud, and endan-
gering 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
Whereas the brutal crackdown by the Chinese Government on
Falun Gong is in direct violation of the fundamental
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human rights to freedom of personal belief and practice,
expression, and assembly: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that—
(1) the Government of the People’s Republic of
China should stop persecuting Falun Gong practi-
tioners; and
(2) the Government of the United States should
use every appropriate public and private forum, in-
cluding but not limited to the United Nations
Human Rights Commission, to urge the Government
of the People’s Republic of China—
(A) to release from detention all Falun
Gong practitioners and put an immediate end
to the practices of torture and other cruel, in-
human and degrading treatment against them
and other prisoners of conscience;
(B) to allow Falun Gong practitioners to
pursue their personal beliefs in accordance with
article 36 of the Constitution of the People’s
Republic of China; and
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(C) to abide by the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.
Passed the House of Representatives November 18,
1999.
Attest:
JEFF TRANDAHL,
Clerk.