[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 157 Engrossed in House (EH)]
In the House of Representatives, U.S.,
February 3, 2004.
Whereas for more than 1,000 years Tibet has maintained a sovereign national
identity that is distinct from the national identity of China;
Whereas armed forces of the People's Republic of China invaded Tibet in 1949 and
1950 and have occupied it since then;
Whereas according to the United States Department of State and international
human rights organizations, the Government of the People's Republic of
China continues to commit widespread and well-documented human rights
abuses in China and Tibet;
Whereas the People's Republic of China has yet to demonstrate its willingness to
abide by internationally accepted norms of freedom of belief,
expression, and association by repealing or amending laws and decrees
that restrict those freedoms;
Whereas the Chinese Government has detained hundreds of Tibetan nuns, monks and
lay persons as prisoners of conscience for their efforts in speaking out
against the Chinese occupation of Tibet;
Whereas on October 14, 1989, Phuntsog Nyidron, a Tibetan Buddhist nun, and 5
other nuns from the Michungri Nunnery were arrested in Lhasa after
chanting some slogans and marching in a procession as part of a peaceful
demonstration that they organized to protest the Chinese occupation of
Tibet;
Whereas Phuntsog Nyidron and the other nuns were kicked, beaten and given
electric shocks on their hands, shoulders, breasts, tongue, and face
while in Chinese custody;
Whereas in 1993, Phuntsog Nyidron and 13 other nuns secretly recorded songs
about Tibetan independence and smuggled the recordings out of Drapchi
prison;
Whereas the Chinese Government charged Phuntsog Nyidron with ``spreading
counter-revolutionary propaganda'' for her role in recording and
smuggling out the taped songs and, on October 9, 1993, extended her
prison sentence to 17 years, one of the longest reported sentences of
any female Tibetan political prisoner;
Whereas Phuntsog Nyidron was awarded the Reebok Human Rights Award in 1995;
Whereas Phuntsog Nyidron is just one of many individuals whom the Chinese
Government has held as a prisoner of conscience;
Whereas the Chinese Government continues to imprison individuals as prisoners of
conscience for their involvement in peaceful protests against the brutal
Chinese occupation of Tibet; and
Whereas the Chinese Government continues to exert control over religious and
cultural institutions in Tibet, abusing human rights through torture,
arbitrary arrest, and detention without public trial of Tibetans who
peacefully expressed their political or religious views: Now, therefore,
be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the
Government of the People's Republic of China should, as a gesture of goodwill
and in order to promote human rights, immediately release all prisoners of
conscience, including Phuntsog Nyidron.
Attest:
Clerk.