,,iv #aacth ,,congress #ast ,session ,h4 ,,res4 #cbg ,,in ,,the ,,house ,,of ,,representatives ,august #b1 #bjac ,mr4 ,bentivolio submitted the following resolution2 which was referred to the ,committee on ,foreign ,affairs ,,resolution ,expressing the sense of the ,house of ,representatives regarding ,china's membership in the ,united ,nations ,human ,rights ,council 7,,unhrc74 ,whereas the ,united ,states endorsed the ,charter of the ,united ,nations and the ,universal ,declaration of ,human ,rights1 and is a party to the ,convention ,against ,torture and the ,international ,covenant on ,civil and ,political ,rights1 and other relevant human rights instruments2 ,whereas the ,people's ,republic of ,china has ratified or signed the ,convention against ,torture and other ,cruel1 ,inhuman or ,degrading ,treatment or ,punishment1 the ,international ,covenant on ,civil and ,political ,rights1 and the ,international ,covenant on ,economic1 ,social and ,cultural ,rights2 ,whereas all ,united ,nations ,member ,states have an obligation to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms and the duty to fulfill the obligations they have undertaken under the various international instruments in this field2 ,whereas the ,people's ,republic of ,china has continually flouted its obligations under those instruments1 by actions such as its pervasive use of torture1 extra-judicial execution1 slave labor1 cultural degradation1 and routine refoulement of refugees from ,north ,korea despite the extreme likelihood that they will suffer torture and other inhuman treatment1 in violation of ,china's obligations as a signatory of the ,convention ,against ,torture2 ,whereas ,general ,assembly ,resolution #fj_/bea of ,march #ae1 #bjjf1 states that the ,united ,nations ,general ,assembly may suspend the rights of membership in the ,united ,nations ,human ,rights ,council 7,,unhrc7 of any member of the ,council that commits gross and systematic violations of human rights1 which manifests the incompatibility of such a ,united ,nations ,member ,state and membership on the ,,unhrc2 ,whereas the ,government of the ,people's ,republic of ,china continues to unlawfully imprison and abuse ,nobel ,peace ,prize laureate ,liu ,xiaobo1 and hold his wife ,liu ,xia under harsh house arrest2 ,whereas the ,people's ,republic of ,china has disappeared and severely mistreated prominent human rights lawyer ,gao ,zhisheng1 who went missing while in the custody of public security officials in ,february #bjji1 and is now imprisoned in ,china2 ,whereas the ,government of the ,people's ,republic of ,china brutalized and imprisoned blind1 human rights attorney ,chen ,guancheng1 who is now living free in the ,united ,states only because of strong demands for his liberty by both the ,united ,states ,department of ,state and ,congress1 while ,china continues to abuse1 incarcerate1 or prosecute his innocent relatives1 such as his nephew ,chen ,kegui2 ,whereas the ,government of the ,people's ,republic of ,china imprisons1 tortures1 intimidates1 and harasses individuals of various faiths for peacefully practicing their chosen religion1 including members of the ,protestant and ,catholic faiths1 such as ,ms4 ,yang ,rongli1 leader of a persecuted ,protestant house church1 who is serving an #h-year sentence for assembling a mob1 and ,uyghur religious leader ,abdukerim ,abduveli2 ,whereas the ,government of the ,people's ,republic of ,china1 in its campaign to reform practitioners of ,falun ,gong and to entirely extinguish that religion systematically uses long imprisonment1 torture1 and other inhumane treatment of practitioners and their family members1 often resulting in death1 solely because of adherence to their personal beliefs1 as stated in the prior near-unanimous #bjaj ,house ,resolution #fje1 including ,cao ,dong1 who has been detained on #d separate occasions for a total of #aj years1 and has been tortured severely during that time1 and ,dr4 ,charles ,lee1 a ,united ,states citizen who was released after years of imprisonment and torture only because of pressure by ,united ,states officials and human rights groups2 ,whereas the ,government of the ,people's ,republic of ,china brutally represses the cultural1 educational1 linguistic1 and religious rights of ethnic minorities1 using torture1 beatings1 imprisonment1 and inhumane treatment1 as illustrated by its violent actions against ,uyghurs1 ,mongols1 such as ,mr4 ,hada1 who is still detained after serving an unlawful #ae-year sentence and whose wife and son recently have been 8disappeared01 and against ,tibetans1 such as ,tenzin ,delek ,rinpoche1 a monk sentenced to life imprisonment1 which persecution has1 in the case of ,tibetans1 also induced numerous desperate monks to self-immolate2 ,whereas the ,government of the ,people's ,republic of ,china systematically denies its citizens freedom of expression and has incarcerated at least #bd ,chinese journalists1 including ,uyghur journalist ,gheyret ,niyaz1 who was sentenced to #ae years' imprisonment for publishing articles and giving an interview criticizing government persecution2 ,whereas hundreds of thousands of ,chinese dissidents and political prisoners have suffered from the ,government of the ,people's ,republic of ,china's use of illegal forms of detention1 including prolonged isolation through house arrest without legal grounds1 detention in unofficial black prisons1 incarceration without medical basis in psychiatric institutions1 and forced participation in brutal re-education programs2 ,whereas the ,united ,states ,department of ,state has designated the ,people's ,republic of ,china as a ,country of ,particular ,concern in regard to human rights violations every single year since #aiii1 including its consistent reporting of such violations in ,china1 and in special sections on ,tibet1 ,hong ,kong1 and ,macau2 ,whereas the ,united ,states ,commission on ,international ,religious ,freedom has continuously reported ,china's systematic and egregious violations of religious freedom1 and the ,congressional-,executive ,commission on ,china has constantly found1 and continues to find1 systematic and gross violations of human rights by ,china2 ,whereas independent human rights organizations such as ,amnesty ,international1 ,freedom ,house1 and ,human ,rights ,watch have all documented similar horrific human rights violations by the ,people's ,republic of ,china2 ,whereas many of the human rights violations committed by the ,government of the ,people's ,republic of ,china are also in violation of its own constitution and statutes1 which have often been subordinated to such catch-all statutes as section #aje of ,china's criminal code for incitement to subvert state power1 a law that is improperly used by ,china's repressive regime1 and which provisions also are undermined by more recent enactments of criminal procedure laws depriving accused persons of fair trial on false charges2 ,whereas during its previous membership on the ,,unhrc1 the ,people's ,republic of ,china repeatedly opposed and tried to impede efforts supported by the ,united ,states to effectively monitor or reduce human rights abuses in other countries2 ,whereas when the ,people's ,republic of ,china submitted its last required self-assessment of its claimed compliance with its obligations under the ,convention ,against ,torture1 that report was roundly disputed by international human rights groups as to its accuracy and omissions2 ,whereas the ,,unhrc's ,universal ,periodic ,review1 in which all ,united ,nations ,member ,states must participate1 is based upon the ,member's compliance with its obligations and commitments under the ,united ,nations ,charter1 the ,universal ,declaration of ,human ,rights1 and other human rights instruments to which it is a party2 ,whereas the ,state ,under ,review has the responsibility to implement all recommendations contained in the final review report1 but the ,,unhrc's ,mid-,term ,implementation ,assessment indicated that the ,people's ,republic of ,china had failed to implement #ga of the #ach ,,unhrc recommendations from its initial #bjji ,universal ,periodic ,review for ,china2 ,whereas the above-mentioned human rights violations and the many others systematically inflicted by the ,government of the ,people's ,republic of ,china1 as well as its prior efforts to undermine the work of the ,council and to hinder the ,committee ,against ,torture1 are blatantly incompatible with membership on the ,,unhrc2 ,whereas ,united ,states policy acknowledges that the ,united ,states and ,china have overlapping interests to pursue cooperatively1 but also acknowledges the ,united ,states' obligation to stand up for universal human rights and to speak out against their brutal repression2 ,whereas in the past1 the ,united ,states has been able to negotiate arms control and trade agreements with other countries while continuing to press them for human rights reform2 ,whereas the ,house of ,representatives acknowledges the ,united ,states friendship with the ,chinese people and the goal of pursuing shared national interests in combating true terrorism1 promoting economic stability1 and the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons1 but also remains gravely concerned about these gross and systematic violations of human rights by the ,government of the ,people's ,republic of ,china2 ,whereas countries that have openly confronted the human rights abuse by the ,people's ,republic of ,china1 such as ,norway1 which awarded the ,nobel ,peace ,prize to ,liu ,xiaobo over ,china's strong objection1 ,australia1 which sharply criticized its treatment of ,tibetans1 and the ,european ,union1 which condemned human rights abuse in ,china at the ,,unhrc meetings1 all subsequently enjoyed marked trade increases with ,china2 ,whereas the currently publicized reforms in the ,people's ,republic of ,china1 involve reforms of economic and governmental institutions or minor legal procedural improvements1 but there is no indication that they will extend to meaningful reform of human rights protection1 and1 in fact1 those reforms have been accompanied by intensified repression of human rights2 ,whereas the most recent instance of such intensified repression is a blatantly unfounded prosecution and severe #aa-year sentence of ,mr4 ,liu ,hui1 simply because he is a brother-in-law of ,nobel ,peace ,prize winner ,liu ,xiaobo1 which1 coming right after the summit between ,china's ,president ,xi ,jinping and ,president ,barack ,obama1 was a defiant rebuke to the ,united ,states2 ,whereas even the recent discussion in ,china of reform of so-called re-education labor camps is confined to punitive treatment of petty criminals and protesters about personal economic disputes1 rather than including the pervasive illegal detention of religious practitioners and ethnic or human rights protestors2 ,whereas although a number of current ,,unhrc members1 and prospective candidates for it1 have blemished human rights records1 the scope and intensity of human rights violations by a major country like the ,people's ,republic of ,china is so great that opposition to its renewed membership would send a strong signal to those other countries to change their behavior as well2 ,whereas the ,united ,states has previously opposed the candidacy of other countries for membership in the ,united ,nations ,human ,rights ,council because they had committed pervasive violations of human rights1 and has recently expressed strong opposition to the candidacies of ,iran and ,syria because of their human rights records2 ,whereas the ,united ,states1 at the urging of the ,congress1 has previously helped to improve the effectiveness and credibility of the ,,unhrc2 and ,whereas ,united ,states opposition to the ,people's ,republic of ,china's rejoining the ,council would be consistent with the congressional tradition of supporting the ,united ,nations while helping it to achieve one of its main goals1 namely1 the protection of human rights3 ,now1 therefore1 be it ,that it is the sense of the ,house of ,representatives that-- 7#a7 the ,united ,states ,government should strongly oppose and vote against the ,people's ,republic of ,china regaining membership in the ,united ,nations ,council on ,human ,rights 7,,unhrc7 and encourage other members to similarly vote against its election2 and 7#b7 the ,united ,states ,government should encourage a suitably qualified member to stand for election1 under the ,,unhrc procedures1 as alternate candidates from the ,asia-,pacific region4