SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 06

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 06-027

BY SENATOR(S) Entz, Kester, Mitchell, Wiens, Boyd, Evans, Fitz-Gerald,
Groff, Isgar, Johnson, Lamborn, Owen, Sandoval, Shaffer, Spence,
Taylor, Teck, Tochtrop, Traylor, Tupa, Williams, and Windels;
also REPRESENTATIVE(S) Penry, Cloer, Carroll T., Lundberg, Harvey,
Stafford, Schultheis, Liston, Romanoff, Berens, Balmer, Benefield,
Buescher, Butcher, Cadman, Carroll M., Cerbo, Clapp, Coleman, Crane,
Curry, Frangas, Gallegos, Garcia, Gardner, Green, Hall, Hefley, Hoppe,
Jahn, Kerr A., Kerr J., King, Knoedler, Larson, Marshall, Massey, May M.,
McCluskey, McFadyen, McKinley, Merrifield, Ragsdale, Riesberg, Solano,
Soper, Sullivan, Todd, Vigil, Weissmann, Welker, White, and Witwer.

CONCERNING CONDEMNATION OF THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT'S

PERSECUTION OF PRACTITIONERS OF FALUN GONG.

WHEREAS, Falun Gong is a peaceful spiritual movement that

originated in the People's Republic of China and has grown rapidly

worldwide, including thousands of practitioners in the United States; and

WHEREAS, Falun Gong encourages its practitioners to cultivate

"truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance"; and

WHEREAS, The Constitution of the People's Republic of China

provides to its citizens freedom of speech, assembly, association, and

religious belief; and

WHEREAS, Falun Gong practitioners, as well as members of

pro-democracy groups and advocates of human rights reform, have become

targets of severe government persecution in China in violation of China's

own laws; and

WHEREAS, The 2005 United States Department of State's annual report

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on International Religious Freedom cited the Chinese government's

persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China; and

WHEREAS, A 2005 press release from the United Nations Special

Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, referred to continuing ill-treatment

and torture of Chinese ethnic minorities, political dissidents, and religious

groups, including practitioners of Falun Gong; and

WHEREAS, Falun Gong practitioners report first-hand of the Chinese

government's terror campaign, which survivors say includes persecution,

arrests, imprisonment, torture, and murder; and

WHEREAS, Recent reports from Chinese journalists describe a hospital

in Sujiatun, a suburb of Shenyeng in northeast China, that serves as a

concentration camp for 6,000 Falun Gong practitioners and in which the

medical staff performs experiments on detainees, including harvesting

organs to be sold; and

WHEREAS, In addition to persecution in China, Falun Gong followers

in the United States report that they have been victims of spying,

harassment, intimidation, and violence by agents of the Chinese

government; and

WHEREAS, The United States Constitution guarantees to its citizens

freedom of religion, association, and speech, which allows Americans to

live without fear and in accordance with their personal beliefs; now,

therefore,

Be It Resolved by the Senate of the Sixty-fifth General Assembly of the

State of Colorado, the House of Representatives concurring herein:

(1) That we, the members of the Sixty-fifth General Assembly, strongly

urge the government of the People's Republic of China to:

(a) End immediately the harassment, detention, physical abuse, and

imprisonment of its own citizens who exercise their legitimate rights to

freedom of religion, speech, and association; and

(b) Cease its interference in the constitutionally guaranteed religious

and political freedoms of United States citizens who practice Falun Gong;

and

(2) That, in order to encourage China to respect the religious freedom

of its citizens, we urge the government of the United States to:

(a) Issue an official, public, diplomatic statement to the Chinese Foreign

Ministry condemning China's repeated violations of basic human rights

protected in international covenants to which the People's Republic of

China is a signatory;

(b) Work with Chinese human rights activists, including practitioners

of Falun Gong, to identify any Chinese authorities who have been

responsible for acts of violence and persecution against Falun Gong

followers in the United States; and

and agents in the United States and determine an appropriate legal response.

Be It Further Resolved, That copies of this Joint Resolution be sent to

George W. Bush, President of the United States; Richard Cheney, Vice

President of the United States; Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State; Bill

Frist, Senate Majority Leader; Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House of

Representatives; His Excellency Zhou Wenzhong, the Ambassador of the

People's Republic of China to the United States; Bill Owens, Governor of