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92_SR0270
LRB9210784RHrh
1 SENATE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, Falun Gong is a peaceful and nonviolent form of
3 personal belief and practice with millions of adherents in
4 China and elsewhere; and
5 WHEREAS, The Government of the People's Republic of China
6 has forbidden Falun Gong practitioners from practicing their
7 beliefs; and
8 WHEREAS, This prohibition violates China's own
9 constitution as well as the International Covenant on Civil
10 and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human
11 Rights; and
12 WHEREAS, Thousands of ordinary citizens from all over
13 China have been jailed for refusing to give up their practice
14 of Falun Gong and for appealing to the government for
15 protection of their constitutional rights; and
16 WHEREAS, There are many credible reports of torture and
17 other cruel, degrading, and inhuman treatment of detained
18 Falun Gong practitioners; and
19 WHEREAS, The People's Republic of China has enacted new
20 criminal legislation that the government's official newspaper
21 hailed as a "powerful new weapon to smash evil cultist
22 organizations, especially Falun Gong"; and
23 WHEREAS, Some of the detained Falun Gong members have
24 been charged with political offenses, such as violations of
25 China's vague "official state secrets" law, and under the new
26 legislation Falun Gong practitioners will be chargeable with
27 such offenses as murder, fraud, and endangering national
28 security; and
29 WHEREAS, Other Falun Gong members have been sentenced to
30 labor camps, apparently under administrative procedures
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1 allowing such sentences without trial; and
2 WHEREAS, Chinese authorities in recent months have
3 reportedly confiscated, burned, or otherwise destroyed
4 millions of Falun Gong books and tapes; and
5 WHEREAS, Thousands of Falun Gong practitioners in China
6 have lost their jobs, and students have been expelled from
7 schools for refusing to give up their beliefs; and
8 WHEREAS, The brutal crackdown by the Chinese Government
9 on Falun Gong is in direct violation of the fundamental human
10 rights to freedom of personal belief and practice,
11 expression, and assembly; therefore be it
12 RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SECOND GENERAL
13 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we believe that the
14 Government of the People's Republic of China should stop
15 persecuting Falun Gong practitioners; and be it further
16 RESOLVED, That the Government of the United States should
17 use every appropriate public and private forum, including but
18 not limited to the United Nations Human Rights Commission, to
19 urge the Government of the People's Republic of China to
20 release from detention all Falun Gong practitioners and put
21 an immediate end to the practices of torture and other cruel,
22 inhuman, and degrading treatment against them and other
23 prisoners of conscience, to allow Falun Gong practitioners to
24 pursue their personal beliefs in accordance with article 36
25 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, and to
26 abide by the International Covenant on Civil and Political
27 Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and be
28 it further
29 RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
30 presented to the President of the United States, the United
31 States Secretary of State, and the members of the Illinois
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1 congressional delegation.