HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	281
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

DENOUNCING THE VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN TIBET.

     WHEREAS, Tibetans are regularly subject to human rights abuses, including disappearance, arbitrary arrest, and torture; and

     WHEREAS, degrading treatment and punishment of Tibetans takes many forms, including beatings, solitary confinement, and more sophisticated types of mistreatment, such as exposure to extreme temperatures; and

     WHEREAS, Tibetan women and children are subject to particular abuses, including sexual abuse, violation of their reproductive rights, and discrimination in education; and

     WHEREAS, Tibetans suffer racial discrimination in hiring and the Chinese government in Tibet has limited Tibetans' access to training and permits required to meaningfully participate in the business sector; and

     WHEREAS, the Chinese authorities restrict Tibetans' freedom to travel and move, occasionally by violent means; and

     WHEREAS, in Tibet, the government polices Buddhist and other religious practices, regulates construction of temples, curtails practitioners' association with each other, and allegedly restricts travel for religious pilgrimages; and

     WHEREAS, China interferes with Tibetans' civil liberties, including privacy and fee association, by censoring correspondence, and monitoring and disrupting telephone and e-mail services; and

     WHEREAS, China obscures the situation in Tibet by blocking internet sites that discuss Tibetan independence, jamming Tibetan-language broadcasts of the Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and the BBC, censoring publications that contain political information, and intimidating and punishing Chinese journalists writing about Tibet; and

     WHEREAS, the Chinese government has repeatedly blocked international nongovernmental organizations from assisting or observing human rights practices in Tibet; and

     WHEREAS, the United States federal government has urged China to respect the basic rights of all of its citizens, including those in Tibet, to peacefully express their opinions and culture, and to be free from arbitrary detention; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2009, that this body condemns the human rights violations in Tibet, and encourages the government of China to reconsider some of its policies towards Tibet with a view towards reconciling its differences in a peaceful and more humane manner; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the U.S. Secretary of State, the Chinese Ambassador to the United States, the Director General of the United Nations, and the Dalai Lama.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Tibet; human rights violations; condemnation