[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 342 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 342
Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the practice of
politically motivated imprisonment of women around the world and
calling on governments for the immediate release of women who are
political prisoners.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
August 7, 2021
Mr. Menendez (for himself, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Markey, Mr.
Merkley, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Van Hollen, Mrs. Shaheen, and Mr. Coons)
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee
on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the practice of
politically motivated imprisonment of women around the world and
calling on governments for the immediate release of women who are
political prisoners.
Whereas Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees the
right to life, liberty, and security of person, Article 9 of the
Declaration prohibits arbitrary arrests or detentions, and Article 18 of
the Declaration guarantees the right to freedom of thought, conscience,
and religion;
Whereas women around the world face enormous risks when seeking to advance human
rights and pursue progress for their communities, including--
(1) discriminatory policies and attitudes;
(2) repressive governments;
(3) abusive authorities; and
(4) critical threats to their health, especially amid the COVID-19
pandemic;
Whereas women activists around the world are being unjustly or wrongfully
detained in order to silence their voices and end their activism;
Whereas women journalists are being unjustly or wrongfully detained for speaking
truth to power and exposing corruption and abuses by governments and
other authorities;
Whereas, according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights, many women detainees face inhumane and degrading treatment
upon arrest, including threats of rape, invasive body searches, and
humiliations of a sexual nature, and once unjustly imprisoned, many
women are subjected to sexual violence and other forms of torture at the
hands of security forces;
Whereas the COVID-19 pandemic presents a severe threat to women who are detained
unjustly and who are often housed in overcrowded prisons with limited
access to medical care, which can convert unjust prison sentences into
death sentences for vulnerable, detained women;
Whereas the People's Republic of China has waged a brutal campaign to suppress
political dissent and vibrant ethnic minority communities;
Whereas the People's Republic of China has suppressed and detained human rights
defenders and journalists, including--
(1) Li Yuhan, a human rights lawyer jailed for representing cases
concerning freedom of belief and access to government information, who has
been subject to verbal abuse and other mistreatment while held in extended
pre-trial detention; and
(2) Zhang Zhan, a citizen-journalist sentenced to 4 years in prison for
reporting on COVID-19 in Wuhan;
Whereas the People's Republic of China has subjected Uyghurs and other ethnic
minorities in Xinjiang to mass surveillance, forced labor, forced birth
control, forced sterilization, coerced abortion, sexual assault, rape,
unjust or wrongful detainment, and extrajudicial internment, including--
(1) Rahile Dawut, a professor of traditional Uyghur culture and
recipient of the 2020 ``Courage to Think'' award, who has been held
incommunicado since her disappearance in December 2017;
(2) Gulmira Imin, a former Uyghur-language website administrator and
writer, who is serving out a 19-year sentence for her alleged role in
organizing demonstrations in 2009 and her online criticism of Chinese
repression of the Uyghurs; and
(3) Nigare Abdushukur, who was sentenced to 19 years imprisonment after
calling her brother in Germany to tell him about their mother's detention;
Whereas the People's Republic of China has targeted Tibetans for peaceful
political or cultural expression, including--
(1) Bonkho Kyi, who was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment for
organizing a picnic celebration for His Holiness the Dalai Lama's 80th
birthday; and
(2) Yeshe Choedron, who was sentenced in 2008 to 15 years imprisonment
for allegedly contacting the Tibetan government in exile after
participating in the 2008 Lhasa protests;
Whereas the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong has been subjected to harsh
government persecution at the direction of the People's Republic of
China, and activists have been unjustly jailed, including Quinn Moon,
who was among 12 activists captured while trying to flee persecution in
Hong Kong and was subsequently sentenced to 2 years in prison;
Whereas, in Iran, human rights defenders have been steadfast in their advocacy
despite repeated abuse and arrest by authorities, including currently
detained human rights activists--
(1) Nasrin Sotoudeh, who spoke out against the death penalty and laws
forcing women to wear hijabs and who has recently been returned to prison
after a medical leave despite serious health conditions; and
(2) Atena Daemi, a human rights activist who has been sentenced to an
additional 2 years in prison and 74 lashes for participating in a peaceful
sit-in protest in Evin prison during her initial 5-year sentence;
Whereas Iranian authorities have also recently arrested and imprisoned
environmentalists working for the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation,
including Sepideh Kashani and Niloufar Bayani, who previously worked for
the United Nations Environment Programme, subjecting them to torture and
threats of sexual assault;
Whereas Turkey is the world's second worst jailer of journalists, with 37
journalists imprisoned in 2020 alone, including--
(1) Hatice Duman, owner and editor at Atilim, which published
editorials condemning President Erdogan's policies; and
(2) Aysenur Parildak, journalist for Zaman;
Whereas the Government of Egypt has attempted to quash dissent by jailing and
abusing human rights defenders, including Sanaa Seif, who was detained
while filing a complaint at the Public Prosecutor's office regarding her
violent assault outside Cairo's Tora prison, which houses her brother,
who is a political activist;
Whereas Belarusian authorities, as a means of silencing popular protests, have
attacked and jailed journalists, human rights defenders, and members of
civil society, including--
(1) Katsiaryna Bakhvalova and Darya Chultsova, 2 members of the media
covering anti-Lukashenko protests who were sentenced to 2 years in prison
for ``organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order'';
(2) Yulia Slutskaya, founder of a nongovernmental organization that
investigates government persecution of journalists covering protests;
(3) Maryia Kalesnikava, a prominent Belarusian opposition leader
abducted and charged with incitement to undermine national security for her
pro-democracy advocacy; and
(4) Marfa Rabkova, a human rights defender targeted for observing
demonstrations and documenting evidence of law enforcement officials
torturing peaceful protestors;
Whereas Saudi Arabian women's rights and human rights activist Maya'a al-Zahrani
remains wrongfully imprisoned;
Whereas the Government of Nicaragua has detained human rights defenders Maria
Esperanza Sanchez and Karla Vanessa Escobar Maldonado in terrible
conditions for their participation in demonstrations in 2018;
Whereas Senator Leila de Lima remains unjustly imprisoned in the Philippines for
her vocal criticism of extrajudicial killings carried out during
President Duterte's ``war on drugs'';
Whereas the Government of Vietnam has jailed civil and human rights activist
Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hanh and journalist Pham Thi Doan Trang for their
peaceful work to preserve and expand rights afforded to Vietnamese
citizens; and
Whereas in Eritrea, political dissident Aster Fissehatsion and dual United
States-Eritrean national Ciham Ali have been held incommunicado without
charge or trial since 2001 and 2012, respectively: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) supports women who are being unjustly or wrongfully
detained around the world;
(2) affirms that a government should never detain its
citizens for exercising the rights of freedom of assembly,
association, and speech;
(3) calls on governments that are unjustly or wrongfully
detaining women for exercising their fundamental rights to
immediately and unconditionally release these political
prisoners; and
(4) urges the United States Government, in all its
interactions with foreign governments--
(A) to raise individual cases of women political
prisoners; and
(B) to press for the immediate release of such
political prisoners.
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