[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 220 Introduced in House (IH)]
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. CON. RES. 220
Concerning the response of the United States to forced abortion and the
coercive one-child policy in the People's Republic of China, and the
resulting ``gendercide'' of girls in that country.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 27, 2007
Mr. Smith of New Jersey submitted the following concurrent resolution;
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Concerning the response of the United States to forced abortion and the
coercive one-child policy in the People's Republic of China, and the
resulting ``gendercide'' of girls in that country.
Whereas since the 1980s the Government of the People's Republic of China (PRC)
has enforced a general one-child policy, which limits most women to
bearing one child, though some women in rural areas are permitted to
bear a second child, particularly if their first child is female;
Whereas the PRC Government coerces compliance with this policy by pervasive
propaganda, mandatory monitoring of women's reproductive cycles,
mandatory contraception, mandatory birth permits, mandatory
sterilization or contraceptive implantation, and government control of
birth spacing;
Whereas the PRC Government coerces compliance with this policy by punishing
failure to comply and refusal to abort ``out-of-plan'' children with
fines (called ``social compensation fees'') which often range from
roughly one-half to ten times the average Chinese annual income;
Whereas the PRC Government coerces compliance with this policy and pressures
women to abort ``out-of-plan'' children by means of job loss, group
punishments (imposing penalties or denying benefits to entire villages,
factories, and work units in the event of a single ``out-of-plan''
birth), and beating and abducting relatives of women who are pregnant
``out-of-plan'', so that they are socially ostracized and put under
social pressure to have an abortion;
Whereas the PRC Government physically destroys the homes of some of those who do
not pay social compensation fees;
Whereas the PRC Government creates an atmosphere of fear in which most Chinese
women feel they have little choice to comply with the Government's
draconian birth-limitation policy;
Whereas as recently as May 2007 it was credibly reported by the New York Times
and the Washington Post that the PRC Government ordered a crackdown on
population quotas and ``out-of-plan'' births in Guangxi province, that
Guangxi family planning officials conducted a campaign of violence in
detaining citizens, searching homes, confiscating valuables, and
destroying homes, and that this campaign provoked riots in which
thousands of citizens in eight townships fought with riot police,
overturned official vehicles, and damaged government offices, and that
several officials were killed in these riots;
Whereas the PRC Government has passed legislation that makes it illegal to force
women to have abortions;
Whereas at least 7 PRC provinces require abortion of children whose birth would
violate provincial regulations, while at least 10 PRC provinces require
unspecified ``remedial measures'';
Whereas many Congressional hearings and reports in leading newspapers and
newsmagazines throughout the world have established that PRC officials
charged with implementing the one-child policy frequently violate PRC
law by physically coercing abortions;
Whereas the PRC Government encourages its officials' illegal coercion of
abortions and sterilizations by making the promotions and bonuses of
local officials depend on meeting population targets, and by failing to
punish officials who physically coerce abortions;
Whereas PRC officials have punished citizens, including legal advocate Chen
Guangcheng, who have publicized population planning abuses by local
officials;
Whereas the PRC's policy of coercive birth limitation has caused Chinese
couples, many of whom have a cultural preference for sons, to abort or
abandon female infants so that they may try later to have a son,
resulting in a male to female birth ratio for first births of 121 to 100
and a male to female birth ratio for second births of 152 to 100,
according to official PRC figures;
Whereas the male to female birth ratio has been growing steadily wider since the
1980s, according to official PRC figures;
Whereas the ``gendercide'' caused by the PRC's policies has already created a
generation of young men of whom tens of millions will not be able to
find wives, due to the tens of millions of missing women;
Whereas the coercive birth limitation, in limiting most couples to one child,
has created generations of young people, few of whom know what it is to
have brothers or sisters, or aunts or uncles, and the cultural impact on
the PRC of this historically unprecedented situation is unknown;
Whereas in June 2006 the PRC's National People's Congress withdrew a proposed
law that would have criminalized sex-selective abortion;
Whereas the Population and Family Planning Law of the PRC contravenes standards
set by the 1995 Beijing Declaration and the 1994 Programme of Action of
the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development, to
which the PRC is a signatory, by limiting the number of children that
married women may bear and by banning unmarried women from bearing any
children;
Whereas the PRC Government contravenes standards set by the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant of Economic,
Social, and Cultural Rights, to which the PRC is a signatory, by
discriminating against ``out-of-plan'' children by denying them basic
health care, education, and the right to marry;
Whereas the PRC Government contravenes the 1994 Programme of Action of the Cairo
International Conference on Population and Development, to which the PRC
is a signatory, by setting population targets;
Whereas the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child proclaims that
the child ``needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate
legal protection, before as well as after birth'';
Whereas since 1979 the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has been involved
in supporting, promoting, and facilitating the PRC's oppressive one-
child program;
Whereas Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush have
determined that UNFPA supports the PRC Government's program of coercive
abortion or involuntary sterilization;
Whereas UNFPA support for the PRC Government's program of coerced abortion and
involuntary sterilization violates the ``Kemp-Kasten'' provision of
United States law;
Whereas former UNFPA Representative in Beijing, Sven Burmester, has said that,
``China has had the most successful family planning policy in the
history of mankind in terms of quantity and with that, China has done
mankind a favor'';
Whereas former UNFPA Executive Director, Nafis Sadik, has said, ``I have had the
honor of being associated with China's reproductive health and family
planning programme for more than two decades. I was instrumental in
initiating UNFPA's cooperation with China in 1979 ... I also feel proud
that UNFPA made the wise decision to resist external pressures and
continued its fruitful cooperation with China.'', and moreover claimed
that, ``the implementation of the policy [in China] and the acceptance
of the policy is purely voluntary. There is no such thing as, you know,
a license to have a birth and so on.'';
Whereas UNFPA Executive Director Sadik also said, ``China has every reason to
feel proud of and pleased with its remarkable achievements made in its
family planning policy. The country could offer its experiences and
special expertise to help other countries,'' adding that the ``UNFPA is
going to employ some of [China]'s family planning experts to work in
other countries and popularize China's experiences in population growth
control and family planning''; and
Whereas paragraph 31 of the UNFPA Country Program Document for China, issued on
October 10, 2005, states that the UNFPA will seek to ``enhance the role
of China in the international arena, including through greater South-
South collaboration'' and to ``seek to strengthen the capacity for
South-South Collaboration in the areas of reproductive health, ageing,
gender and HIV/AIDS'', thereby indicating its plans to assist the PRC
Government in exporting its population planning program to other
countries: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That Congress--
(1) strongly condemns the continued violations of human
rights by the Government of the People's Republic of China
(PRC), including--
(A) the limitation of the number of children a
woman may bear, as well as the intrusive system that
supports this limitation, which includes setting
population targets, mandatory monitoring of women's
reproductive cycles, requiring that women obtain
``birth permits'', and government control of birth
spacing;
(B) coercing compliance with its birth limitations
through job loss, social ostracization, fines, and the
creation of an atmosphere of fear; and
(C) violent enforcement of its birth limitations
through policies that encourage officials to physically
force women to have abortions and to be sterilized, to
destroy homes, to beat and abduct the relatives and
friends of women pregnant ``out-of-plan,'' and the
punishment of those who publicize such abuses;
(2) urges the PRC Government to cease these policies, which
have led to the social catastrophe of ``gendercide'';
(3) urges the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to
cease all its activities in the PRC and to withdraw from that
country;
(4) affirms certain internationally recognized human
rights, including--
(A) the right of women to bear children
unconstrained by government policies which would limit
the number of children they bear or prevent them from
bearing children; and
(B) the right of children not to be discriminated
against by a government because they were born contrary
to a government plan; and
(5) asks that the President and the Secretary of State--
(A) raise the concerns expressed in this concurrent
resolution with the PRC Government;
(B) call upon the PRC Government to cease
immediately the policies outlined in this concurrent
resolution; and
(C) continue to withhold funds from UNFPA due to
UNFPA's continued involvement in supporting coercive
abortion and sterilization, which violates the ``Kemp-
Kasten'' provision of United States law.
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