HCON 220 IHCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

September 27, 2007

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign AffairsCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas the PRC Government physically destroys the homes of some of those who do not pay social compensation fees;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas the PRC Government has passed legislation that makes it illegal to force women to have abortions;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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';CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas PRC officials have punished citizens, including legal advocate Chen Guangcheng, who have publicized population planning abuses by local officials;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas the male to female birth ratio has been growing steadily wider since the 1980s, according to official PRC figures;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas in June 2006 the PRC's National People's Congress withdrew a proposed law that would have criminalized sex-selective abortion;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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';CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas since 1979 the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has been involved in supporting, promoting, and facilitating the PRC's oppressive one-child program;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Whereas UNFPA support for the PRC Government's program of coerced abortion and involuntary sterilization violates the `Kemp-Kasten' provision of United States law;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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';CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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.';CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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'; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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 itCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That Congress--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(1) strongly condemns the continued violations of human rights by the Government of the People's Republic of China (PRC), including--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(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;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(B) coercing compliance with its birth limitations through job loss, social ostracization, fines, and the creation of an atmosphere of fear; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(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;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(2) urges the PRC Government to cease these policies, which have led to the social catastrophe of `gendercide';CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(3) urges the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to cease all its activities in the PRC and to withdraw from that country;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(4) affirms certain internationally recognized human rights, including--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(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; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(B) the right of children not to be discriminated against by a government because they were born contrary to a government plan; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(5) asks that the President and the Secretary of State--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(A) raise the concerns expressed in this concurrent resolution with the PRC Government;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(B) call upon the PRC Government to cease immediately the policies outlined in this concurrent resolution; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(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.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink