Bill Text: HI HR162 | 2021 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urging Fair And Humane Treatment Of The Uyghurs, Ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, And Members Of Other Muslim Minority Groups In The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region In The Peoples Republic Of China

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-15 - Referred to JHA, FIN, referral sheet 25 [HR162 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2021-HR162-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	162
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2021
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

URGING FAIR AND HUMANE TREATMENT OF THE uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups in the xinjiang uyghur autonomous region IN The People’s republic of china

 

 

     WHEREAS, Article 2 of the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and the Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which both the United States and the People’s Republic of China have ratified, defines genocide as “any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious groups, as such: (a) killing members of the group (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to being about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Eli Wisen Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-441) states that it is the policy of the United States to regard the prevention of atrocities as in its national interest”; and

 

     WHEREAS, since 2017, the Government of the People's Republic of China has detained an estimated 1,800,000 Turkic Muslims, mostly Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups, in internment camps without due process; and

 

     WHEREAS, detained Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups are reportedly tortured, coerced to disavow their religious beliefs and cultural practices, compelled to work in forced labor programs, and, in some cases, raped, subjected to involuntary forced abortion, sterilization, and forced organ harvesting; and

 

     WHEREAS, sterilization rates in Xinjiang grew seven-fold from 2016 to 2018 to more than 60,000 procedures; and

 

     WHEREAS, nearly 500,000 Muslim children in Xinjiang have been forcibly separated from their families and subjected to indoctrination and inhumane and degrading treatment in state-run boarding schools; and

 

     WHEREAS, Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region are subjected to constant, unwarranted, and intrusive mass surveillance through the use of new and emerging technologies, including facial recognition software, artificial intelligence, and genetic testing; and

 

WHEREAS, between 2017 and 2019, an estimated 80,000 Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups were forcibly transferred out of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to work in factories across China, which raises serious concerns of forced labor being used in global supply chains; and

 

WHEREAS, the policies of the Government of the People's Republic of China are in contravention of international human rights instruments signed by that government; and

 

WHEREAS, as of January 2021 the Parliament of Canada, the Netherlands, and the United States government have officially recognized the genocide of the Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups.

 

WHEREAS, Hawaii being a melting pot that consists of people originating from all of over the world including people of Chinese origin understand the plight that they are facing and feel their pain; and

 

WHEREAS, Hawaii and its legislative representatives have an earnest desire to uphold American ideals of freedom from religious and racially motivated persecution; now therefore,

    

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2021, that this body encourages the People's Republic of China to deal with and treat its ethnic Muslim minorities, especially its Uyghur minority in a fair and inhumane manner as per the tenants of Article 2 of the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and the Punishment of the Crime of Genocide; and

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this body encourages the US Government and US-owned companies to form global partnerships to ensure that businesses are not supporting, enabling, or profiting from mass surveillance or forced labor, or any form of human trafficking or inhuman treatment of Uyghurs, and other ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups in China; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Hawaii’s congressional delegation, the Governor of Hawaii, the Speaker of the Hawaii’s House of Representative, Hawaii’s Senate president, and all of Hawaii’s legislators.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________