HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 98

46th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2004

INTRODUCED BY

Max Coll

A JOINT MEMORIAL

SUPPORTING THE RELEASE OF PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE BY THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA, SUPPORTING A BOYCOTT BY THE UNITED STATES OF THE 2008 SUMMER OLYMPICS UNLESS TIBETAN POLITICAL PRISONERS ARE FREED AND URGING THE UNITED NATIONS TO INVESTIGATE GENOCIDE IN TIBET.

     WHEREAS, the United States house of representatives on February 3, 2004 unanimously approved House Resolution 157, introduced by Representative Tom Udall of New Mexico, calling on the People's Republic of China to immediately release all prisoners of conscience as a gesture of goodwill and to promote human rights; and

     WHEREAS, the United States' participation in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing should be contingent upon China releasing all of its Tibetan political prisoners; closing its prisons in Tibet; ending its brutal occupation and destruction of Tibet, its culture and its religion; and ending its use of prisons to break the spirit of the Tibetan people remaining in Tibet; and

     WHEREAS, the Chinese government's policies have resulted in Tibetans being outnumbered two to one in Lhasa, a large increase in the number of Tibetans who are forced to beg to survive and much death by starvation, all of which is contrary to China's boasts of having brought prosperity to Tibet; and

     WHEREAS, the Chinese government continues to control religious and cultural institutions in Tibet, abusing human rights through torture, arbitrary arrest and detention without public trial of Tibetans who peacefully express their political or religious views; and

     WHEREAS, the Chinese government has destroyed more than one million five hundred thousand Tibetan people since its invasion of Tibet in 1949; and

     WHEREAS, numerous attempts to obtain the release of the Tibetan political prisoners by the United Kingdom, Finland, France, New Zealand and other nations have resulted only in the occasional release of a Tibetan political prisoner to coincide with the visit of a European or American elected official; and

     WHEREAS, the Chinese government has used its vast industrial production to nullify international humanitarian concerns for Tibetans as if they were less important than trade considerations; and

     WHEREAS, the Chinese government has ignored strong protests from the United States state department as well as from foreign ministers and foreign secretaries of numerous nations regarding the treatment of Tibetans, particularly Tibetan prisoners of conscience;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that efforts to urge the People's Republic of China to release all prisoners of conscience be supported; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico legislature support a boycott by the United States of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing unless all of the Tibetan political prisoners are released; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Secretary of State Colin Powell be requested to urge the People's Republic of China to release all political prisoners and that they be allowed to start new lives rather than being tortured, beaten, kicked and given electric shocks on their hands, shoulders, tongue and face while in Chinese custody; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United Nations be requested to convene a United Nations committee of investigation for Tibet to determine the scope and dimension of the Chinese genocide of Tibetans over the last fifty-five years.

- 3 -