A member of Congress who fled communist Cuba as a child has introduced a resolution urging communist China not to persecute followers of the Falun Gong spiritual movement.

Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Republican of Florida) introduced House Concurrent Resolution 188 (H. Con. Res. 188) July 18 to express the sense of Congress that the Beijing regime should cease persecuting Falun Gong practitioners.

The proposed resolution passed mark up in the International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives, and can be taken up once the Congress reconvenes in early September.

Ros-Lehtinen, an outspoken opponent of human rights abuses by communist regimes, was joined by 63 of her colleagues as co-sponsors of H. Con. Res. 188.

Among those supporting her proposed resolution are Representatives Tom Lantos (Democrat of California) and Frank Wolf (Republican of Virginia), the co-chairmen of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.

H. Con. Res. 188 calls on the United States to use "every appropriate public and private forum to urge" the Beijing regime "to release from detention all Falun Gong practitioners and put an end to the practices of torture and other cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment against them and other prisoners of conscience."

The proposed resolution also would have the United States admonish China to "abide by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by allowing Falun Gong practitioners to pursue their personal beliefs."

Con. Res. 188 has 63 co-sponsors and support of Representative Henry Hyde, the chairman of the House International Relations Committee.

http://www.usinfo.state.gov/products/washfile/geog/ea/01081006.eea