Bill Text: HI SR118 | 2020 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Denouncing And Urging The Cessation Of The Detention Of The Uighur People And Destruction Of Religious Sites And Urging That The Uighur People Be Allowed To Engage In Peaceful Religious And Cultural Practices.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-10 - Referred to LCA. [SR118 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2020-SR118-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	118
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2020
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

denouncing and urging the cessation of the detention of the uighur people and destruction of religious sites and urging THAT the uighur people BE ALLOWED TO engage in peaceful religious and cultural practices.

 

 

     WHEREAS, the State places a high value on cultural and religious diversity; and

 

     WHEREAS, as a community, the State is committed to encouraging these values in other states and countries; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Washington Post recently reported that a cultural genocide is taking place in the province of Xinjiang, located in Western China; and

 

     WHEREAS, that region is home to over eleven million Uighurs, an ethnically Turkic and religiously Muslim people; and

 

     WHEREAS, until the most recent decade, the Chinese Community Party authorized the study of Uighur culture, vetted the imams, and approved of the religious and cultural practices; and

 

     WHEREAS, over the past few years, the region has been experiencing a systematic campaign to eliminate the Uighur culture and practices; and

 

     WHEREAS, based on the data collected by human rights groups and the United States, between one and three million Uighurs are being detained in what the Chinese government calls deradicalization camps; and

 

     WHEREAS, within these camps, it is reported that imams are shackled, and others are forced to renounce their faith; and

 

     WHEREAS, it has further been reported that Muslims outside of the camps are forced to shave, eat during Ramadan, drink and smoke, and are barred from praying, studying the Koran, or making the pilgrimage to Mecca, all culturally important practices; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Chinese government has implemented an all-encompassing surveillance system to ensure compliance, involving facial recognition cameras, checkpoints, and the placement of ethnic majority Han Chinese in Uighur households; and

 

     WHEREAS, families of Uighur people who flee the country are being detained; and

 

     WHEREAS, thousands of Muslim religious sites, including mosques, shrines, and cemeteries, have been destroyed and are continuing to be eradicated; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2020, that the Legislature joins over twenty countries in denouncing the detainment and deculturization efforts of the Uighur by Chinese authorities; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature urges the Chinese government to adhere to the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature urges the Chinese government to cease all destruction of religious Muslim sites, and cease all detention of Uighur people; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature urges the Chinese government to allow the Uighur people to engage in peaceful religious and cultural practices; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the members of Hawaii's congressional delegation and Ambassador to the United States of the People's Republic of China.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Uighur; Muslim; Cultural Practices; Religious Sites