119-hres843

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 843 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
H. RES. 843

Supporting the designation of October 30 as the ``International Day of 
 Political Prisoners''.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 October 31, 2025

 Mr. Cohen (for himself, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Ms. Norton, Mr. 
 McGovern, Ms. Goodlander, Mr. Crow, and Mr. Carson) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
 Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

 RESOLUTION

Supporting the designation of October 30 as the ``International Day of 
 Political Prisoners''.

Whereas there are an estimated 1,000,000 political prisoners across the world, 
 including cases of journalists, academics, political opposition 
 activists, dissidents, antiwar campaigners, and human rights defenders 
 being detained, arrested, imprisoned, convicted, and otherwise punished 
 for political motives without connection to any credible offense;
Whereas authoritarian and repressive regimes around the world, including the 
 Republic of Belarus, the People's Republic of China, the Republic of 
 Cuba, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the 
 Republic of the Union of Burma, the Russian Federation, and the 
 Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, have engaged in systematic 
 imprisonment of independent voices;
Whereas, in 2024 and 2025, the United States Government, through bilateral and 
 multilateral negotiations, secured the release of several dozen 
 political prisoners from the Republic of Belarus, the Russian 
 Federation, and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela;
Whereas, on October 30, 1974, Ukrainian and Russian prisoners of conscience in 
 the Soviet Gulag initiated the tradition of marking the annual Day of 
 Political Prisoners in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

    (USSR) to 
 draw public attention to the plight of those imprisoned for their 
 political or religious beliefs and to express solidarity with them; and
Whereas, in subsequent years, the Day of Political Prisoners on October 30 was 
 marked by hunger strikes by prisoners inside the Soviet Gulag and by 
 public demonstrations of solidarity in cities across the USSR: Now, 
 therefore, be it
 Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

    (1) deplores all forms of political repression and 
 imprisonment and conveys its unwavering solidarity with all 
 those imprisoned around the world for peacefully expressing 
 their political or religious beliefs;

    (2) supports efforts by the United States Government to 
 condemn political imprisonment, hold accountable those regimes 
 responsible for persecuting and imprisoning dissenters, raise 
 international awareness of political prisoners, and secure 
 their release through bilateral and multilateral negotiations 
 with other states, and urges it to continue such efforts in the 
 future; and

    (3) supports the designation of an ``International Day of 
 Political Prisoners'' in the United States.
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