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

[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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