Public Statements
As Co-Chairs of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, we are deeply concerned about recent events in Cambodia that raise serious questions about the government’s commitment to human rights.
Washington, D.C. -- On July 31, 2015, the TLHRC Co-Chairs, Rep. James P. McGovern and Rep. Joseph R. Pitts, and two other members of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, Rep. Janice D. Schakowsky and Rep. Eliot L.
As Co-Chairs of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, we express our deep disappointment over the State Department’s decision, in the newest State Department Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, to upgrade Malaysia from the lowest ranking of Tier 3 to a Tier 2 Watch country.
As Co-Chairs of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, we express our deep concern over the state of human rights in Vietnam.
As Co-Chairs of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, we condemn the Russian Federation’s continued unlawful imprisonment of Ukrainian fighter pilot and Member of Parliament Nadiya Savchenko.
TLHRC Letter to Secretary Kerry Regarding the Continued Detention of Peaceful Activists in Indonesia
On June 18, 2015, six members of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, Congressmen Joseph R. Pitts (R-PA), James P. McGovern (D-MA), Trent Franks (R-AZ), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Randy Hultgren (R-IL), and Juan Vargas (D-CA), sent a letter to Secretary Kerry in advance of Indonesian President Joko Widodo's upcoming visit to the United States.
Today we commemorate the 26th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. On June 3 and 4, 1989, peaceful pro-democracy protests led by students, workers, and others in Beijing's Tiananmen Square were violently crushed by Chinese government forces.
Commission Co-Chairs Jim McGovern and Joseph Pitts released a letter to President Barack Obama today signed by 43 additional members, expressing deep and continuing concern over the continued suppression of civil, political and religious rights within the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
On May 13, 2005, in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan, Uzbek government forces opened fire on thousands of demonstrators assembled to protest government corruption, repression, poverty, and official injustice. Hundreds of men, women, and children were killed.