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[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 250 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>

115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 250

     Condemning horrific acts of violence against Burma's Rohingya 
 population and calling on Aung San Suu Kyi to play an active role in 
                   ending this humanitarian tragedy.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 7, 2017

 Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. McCain, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Booker, Mr. 
Menendez, and Mr. Leahy) submitted the following resolution; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
     Condemning horrific acts of violence against Burma's Rohingya 
 population and calling on Aung San Suu Kyi to play an active role in 
                   ending this humanitarian tragedy.

Whereas the Rohingya are one of Burma's many ethnic minorities that have lived 
        under military dictatorship for most of the last few decades;
Whereas approximately 1,000,000 Rohingya live predominantly in Burma's Rakhine 
        State, where they have faced ongoing repression under the Burmese 
        military, including the revocation of their citizenship, killings, and 
        mass rape;
Whereas there is historical animosity between the majority Buddhist population 
        and the minority Rohingya, with many in the Buddhist majority seeing the 
        Rohingya as illegal immigrants from across the border in Bangladesh 
        despite generational roots;
Whereas since 1999, the Department of State has regularly expressed concern over 
        legal, economic, and social discrimination against Burma's Rohingya 
        population;
Whereas an outbreak of communal violence in the Rakhine State in 2012 saw more 
        than 100,000 displaced, and tens of thousands of Rohingya forced into 
        squalid camps where travel was, and continues to be, restricted;
Whereas the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma reported 
        ``a long history of discrimination and persecution against the 
        Rohingya'';
Whereas Aung San Suu Kyi spent 15 years under house arrest for her peaceful 
        advocacy of democracy in Burma, and during those years she was awarded 
        the Sakharov human rights prize from the European Parliament, the Nobel 
        Peace Prize, the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the 
        Congressional Gold Medal for her tireless struggle for democracy and 
        human rights;
Whereas in her 2012 Nobel lecture Aung San Suu Kyi made an impassioned appeal to 
        the world--

    (1) not to forget those who are suffering ``hunger, disease, 
displacement, joblessness, poverty, injustice, discrimination, prejudice, 
bigotry'' and war; and

    (2) that ``wherever suffering is ignored, there will be the seeds of 
conflict, for suffering degrades and embitters and enrages'';

Whereas in a landmark election held in November 2015, Aung San Suu Kyi's 
        National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in the first 
        national vote since Burma's nominal transition to civilian authority, 
        after which Aung San Suu Kyi was named State Counsellor, a role created 
        for her that made her the country's de facto leader;
Whereas in August 2016, Aung San Suu Kyi helped to establish the high-level 
        Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, which is headed by former United 
        Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in order to address the 
        mistreatment of the Rohingya;
Whereas in October 2016, attacks on border police outposts led to reports of 
        horrific human rights abuses against the Rohingya in a brutal military 
        crackdown;
Whereas in December 2016, a letter to the United Nations Security Council, which 
        was signed by 23 international activists, including more than a dozen 
        fellow Nobel laureates, called out Aung San Suu Kyi for her silence on 
        the treatment of the Rohingya;
Whereas in February 2017, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for 
        Human Rights issued a report, finding that crimes against the Rohingya 
        ``seems to have been widespread as well as systematic, indicating the 
        very likely commission of crimes against humanity'';
Whereas in March 2017, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a 
        resolution creating a Fact-Finding Mission to Myanmar to investigate 
        allegations of human rights abuses against the Rohingya and issue a 
        report by the following year;
Whereas in April 2017, Aung San Suu Kyi denied that ethnic cleansing had taken 
        place against her country's Rohingya minority despite widespread and 
        reputable reporting of human rights abuses in Rakhine State;
Whereas, on August 25, 2017, fighters from the small militant group the Arakan 
        Rohingya Salvation Army conducted surprise raids on 30 police stations 
        and an army base in Rakhine State, in which more than 100 people died, 
        including at least 10 policemen and many militants;
Whereas the attack resulted in a brutal and methodical reprisal by the Burmese 
        military on villages, with helicopters firing on civilians, the razing 
        of villages with petrol bombs, and front line troops cutting off 
        families' escape routes;
Whereas the assault caused more than 140,000 Rohingya to flee for Bangladesh and 
        more than 30,000 Rohingya are estimated to be trapped in conflict zones 
        in western Burma;
Whereas United Nations field work and the delivery of vital supplies of food, 
        water, and medicine were suspended by the Government of Burma due to 
        security concerns, leaving thousands of Rohingya vulnerable amid the 
        deadly outbreak of violence; and
Whereas, on August 31, 2017, the United Nations Security Council met to discuss 
        the violence against the Rohingya in Rakhine State: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) condemns the violence and displacement inflicted on 
        Burma's Rohingya civilians;
            (2) calls for an immediate halt to all hostilities by 
        Burmese authorities;
            (3) condemns the attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation 
        Army militant group;
            (4) urges the Government of Burma to allow--
                    (A) unrestricted access to the United Nations Fact-
                Finding Mission on Myanmar; and
                    (B) the resumption of the delivery of field work 
                and aid from critical humanitarian organizations to 
                help those displaced and injured and to monitor events 
                in Rakhine State;
            (5) calls on the Government of Burma to implement the 
        August 2017 recommendations of its Advisory Commission on 
        Rakhine State, including--
                    (A) to end restrictions on the movement of the 
                Rohingya; and
                    (B) to provide the Rohingya with citizenship; and
            (6) encourages Aung San Suu Kyi to live up to her inspiring 
        words upon receiving the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize with respect to 
        ethnic reconciliation in Burma and to address the historic and 
        brutal repression of the Rohingya in Rakhine State.
                                 <all>
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