III 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 339 

Expressing the sense of the Senate on the situation in Burma. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 1, 2007 

Mr. KERRY (for himself, Mr. MCCONNELL, Mr. BIDEN, Mr. LUGAR, Mrs. 

BOXER, Mr. DODD, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. COLEMAN, Mr. FEINGOLD, Mr. 

KENNEDY, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. REID, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. 

HAGEL, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. CASEY, Mrs. CLINTON, Mr. 

OBAMA, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. BINGAMAN, Mr. BROWNBACK, Mr. SUNUNU, 

Mrs. HUTCHISON, and Mr. WHITEHOUSE) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Senate on the situation in 

Burma. 

Whereas hundreds of thousands of Burmese citizens, including thousands of Buddhist monks and students, engaged 

in peaceful demonstrations against the policies of the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), demanding that the State Peace and Development Council 

release all political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize 

laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and urging that the 

government agree to a meaningful tripartite dialogue 

with Suu Kyi, the National League for Democracy 

(NLD), and the ethnic minorities towards national reconciliation; 


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Whereas the State Peace and Development Council violently 

dispersed the peaceful demonstrators, killing at least 10 

(and reportedly more than 200) unarmed protesters, including a number of monks and a Japanese journalist, 

and arrested hundreds of others, and continues to forcibly suppress peaceful protests; 

Whereas the National League for Democracy won a majority 

of seats in the parliamentary elections of 1990, but the 

State Peace and Development Council refused to uphold 

the results or to negotiate a transition to civilian rule and 

subsequently placed Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest; 

Whereas Aung San Suu Kyi has spent most of the past 18 

years under house arrest or in jail, and is currently being 

held in government custody, cut off from her followers 

and the international community; 

Whereas 59 world leaders, including 3 former presidents of 

the United States, have called on the State Peace and 

Development Council to release Aung San Suu Kyi and 

all other political prisoners; 

Whereas the State Peace and Development Council has destroyed more than 3,000 villages, systematically and violently repressed ethnic minorities, displaced approximately 2,000,000 Burmese people, and arrested approximately 1,300 individuals for expressing critical opinions; 

Whereas the United States Department of State’s 2006 Reports on Human Rights Practices found that Burma’s 

junta routinely restricts its citizens’ freedoms of speech, 

press, assembly, association, religion, movement, and 

traffics in persons, discriminates against women and ethnic minorities, forcibly recruits child soldiers and child 


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labor, and commits other serious violations of human 

rights, including extrajudicial killings, custodial deaths, 

disappearances, rape, torture, abuse of prisoners and detainees, and the imprisonment of citizens arbitrarily for 

political motives; 

Whereas the Government of Burma relies heavily on the unconditional military and economic assistance provided by 

the People’s Republic of China; 

Whereas on September 30, 2006, the United Nations Security Council officially included Burma on its agenda for 

the first time; 

Whereas on January 13, 2007, China and Russia vetoed a 

United Nations Security Council Resolution calling on 

Burma to release all political prisoners, allow a more inclusive political process and unhindered humanitarian access, and end human rights abuses, and on September 

26, 2007, China blocked a United Nations Security 

Council Statement from condemning the State Peace and 

Development Council crackdown against the peaceful 

demonstrators; 

Whereas the prevalence of tuberculosis in Burma, with nearly 

97,000 new cases detected annually, is among the highest 

in the world, malaria is the leading cause of mortality in 

Burma, with 70 percent of the population living in areas 

at risk, at least 37,000 died of HIV/AIDS in Burma in 

2005, and over 600,000 are currently infected, and the 

World Health Organization has ranked Burma’s health 

sector as 190th out of 191 nations; 

Whereas the failure of the State Peace and Development 

Council to respect the human rights and meet the most 

basic humanitarian needs of the Burmese people has not 


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only caused enormous suffering inside Burma, but also 

driven hundreds of thousands of Burmese citizens to seek 

refuge in neighboring countries, creating a threat to regional peace and stability; and 

Whereas the State Peace and Development Council continues 

to restrict the access and freedom of movement of international humanitarian organizations to deliver aid 

throughout Burma: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate— 

2 (1) to strongly condemn the use of violence 

3 against peaceful protestors in Burma, and to call on 

4 the Government of Burma to refrain from further 

5 violence, release the demonstrators it has arrested, 

6 immediately cease attacks against ethnic minorities, 

7 release Aung Sang Suu Kyi and all other political 

8 prisoners, and begin a meaningful tripartite political 

9 dialogue with Suu Kyi, the National League for De10 mocracy, and the ethnic minorities; 

11 (2) to call on the People’s Republic of China to 

12 remove objections to efforts by the United Nations 

13 Security Council to condemn the actions taken by 

14 the Government of Burma against the peaceful dem15 onstrators; 

16 (3) to call on the People’s Republic of China 

17 and all other nations that have provided military as18 sistance to the Government of Burma to suspend 


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1 such assistance until civilian democratic rule is re2 stored to Burma; 

3 (4) that the Government of Burma should en4 gage in a peaceful dialogue with opposition leaders 

5 and ethnic minorities to implement political, eco6 nomic, and humanitarian reforms that will improve 

7 the living conditions of the Burmese people and lead 

8 to the restoration of civilian democratic rule; 

9 (5) to recognize and welcome the many con10 structive statements issued by various nations, and 

11 particularly the statement issued by the Association 

12 of Southeast Asian Nations on September 27, 2007, 

13 which demanded an immediate end to violence in 

14 Burma, the release of all political prisoners, and a 

15 political solution to the crisis; 

16 (6) that the United States and the United Na17 tions should strongly encourage China, India, and 

18 Russia to modify their position on Burma and use 

19 their influence to convince the Government of 

20 Burma to engage in dialogue with opposition leaders 

21 and ethnic minorities towards national reconciliation; 

22 (7) to support the United Nations mission to 

23 Burma led by Ibrahim Gambari, and to call on the 

24 Government of Burma to allow the mission freedom 

25 of movement and access to top government leaders 


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1 in order to prevent additional violence and to further 

2 peaceful dialogue towards national reconciliation; 

3 and 

4 (8) that the United States should work with the 

5 international community to pressure the Government 

6 of Burma to lift all restrictions on humanitarian aid 

7 delivery and then allow international humanitarian 

8 aid organizations to work to alleviate suffering and 

9 improve living conditions for the most vulnerable 

10 populations. 

Æ 


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