III 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 200 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 3, 2007 

Received and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Condemning the violent suppression of Buddhist monks and 

other peaceful demonstrators in Burma and calling for 

the immediate and unconditional release of Daw Aung 

San Suu Kyi. 

Whereas on August 15, 2007, Burma’s ruling military junta, 

the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), cancelled fuel subsidies resulting in the quintupling of the 

price of fuel which had an immediate and damaging impact on the living conditions of the Burmese people and 

Burma’s already devastated economy; 


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Whereas on August 19, 2007, in reaction to this crippling 

measure, prominent student and democracy leaders 

peacefully took to the streets in Rangoon and elsewhere 

to protest the draconian action of the military junta in 

Rangoon; during the subsequent weeks, protests continued in Rangoon, and spread to other cities and towns 

throughout Burma, including Mandalay, Sittwe, 

Pakokku, Tounggok, Yehangyaung; 

Whereas the growing numbers of protestors peacefully demanded democratic reforms and the release of 1991 

Noble Peace Prize Winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and 

all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience; 

Whereas Buddhist monks actively participated and increasingly led these peaceful demonstrations, culminating in 

an estimated 100,000 people marching through Rangoon 

on September 24, 2007; in response to this largest protest since the 1988 demonstrations which were brutally 

crushed by the Burmese military by firing on unarmed civilians, the Burmese regime threatened to ‘‘take action’’, 

indicating the junta’s willingness to significantly increase 

the level of violence used against the Burmese people; 

Whereas on September 25, 2007, the Burmese junta imposed 

a 60-day (9pm-5am) curfew and a ban on gatherings of 

more than five people and moved military forces into 

strategic locations; 

Whereas on September 26, 2007, the Burmese military 

opened fire on protesting crowds who bravely continued 

to peacefully demand democratic reforms; the continuing 

vicious attacks on Buddhist monks and other peaceful 

protesters, who were simply demanding human rights, democracy, and freedom, led to the reported deaths of 200 

people and hundreds of injured to date; democracy and 


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human rights groups further estimate that over 2,000 individuals have been arrested, imprisoned, or tortured as 

part of this violent crackdown; 

Whereas members of the international and Burmese media 

covering the protests, including a Japanese photojournalist, have also been killed, injured, or imprisoned 

by the Burmese Government; 

Whereas the Burmese military junta tried to hide from the 

world community its indiscriminate attacks on peaceful 

protestors by severely restricting the use of the Internet, 

phone lines, and radio and television equipment, making 

it extremely difficult to gauge the full extent of the government’s crackdown on Buddhist Monks and other 

peaceful demonstrators; 

Whereas on September 27, 2007, the United Nations Security Council held an emergency session in response to the 

brutal crackdown and Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari 

updated the Security Council on the situation in Burma; 

as a result of the Security Council meeting, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon ordered Special 

Envoy Gambari to visit the region; on September 30, 

2007, Special Envoy Gambari arrived in Burma and was 

able to meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi; 

Whereas the Burmese regime has mobilized all its resources, 

including armed soldiers stationed in all strategically important locations throughout the country, including religious centers, and has made it impossible for peaceful 

protesters to gather; 

Whereas the rapid growth of spontaneous demonstrations 

into the largest Burmese protests in the last two decades 


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should not come as a surprise given the human rights 

record of the regime over the past two decades; 

Whereas the ruling military junta in Burma has one of the 

worst human rights records in the world and routinely 

violates the rights of Burmese citizens, including the systematic use of rape as a weapon of war, extrajudicial 

killings, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, as well 

as slave and child labor; 

Whereas the Burmese regime has destroyed more than 3,000 

ethnic villages, displaced approximately 2,000,000 Burmese people, more than 500,000 of which are internally 

displaced, and arrested approximately 1,300 individuals 

for expressing critical opinions of the government; 

Whereas in 1990, the State Law and Order Restoration 

Council (SLORC), the military junta in Burma, which renamed itself the State Peace and Development Council 

(SPDC) in 1997, nullified the victory of the National 

League for Democracy (NLD); 

Whereas NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was not allowed to assume the office of Prime Minister and was 

subsequently placed under house arrest; 

Whereas Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was released in July 1995, 

yet once again placed under house arrest in September 

2000; 

Whereas following a second release, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi 

and several of her followers were attacked by a government-sponsored mob on May 30, 2003, and she was then 

imprisoned at Insein Prison in Yangon; 

Whereas on May 16, 2007, more than 50 world leaders sent 

a letter demanding the release of Daw Aung San Suu 

Kyi, a demand repeated by United Nations SecretaryVerDate Aug 31 2005 01:35 Oct 04, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HC200.RFS HC200

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General Ban Ki-moon, 14 United Nations human rights 

experts, the European Union, the United States, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the 

foreign ministers of three ASEAN member states, yet on 

May 27, 2007, her detention was extended; and 

Whereas for her non-violent struggle for democracy and 

human rights, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi received the 

Nobel Peace Prize in 1991: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 

2 concurring), That Congress— 

3 (1) condemns the despicable crackdown on 

4 peaceful protesters in the strongest possible terms 

5 and demands that the Burmese junta end its violent 

6 crackdown on dissent; 

7 (2) demands that the People’s Republic of 

8 China and other countries that provide political and 

9 economic support to Burma’s military junta end 

10 such support until the Burmese regime’s violent 

11 campaign against peaceful protest has ceased and 

12 the Burmese Government has fully met the political 

13 demands of the Burmese opposition; 

14 (3) firmly insists that Burma’s military regime 

15 begin a meaningful tripartite political dialogue with 

16 Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the National League for 

17 Democracy, and ethnic nationalities toward national 

18 reconciliation, and the full restoration of democracy, 

19 freedom of assembly, freedom of movement, freedom 


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1 of speech, freedom of the press, and internationally 

2 recognized human rights for all Burmese citizens; 

3 (4) demands the immediate and unconditional 

4 release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, detained Bud5 dhist monks, and all other political prisoners and 

6 prisoners of conscience; 

7 (5) calls on governments around the world, in8 cluding the nations of the European Union and the 

9 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to 

10 severely tighten their sanctions regimes against 

11 Burma, including through the imposition of import 

12 bans such as maintained by the United States, with 

13 the goal of denying the Burmese ruling junta with 

14 hard currency to continue its campaign of repres15 sion; 

16 (6) calls on the United Nations Security Coun17 cil to immediately pass a resolution imposing multi18 lateral sanctions on Burma’s military regime, includ19 ing a complete arms embargo, and to take other ap20 propriate action to respond to the growing threat the 

21 State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) poses 

22 in Burma; 

23 (7) calls on the United States Government to 

24 work with its global partners to bring to justice 

25 those Burmese military and government leaders who 


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1 have ordered or participated in any massacre during 

2 or after the protests, or who may be guilty of crimes 

3 against humanity; and 

4 (8) calls on the members of ASEAN to imme5 diately suspend Burma’s membership in such organi6 zation as a response to the violent crackdown on po7 litical protesters. 

Passed the House of Representatives October 2, 

2007. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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