IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 86 

Condemning the Burmese military for perpetrating gross violations of human 

rights as part of its brutal campaign to suppress the democratic aspirations of the people of Burma, two years after the coup d’e ́tat on February 

1, 2021. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 1, 2023 

Ms. ESHOO (for herself, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. BERA, Mr. 

FITZPATRICK, Mr. COSTA, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. NORTON, Ms. TITUS, Mr. SHERMAN, and Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE) submitted 

the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 

Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, the Judiciary, and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined 

by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 

within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

RESOLUTION 

Condemning the Burmese military for perpetrating gross violations of human rights as part of its brutal campaign 

to suppress the democratic aspirations of the people of 

Burma, two years after the coup d’e ́tat on February 

1, 2021. 

Whereas after a decade of promising democratic reforms in 

Burma, the Burmese military (hereinafter referred to as 

the ‘‘Tatmadaw’’) launched a coup against the civilian 

government on February 1, 2021, preventing a democratically elected Parliament from being seated; 


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•HRES 86 IH 

Whereas the Tatmadaw seized control of the government, declared a national state of emergency, and unlawfully detained many democratically elected officials, including 

State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win 

Myint, and dozens of Members of Parliament affiliated 

with the National League for Democracy (NLD); 

Whereas the House of Representatives adopted H. Res. 134 

on March 19, 2021, condemning the coup and calling for 

the restoration of civilian government and the release of 

detained officials; 

Whereas the people of Burma, insistent that their country 

continue along the path toward democracy, courageously 

organized a civil disobedience movement and took to the 

streets to demand that the Tatmadaw relinquish power; 

Whereas, on April 16, 2021, democratically elected members 

of Parliament, who had been denied the opportunity to 

serve by the Tatmadaw, formed a National Unity Government that asserts it is the legitimate Government of 

Burma; 

Whereas the Tatmadaw has used lethal force, including 

extrajudicial executions, to violently suppress the prodemocracy movement, killing more than 2,500 civilians 

since the coup began in February 2021; 

Whereas the Tatmadaw has relied heavily on mass arrests to 

stifle dissent and has detained at least 13,600 protesters, 

activists, and journalists since February 2021; 

Whereas the Tatmadaw has used brutal and inhumane methods to intimidate, degrade, and torture detainees; 

Whereas Tatmadaw soldiers have perpetrated rape and other 

forms of sexual violence with impunity; 


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•HRES 86 IH 

Whereas the Tatmadaw has employed digital authoritarian 

tools and tactics to silence opposition, including internet 

shutdowns, online censorship, and high-tech surveillance; 

Whereas the Tatmadaw has eroded the independence of the 

Burmese judiciary and conducted sham trials to convict 

political prisoners including State Councilor Aung San 

Suu Kyi and President Win Myint; 

Whereas, on July 23, 2022, the Tatmadaw executed four 

prominent prodemocracy activists, prompting widespread 

international condemnation; 

Whereas the Tatmadaw continues to perpetrate a horrific 

genocide against the Rohingya population in Burma’s 

Rakhine State, and has also committed atrocities against 

other ethnic minority communities in the Kachin, Karen, 

Mon, Rakhine, Shan, and Chin States; 

Whereas the House of Representatives adopted H. Res. 1091 

on December 13, 2018, expressing the sense of the 

House of Representatives that the atrocities committed 

against the Rohingya by the Tatmadaw constitute genocide; 

Whereas, on March 21, 2022, Secretary of State Antony 

Blinken announced the Department of State’s determination that the Tatmadaw committed genocide and crimes 

against humanity against the Rohingya population of 

Burma; 

Whereas the turmoil caused by the coup and the Tatmadaw’s 

violence and mismanagement of the economy have resulted in a severe economic crisis that, according to the 

World Bank, has caused poverty in Burma to double 

since March 2020; 


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•HRES 86 IH 

Whereas the deteriorating security situation in Burma following the coup has resulted in the internal displacement 

of nearly 1.3 million people and prompted thousands 

more to flee the country as refugees; 

Whereas the Biden administration has frozen more than 

$1,000,000,000 in Burmese Government funds held in 

the United States and coordinated with the European 

Union, Canada, and the United Kingdom to impose targeted sanctions against individuals and entities responsible for the coup, including Min Aung Hlaing, the commander in chief of the Tatmadaw; 

Whereas Congress recently passed the bipartisan BURMA 

Act of 2022 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, granting the President increased authority to impose sanctions on individuals and 

entities affiliated with the Tatmadaw and authorizing increased humanitarian aid for the Burmese people; 

Whereas numerous civil society and human rights groups 

have recommended additional sanctions targeting the 

largest sources of the Tatmadaw’s foreign currency revenue such as the state-controlled natural gas, mining, 

and timber entities, including the highly lucrative 

Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE); 

Whereas it has been reported that the European Union sanctions on MOGE have been effective in blocking revenues 

from the Shwe gas pipeline being transferred to the 

Tatmadaw; 

Whereas aviation fuel shipments imported to Burma by foreign suppliers enable the Tatmadaw to carry out 

horrifyingly violent and indiscriminate air strikes on civilian targets such as villages, schools, religious buildings, 


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•HRES 86 IH 

medical facilities, and camps for the internally displaced 

and continue wreaking devastating havoc across the 

country; and 

Whereas the Independent Investigative Mechanism for 

Myanmar, which was established by the United Nations 

Human Rights Council to investigate the Tatmadaw’s 

crimes against humanity and compile evidence for future 

prosecutions, is crucial to ensuring accountability for 

atrocities and bringing justice to the people of Burma: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) condemns, in the strongest possible terms, 

3 the military coup that took place in Burma on Feb4 ruary 1, 2021; 

5 (2) denounces the Tatmadaw for perpetrating 

6 gross violations of human rights as part of its brutal 

7 campaign to suppress the democratic aspirations of 

8 the people of Burma; 

9 (3) stands in solidarity with the courageous 

10 people of Burma as they struggle to wrest political 

11 power from the hands of their authoritarian mili12 tary; 

13 (4) calls on the Tatmadaw to— 

14 (A) cease all violence against prodemocracy 

15 activists and reach a cease-fire with ethnic 

16 armed organizations; 

17 (B) release all political prisoners; 


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•HRES 86 IH 

1 (C) unconditionally vacate all fraudulent 

2 verdicts stemming from politically motivated 

3 charges and legal proceedings against elected 

4 officials, journalists, civil society leaders, pro5 democracy activists, and other unjustly con6 victed Burmese people; 

7 (D) engage in constructive dialogue with 

8 all parties to negotiate a pathway toward a gov9 ernment that reflects the will of the Burmese 

10 people; 

11 (E) grant humanitarian actors unhindered 

12 access to all relevant areas of Burma to help al13 leviate the immense suffering that has resulted 

14 from the Tatmadaw’s violence; and 

15 (F) respect the human rights and civil lib16 erties of all people of Burma, including ethnic 

17 minorities who currently face state-sponsored 

18 persecution; 

19 (5) rejects any attempts by the Tatmadaw to 

20 hold sham general elections in 2023 without first 

21 ceasing its violence against prodemocracy forces and 

22 releasing all opposition politicians, as any such elec23 tion would be far from free or fair; and 

24 (6) calls on the President, and the relevant 

25 Federal agencies, to take immediate action to— 


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•HRES 86 IH 

1 (A) work with international partners and 

2 multilateral institutions, including the United 

3 Nations Security Council, to enact new targeted 

4 sanctions on individuals and entities affiliated 

5 with the Tatmadaw, including an international 

6 arms embargo and a prohibition on the sale of 

7 aviation fuel and other dual use items to the 

8 Burmese military; 

9 (B) coordinate with like-minded partners 

10 and allies to restrict the Tatmadaw’s ability to 

11 finance its military operations by imposing new 

12 sanctions on Tatmadaw-linked individuals as 

13 well as Tatmadaw-controlled entities, including 

14 state-owned enterprises; 

15 (C) work with Indonesia, the 2023 chair of 

16 the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and 

17 current country coordinator for the U.S.- 

18 ASEAN Partnership, to leverage its position 

19 and regional heft to exert greater pressure on 

20 the Tatmadaw to fully and meaningfully imple21 ment the five-point consensus and bring an end 

22 to the crisis; 

23 (D) issue public warnings to businesses 

24 and individuals outlining the legal liability of 

25 doing business with the Tatmadaw, including 


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•HRES 86 IH 

1 potential liability associated with the 

2 Tatmadaw’s crimes against humanity; 

3 (E) enhance enforcement of existing sanc4 tions prohibiting the importation of precious 

5 and semiprecious gemstones, jade, timber, and 

6 amber from Burma to the United States; 

7 (F) implement the BURMA Act fully and 

8 expeditiously; 

9 (G) provide robust humanitarian assistance 

10 in Burma, Bangladesh, Thailand, and the sur11 rounding region and ensure that targeted sanc12 tions allow all necessary exemptions to permit 

13 the delivery of humanitarian assistance to civil14 ians in need; 

15 (H) ensure that United States-based social 

16 media companies, including Facebook, not allow 

17 their platforms to be used as vehicles for 

18 disinformation campaigns or advocating vio19 lence against the Burmese people; 

20 (I) build on the Department of State’s 

21 March 21, 2022, genocide determination by 

22 supporting efforts to end impunity for those 

23 committing the crime of genocide and pledging 

24 to intervene in the International Court of JusVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Feb 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR86.IH HR86

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•HRES 86 IH 

1 tice case in support of The Gambia against 

2 Myanmar; 

3 (J) direct the United States Permanent 

4 Representative to the United Nations to use the 

5 voice, vote, and influence of the United States 

6 to bring about greater international cooperation 

7 to pursue justice and accountability in Burma; 

8 and 

9 (K) support inclusive international ac10 countability efforts, including the Independent 

11 Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, with a 

12 particular emphasis on Burma’s civil society or13 ganizations, to investigate and hold perpetra14 tors of atrocities accountable. 

Æ 


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