IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2327 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 25, 2019 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

AN ACT 

To direct the Secretary of State to provide assistance to 

civil society organizations in Burma that work to secure 

the release of prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in Burma, and assistance to current and former 

prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in Burma, 

and for other purposes. 


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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Burma Political Pris5 oners Assistance Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) Aung San Suu Kyi and the National 

9 League for Democracy (NLD) pledged that they 

10 ‘‘would not arrest anyone as political prisoners’’, but 

11 have failed to fulfill this promise since they took con12 trol of Burma’s Union Parliament and the Govern13 ment’s executive branch in April 2016. 

14 (2) As of the end of April 2019, there were 331 

15 political prisoners in Burma, 48 of them serving sen16 tences, 90 awaiting trial inside prison, and 193 

17 awaiting trial outside prison, according to the Assist18 ance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma. 

19 (3) During its 3 years in power, the NLD Gov20 ernment has provided pardons for Burma’s political 

21 prisoners on six occasions. State Counsellor Aung 

22 San Suu Kyi took steps to secure the release of 

23 nearly 235 political prisoners in April 2016. On May 

24 23, 2017, former President Htin Kyaw granted par25 dons to 259 prisoners, including 89 political prisVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Sep 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2327.RFS H2327

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1 oners. On April 17, 2018, current President Win 

2 Myint pardoned 8,541 prisoners, including 36 polit3 ical prisoners. In April and May 2019, he pardoned 

4 more than 23,000 prisoners, including 20 political 

5 prisoners. 

6 (4) The Burmese security forces have used colo7 nial-era laws to arrest and charge political prisoners 

8 and prisoners of conscience. These laws include but 

9 are not limited to provisions of the Penal Code, the 

10 Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Act, the 

11 1908 Unlawful Associations Act, the 2013 Tele12 communications Act, and the 1923 Official Secrets 

13 Act. 

14 (5) On December 12, 2017, Reuters reporters 

15 Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested and 

16 charged with violating the Official Secrets Act, con17 tinuing a trend of restricting media and free speech 

18 and attempting to thwart coverage of the events in 

19 Rakhine State. 

20 (6) On September 3, 2018, Wa Lone and Kyaw 

21 Soe Oo were convicted and sentenced to 7 years in 

22 prison. Time Magazine included pictures of the two 

23 reporters on the cover of its ‘‘Person of the Year’’ 

24 issue on December 10, 2018, as two of the ‘‘Guard25 ians and the War on Truth’’. 


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1 (7) On May 6, 2019, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe 

2 Oo were released after more than 500 days behind 

3 bars. 

4 (8) According to Burmese free speech organiza5 tion Athan, 44 journalists and 142 activists since 

6 2016 were charged with colonial-era laws used to sti7 fle dissent and restrict activist groups and have 

8 faced trial. 

9 (9) Since December 2018, three Kachin activ10 ists were sentenced to 6 months in prison in connec11 tion with peaceful antiwar protests; a protester dem12 onstrating against the Myitsone Dam (a controver13 sial Chinese-backed hydropower project) was charged 

14 for peaceful demonstrations, and police used exces15 sive force to crack down on peaceful protesters in 

16 Kayah State, with some of the demonstrators 

17 charged under vaguely worded, repressive laws. 

18 (10) On August 18, 2017, Aung Ko Htwe was 

19 arrested because he gave a media interview in which 

20 he described his experience as a child soldier, includ21 ing how the Burmese military abducted and forcibly 

22 recruited him when he was 13 years old. He was 

23 charged under Section 505(b) of Burma’s Penal 

24 Code. 


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1 (11) Although former Secretary of State Rex 

2 Tillerson took Burma off the State Department’s list 

3 of the worst offenders in the use of child soldiers in 

4 2017, the Department reinstated Burma to the list 

5 in 2018. According to the United Nations, the Bur6 mese military and ethnic guerrilla groups remain 

7 ‘‘persistent perpetrators’ in the recruitment and use 

8 of children in [Burma].’’. 

9 SEC. 3. CHILD SOLDIERS. 

10 It is the sense of Congress that no one should be 

11 jailed for freely expressing him or herself or for speaking 

12 against the use of child soldiers. 

13 SEC. 4. PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY. 

14 It is the sense of Congress that Burma must imme15 diately drop defamation charges against the three Kachin 

16 activists, Lum Zawng, Nang Pu, and Zau Jet, who led 

17 a peaceful rally in Mytkyina, the capital of Kachin State 

18 in April 2018, and that the prosecution of Lum Zawng, 

19 Nang Pu, and Zau Jet is an attempt by the Burmese au20 thorities to intimidate, harass, and silence community 

21 leaders and human rights defenders who speak out about 

22 military abuses and the impact on civilian populations. 

23 SEC. 5. PRESS FREEDOM. 

24 It is the sense of Congress that press freedom is a 

25 fundamental human right and should be upheld and proVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Sep 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2327.RFS H2327

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1 tected in Burma and everywhere, and that Burmese au2 thorities must immediately cease the arbitrary arrest, de3 tention, imprisonment, and physical attacks of journalists, 

4 which have created a climate of fear and self-censorship 

5 among local journalists. 

6 SEC. 6. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

7 It is the policy of the United States that— 

8 (1) all prisoners of conscience and political pris9 oners in Burma should be unconditionally and im10 mediately released; 

11 (2) the Administration and the Department of 

12 State should use all of their diplomatic tools to en13 sure that all prisoners of conscience and political 

14 prisoners in Burma are released; and 

15 (3) the Burmese Government should repeal or 

16 amend all laws that violate the rights to freedom of 

17 expression, peaceful assembly, or association, and 

18 ensure that laws such as the Telecommunications 

19 Law of 2013 and the Unlawful Associations Act of 

20 1908, and laws relating to the right to peaceful as21 sembly, all comply with international human rights 

22 standards. 

23 SEC. 7. POLITICAL PRISONERS ASSISTANCE. 

24 The Secretary of State shall continue to provide as25 sistance to civil society organizations in Burma that work 


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1 to secure the release of prisoners of conscience and polit2 ical prisoners in Burma, and assistance to current and 

3 former prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in 

4 Burma. Such assistance may include the following: 

5 (1) Support for the documentation of human 

6 rights violations with respect to prisoners of con7 science and political prisoners. 

8 (2) Support for advocacy in Burma to raise 

9 awareness of issues relating to prisoners of con10 science and political prisoners. 

11 (3) Support for efforts to repeal or amend laws 

12 that are used to imprison individuals as either pris13 oners of conscience or political prisoners. 

14 (4) Support for health, including mental health, 

15 and post-incarceration assistance in gaining access 

16 to education and employment opportunities or other 

17 forms of reparation to enable former prisoners of 

18 conscience and political prisoners to resume a nor19 mal life. 

20 (5) The creation, in consultation with former 

21 political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, their 

22 families, and representatives, of an independent pris23 oner review mechanism in Burma to review the cases 

24 of individuals who may have been charged or de25 prived of their liberty for peacefully exercising their 


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1 human rights, review all laws used to arrest, pros2 ecute, and punish individuals as political prisoners 

3 and prisoners of conscience, and provide rec4 ommendations to the Burmese Government for the 

5 repeal or amendment of all such laws. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 24, 

2019. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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