IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 898 

Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the immediate and unconditional 

release of Aung San Suu Kyi, a meaningful tripartite political dialogue 

toward national reconciliation, and the full restoration of democracy, 

freedom of assembly, freedom of movement, freedom of speech, freedom 

of the press, and internationally recognized human rights for all Burmese 

citizens. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 6, 2009 

Mr. KING of New York (for himself, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. 

WOLF, Mr. ROHRABACHER, and Mr. PITTS) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in 

addition to the Committees on Ways and Means and the Judiciary, 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 

Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the immediate 

and unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi, a meaningful tripartite political dialogue toward national reconciliation, and the full restoration of democracy, freedom of assembly, freedom of movement, freedom of 

speech, freedom of the press, and internationally recognized human rights for all Burmese citizens. 

Whereas Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy and affiliated parties won the 1990 elections in a 


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•HRES 898 IH 

landslide victory, garnering 80 percent of the parliamentary seats; 

Whereas before this election, Aung San Suu Kyi was placed 

under house arrest and the military proceeded to arrest 

hundreds of members of the National League for Democracy; 

Whereas Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 

14 of the past 20 years; 

Whereas for her nonviolent struggle for democracy and 

human rights, Aung San Suu Kyi received the Nobel 

Peace Prize in 1991; 

Whereas in April 2008, Congress completed passage of legislation to award the Congressional Gold Medal, the United 

States Congress’ highest civilian honor, to Burma’s democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi; 

Whereas, on August 19, 2007, 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; 

Whereas by mid-September, more than 100,000 democracy 

supporters, led by Buddhist monks, were protesting; 

Whereas the Burmese regime threatened to ‘‘take action’’, 

and on September 26, 2007, the military opened fire on 

peaceful protesting crowds demanding democratic reforms; 

Whereas an estimated 200 people were killed, hundreds injured, and thousands of individuals were arrested, imprisoned, or tortured as part of this violent crackdown; 

Whereas amidst the crisis in parts of the country caused by 

Cyclone Nargis, the country’s military junta staged a refVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:25 Nov 07, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR898.IH HR898

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erendum to force through a new constitution, drafted 

without input from the opposition; 

Whereas the vote for the referendum did not follow a free 

and fair democratic process; 

Whereas conditions prior to the referendum consisted of repression, a lack of a free media, and a lack of an independent referendum commission and courts to supervise 

the vote; 

Whereas the regime’s constitution, on which it predicates its 

upcoming elections in 2010, contains an amnesty provision that exempts members of the military regime from 

civilian prosecution; 

Whereas the amnesty provision is a blatant attempt to legitimize the systematic violence in the country for all junta 

inflicted crimes; 

Whereas the constitution removes any rights for civil redress 

for victims of crimes committed by the military and leaders of the democratic opposition have refused to accept 

this constitution; 

Whereas following the visit of an uninvited man from the 

United States to her home in August 2009, Aung San 

Suu Kyi was sentenced to an additional 18 months of 

house arrest for allowing the man to stay briefly in her 

home without official permission; 

Whereas this trial and the following rejection of an appeal 

was decried as a sham by the international community 

and was widely seen as a move to prevent Aung San Suu 

Kyi from participating in the 2010 national elections; 

Whereas since May 2009, the regime has started to disband 

and disarm the ethnic opposition groups by issuing orders to reduce their troops from the current levels of 


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about 50,000 to 7,000, and then transfer them under the 

authority of the regime by end of October; 

Whereas as a majority of ceasefire groups have refused to 

comply, in August, the regime started to attack the 

smallest group, Kokang, and defeated it in a week; 

Whereas this attack against Kokang and the occupying 

Kokang region forced over 40,000 people to flee to China 

as refugees and sent the message to other ceasefire 

groups to obey its order; 

Whereas the escalation of civil war and further destabilizing 

of the region can be expected anytime soon as the regime 

is strengthening its troops in the region for further attack and the ceasefire groups are preparing to defend 

their regions; 

Whereas in June 2009, the United States tracked a North 

Korean ship carrying a suspicious cargo believed to be 

heading to Burma, but the ship returned to North Korea 

without ever reaching Burma; 

Whereas North Korea is internationally known to proliferate 

nuclear and missile materials and information; 

Whereas the United Nations has passed over 30 resolutions 

decrying the Burmese military regime’s human rights violations and blatant system of impunity; 

Whereas the regime has dismissed these resolutions by waging a war against its civilian population and destroying 

or forcing the abandonment of over 3,300 villages since 

1996; 

Whereas these inhumane tactics have caused a serious refugee crisis numbering more than 1,000,000 between 

1996 and 2006, and up to 500,000 internally displaced 

persons remaining today; 


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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, including child soldiers; 

Whereas the International Labor Organization (ILO) since 

1998 has found that Burma’s state authorities use 

‘‘widespread’’ and ‘‘systematic’’ forced labor, arrest, or 

dismiss workers affiliated with labor protests, and murder, imprison, and torture trade unionists; 

Whereas the ILO as recently as June 2009, concluded Burma’s military regime has continuously failed to implement the Convention since 1996; 

Whereas the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary 

Detention has stated five times that the detention of 

Aung San Suu Kyi by the Burmese military regime violates international law; 

Whereas in March 2009, in opinion No. 46/2008 the United 

Nations committee announced for the first time that 

Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest violates, not only international law, but Burmese law as well, further highlighting the Burmese junta’s utter disregard for the rule 

of law; 

Whereas, on October 11, 2007, the United Nations Security 

Council issued a statement condemning the violence in 

Burma, urging the release of all political prisoners, and 

calling on the State Peace and Development Council 

(SPDC) to enter into a United Nations-mediated dialogue with its political opposition; 


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Whereas in July 2008, the Congress overwhelmingly passed 

and President George W. Bush signed into law the Tom 

Lantos Block Burmese JADE Act (Public Law 110–286) 

imposing further financial and travel sanctions on the 

Burmese military regime; 

Whereas since 2003, Congress has annually renewed import 

restrictions affiliated with the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act (Public Law 108–61) which imposes sanctions on the ruling Burmese military junta with the purpose of strengthening Burma’s democratic forces and 

supporting and recognizing the National League of Democracy as the legitimate representative of the Burmese 

people; 

Whereas this act was once again renewed and signed into law 

by President Obama on July 28, 2009; 

Whereas in September 2009, the Administration concluded a 

seven-month review of United States policy towards 

Burma, the revised policy seeks credible democratic reform by maintaining the current sanctions against the 

Burmese regime in addition to direct engagement with 

senior Burmese officials; and 

Whereas the European Union, Canada, and Australia have 

imposed their own sanctions against the Burmese regime: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) insists that Burma’s military regime begin 

3 a meaningful tripartite political dialogue with Aung 

4 San Suu Kyi, the National League for Democracy, 

5 and ethnic nationalities toward national reconcili6 ation, and the full restoration of democracy, freedom 


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1 of assembly, freedom of movement, freedom of 

2 speech, freedom of the press, and internationally rec3 ognized human rights for all Burmese citizens; 

4 (2) demands the immediate and unconditional 

5 release of Aung San Suu Kyi, detained Buddhist 

6 monks, and all other political prisoners and pris7 oners of conscience; 

8 (3) calls for full accountability of those respon9 sible for human rights violations; 

10 (4) calls on governments around the world, in11 cluding the nations of the European Union and the 

12 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to 

13 strengthen sanction regimes against Burma, with 

14 the goal of denying the Burmese ruling junta hard 

15 currency to continue its campaign of repression; 

16 (5) 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 and the region; 

23 (6) calls for the Administration to fully imple24 ment the Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE Act 

25 (Public Law 110–286) to include financial sanctions 


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1 as well as the appointment of a United States Spe2 cial Coordinator for Burma; 

3 (7) calls for the Administration to support a 

4 United Nations Security Council Commission of In5 quiry to investigate the Burmese regime’s war 

6 crimes, crimes against humanity, and system of im7 punity; 

8 (8) calls on the Burmese junta to change the 

9 current fraudulent constitution by permitting mem10 bers of the democratic opposition and ethnic minori11 ties to participate in government and that these 

12 changes are made before the 2010 elections; 

13 (9) calls for countries throughout the world to 

14 unite behind a global arms embargo on the Burmese 

15 military regime; and 

16 (10) demands the Burmese ruling junta release 

17 Kyaw Zaw Lwin, a Burmese born American citizen 

18 being detained at Insein Prision. 

Æ 


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