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[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 898 Introduced in House (IH)]

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 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 referendum 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 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;
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;
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
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) insists that Burma's military regime begin a meaningful 
        tripartite political dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi, the 
        National League for Democracy, and ethnic nationalities 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;
            (2) demands the immediate and unconditional release of Aung 
        San Suu Kyi, detained Buddhist monks, and all other political 
        prisoners and prisoners of conscience;
            (3) calls for full accountability of those responsible for 
        human rights violations;
            (4) calls on governments around the world, including the 
        nations of the European Union and the Association of Southeast 
        Asian Nations (ASEAN) to strengthen sanction regimes against 
        Burma, with the goal of denying the Burmese ruling junta hard 
        currency to continue its campaign of repression;
            (5) calls on the United Nations Security Council to 
        immediately pass a resolution imposing multilateral sanctions 
        on Burma's military regime, including a complete arms embargo, 
        and to take other appropriate action to respond to the growing 
        threat the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) poses in 
        Burma and the region;
            (6) calls for the Administration to fully implement the Tom 
        Lantos Block Burmese JADE Act (Public Law 110-286) to include 
        financial sanctions as well as the appointment of a United 
        States Special Coordinator for Burma;
            (7) calls for the Administration to support a United 
        Nations Security Council Commission of Inquiry to investigate 
        the Burmese regime's war crimes, crimes against humanity, and 
        system of impunity;
            (8) calls on the Burmese junta to change the current 
        fraudulent constitution by permitting members of the democratic 
        opposition and ethnic minorities to participate in government 
        and that these changes are made before the 2010 elections;
            (9) calls for countries throughout the world to unite 
        behind a global arms embargo on the Burmese military regime; 
        and
            (10) demands the Burmese ruling junta release Kyaw Zaw 
        Lwin, a Burmese born American citizen being detained at Insein 
        Prision.
                                 <all>
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