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[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 603 Introduced in House (IH)]

105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 603

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the seat in 
 the United Nations that is reserved to Burma should be occupied by a 
          representative of the National League for Democracy.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 15, 1998

Mr. Rohrabacher submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
              to the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the seat in 
 the United Nations that is reserved to Burma should be occupied by a 
          representative of the National League for Democracy.

Whereas in 1988 the ruling military junta in Burma massacred thousands of 
        demonstrators who were demanding human rights and a democratic form of 
        government;
Whereas in each year since 1988 the Department of State of the United States has 
        included Burma, renamed Myanmar by its military regime, on its list of 
        countries that provide support for international terrorism, which also 
        includes the ``outlaw'' states of Libya, North Korea, and Iraq;
Whereas in 1990 the National League for Democracy, led by Nobel laureate Daw 
        Aung San Suu Kyi, won over 80 percent of the seats in the Burmese 
        parliament in the first democratic elections held in Burma in decades;
Whereas despite assurances from leaders of the military regime that governmental 
        power in Burma would be ceded to the newly elected parliament, a 
        crackdown ensued and the military regime did not permit the newly 
        elected parliament to be seated;
Whereas the military regime arrested hundreds of members of the newly elected 
        parliament to prevent them from convening a government;
Whereas there is clear and convincing evidence that many leaders of the military 
        regime in Burma are involved in the growth, production, and 
        transportation of opium and its deadly derivative, heroin;
Whereas the military regime in Burma has given, and continues to give, safe 
        haven to international drug kingpins, such as the infamous Khun Sa (also 
        known as Chang Qifu), who are under indictment in the United States for 
        heroin trafficking;
Whereas the United States and international organizations, including the United 
        Nations, have demonstrated that the military regime in Burma is among 
        the worst offenders of human rights in the world;
Whereas the United Nations has continually sought visas from the military regime 
        in Burma to enable United Nations representatives to meet with political 
        prisoners, democracy activists, and refugees in Burma, but the military 
        regime has refused and continues to refuse to issue the visas;
Whereas in 1997 the United States imposed economic sanctions against the 
        military regime in Burma as a demonstration of support for the National 
        League for Democracy;
Whereas on September 16, 1998, the National League for Democracy formed a 
        committee to represent the members of parliament who were duly elected 
        in 1990;
Whereas the military regime in Burma has demonstrated a clear intent to 
        disregard the fundamental rights that countries that are members of the 
        United Nations should ensure for their citizens; and
Whereas the seat in the United Nations that is reserved to Burma should be 
        occupied not by a representative of the military regime of Burma but by 
        a representative of the duly elected parliament: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the Secretary of State should instruct the United States Ambassador to 
the United Nations to use appropriate procedures in the United 
Nations--
            (1) to obtain the removal of the representative of the 
        Burmese military regime from the seat in the United Nations 
        that is reserved to Burma;
            (2) to enable the seat to be occupied by a representative 
        of the duly elected parliament of Burma; and
            (3) to hold the seat vacant until such time as it can be so 
        occupied.
                                 <all>
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