•HRES 1121 IH 
substantial challenges for the Union Election Commission 
to generate a verified comprehensive voter list and set up 
polling stations in conflict affected areas; 
Whereas provisions in the 2008 Constitution of Burma allo-
cate 25 percent of parliamentary seats to the military, 
conferring exceptional powers to the Tatmadaw and 
thereby affording the Tatmadaw considerable power to 
suppress basic rights, including freedoms of expression, 
assembly, and association; 
Whereas constitutional amendments proposed by the Union 
Parliament’s Charter Amendment Committee that aimed 
to democratize the Burmese Constitution and ensure 
equal rights, including voting rights, for all citizens of 
Burma were defeated by military lawmakers, further ena-
bling the military to exercise outsized power and influ-
ence the country’s electoral processes; 
Whereas the National League of Democracy political party 
has repeatedly failed to uphold and protect the rights of 
ethnic and religious minorities since coming to power in 
2015; 
Whereas, as of March 31, 2020, during the first four years 
of Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government, over 500 
lawsuits against more than 1,000 individuals have used 
Burma’s legal system to repress peaceful expressions crit-
ical of the Tatmadaw, civilian government, and Aung San 
Suu Kyi, resulting in the imprisonment of journalists, 
such as Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, 
ethnic activists, and student protestors; 
Whereas the Political Parties Registration Law of 2010 lim-
its the right to form and join political parties only to full 
citizens, thereby severely curtailing the political participa-
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•HRES 1121 IH 
tion of religious and ethnic minorities, including 
Rohingya, those of Chinese and Indian descent, internally 
displaced populations across Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan 
states, and Burmese refugees in Thailand, Bangladesh, 
and elsewhere in the region, many of whom had citizen-
ship documents canceled and who face multiple hurdles 
in gaining citizenship documentation; 
Whereas the Government of Burma instituted a blackout, 
that is still ongoing as of September 1, 2020, of mobile 
internet services and restricted internet service quality in 
Rakhine and Chin States, beginning in June 2019, there-
by inhibiting the ability to hold free and fair elections in 
these areas and further exacerbating difficulties in aid 
distribution and access to potentially life-saving informa-
tion since the onset of COVID–19; 
Whereas the Government of Burma continues to curtail free-
dom of the press and civil society—which are critical 
foundations for free and fair elections—as evidenced by 
government directives to block independent and ethnic 
media sites, and the anticipated restrictions by the Union 
Election Commission on voter education and election ob-
servation activities; 
Whereas Burma’s 2015 election saw the disenfranchisement 
of significant segments of the population, particularly of 
Rohingya ethnicity, but also including those of Chinese 
and Indian descent, Muslims, and other internally dis-
placed persons; 
Whereas ongoing conflict in 2015 was used to justify the can-
cellation of elections in 7 townships and more than 400 
ward and village tracts, mostly in Kachin, Shan, and 
Kayin states; 
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•HRES 1121 IH 
Whereas Burma’s 1982 citizenship law stripped Rohingya of 
their Burmese citizenship and subsequent policies ren-
dered them stateless and disenfranchised, despite having 
the right to vote as recently as 2010 and ability to serve 
in parliament as recently as 2015; 
Whereas in 2017, the Tatmadaw commenced a genocide 
against Rohingya civilians in Rakhine state, causing over 
740,000 Rohingya refugees to flee into Bangladesh, join-
ing over 200,000 who had been previously displaced in 
prior waves of anti-Rohingya violence, resulting in more 
than 1,000,000 Rohingya refugees not present in Burma 
for the election; 
Whereas the Government of Burma has not created condi-
tions conducive to repatriation and political and electoral 
participation of Rohingya refugees and has not made 
progress on the most crucial of the 88 recommendations 
of the Rakhine Advisory Commission identified by 
Rohingya refugees as prerequisites to voluntary repatri-
ation, including freedom of movement, provision of civil 
documentation, and a transparent pathway to restoration 
of full citizenship; 
Whereas the Tatmadaw’s senior generals have been sanc-
tioned by the United States Government for perpetrating 
gross human rights violations and are subject to ongoing 
investigations into their conduct by both the Inter-
national Criminal Court and the International Court of 
Justice; and 
Whereas the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situ-
ation of Human Rights in Myanmar stated on July 13, 
2020, ‘‘The people of Myanmar deserve a free and fair 
election this November and this includes respect for the 
right to vote regardless of one’s race, ethnicity or reli-
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•HRES 1121 IH 
gion, freedom of expression and assembly, and access to 
information and a free press. It will also require that 
steps are taken now to assure that those in conflict areas 
will be able to exercise their rights.’’: Now, therefore, be 
it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) recognizes the importance of free, fair, in-
clusive, transparent, participatory, and credible elec-
tions in Burma and that the 2020 elections mark a 
critical juncture in Burma’s democratic process; 
(2) stands with the people of Burma in their 
ambition for sustainable peace, a genuine democ-
racy, and the realization of fundamental human 
rights for all; 
(3) calls upon the President and the Secretary 
of State to— 
(A) support Burma’s democratic transi-
tion, including by emphasizing the importance 
to that transition of this election as well as of 
the Government of Burma undertaking a cred-
ible and sustainable process of genuine national 
and ethnic reconciliation; 
(B) support free, fair, inclusive, trans-
parent, participatory, and credible elections in 
Burma, including by working to ensure that the 
Tatmadaw and its affiliates do not interfere 
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•HRES 1121 IH 
with vigorous public debate or the mechanism 
of the electoral process and that other govern-
ment officials do not use official resources for 
electioneering; 
(C) call for a ceasefire in all Burmese 
states and localities to ensure that conflict is 
not used as an excuse to deny people the right 
to vote; 
(D) support the right to vote for internally 
displaced persons, refugees, and other Burmese 
communities outside of Burma, with specific at-
tention to the disenfranchised Rohingya people; 
(E) condemn any action taken by the gov-
ernment, political parties, military, or Union 
Election Commission to limit civil society par-
ticipation in the election, including prohibitions 
on voter education and election observation, or 
otherwise restrict civil society or humanitarian 
space in the lead up to the election or in the 
post-election period; 
(F) ensure that United States-based social 
media companies, including Facebook, not allow 
their platforms to be used as vehicles for 
spreading misinformation or advocating violence 
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•HRES 1121 IH 
or voter intimidation to suppress voter partici-
pation; and 
(G) ensure that the Department of State’s 
2020 Country Report on Human Rights Prac-
tices includes an extensive evaluation of the 
Burmese election, including an assessment of 
inclusivity, participation, and interference; 
(4) calls upon the United States Government, 
in partnership with the international community, to 
ensure that the Union Election Commission func-
tions as an independent electoral management body 
that establishes a regulatory framework that fosters 
fair, open, and transparent electoral processes, and 
that the Tatmadaw publicly affirms that it will 
honor the results of such elections; 
(5) calls upon the Secretary of State and the 
Administrator of the United States Agency for 
International Development to work with like-minded 
regional and international organizations, such as the 
International Foundation for Electoral Systems, the 
International Institute for Democracy and Electoral 
Assistance, the Asian Network for Free Elections, 
People’s Alliance for Credible Elections (PACE), 
and the Carter Center, to ensure that the general 
elections in Burma meet international standards of 
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•HRES 1121 IH 
free and fair elections, including by seeking full and 
unimpeded access to all aspects of the electoral proc-
ess for international and domestic observers; and 
(6) calls on the President to consider sanc-
tioning individuals within the Government of Burma, 
the Tatmadaw, and among military associated busi-
nesses and ultranationalist groups, whom the United 
States Government determines undermine free, fair, 
inclusive, transparent, participatory, and credible 
elections in Burma or the safety of such elections. 
Æ 
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