SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Aung San Suu Kyi and the National 
League for Democracy (NLD) pledged that they 
‘‘would not arrest anyone as political prisoners’’, but 
have failed to fulfill this promise since they took con-
trol of Burma’s Union Parliament and the Govern-
ment’s executive branch in April 2016. 
(2) As of March 1, 2019, there are 354 political 
prisoners in Burma, 43 of them serving sentences, 
86 awaiting trial inside prison, and 225 awaiting 
trial outside prison, according to the Assistance As-
sociation for Political Prisoners in Burma. 
(3) During its three years in power, the NLD 
Government has provided pardons for Burma’s polit-
ical prisoners on three occasions. State Counsellor 
Aung San Suu Kyi took steps to secure the release 
of nearly 235 political prisoners. On May 23, 2017, 
former President Htin Kyaw granted pardons to 259 
prisoners, including 89 political prisoners. On April 
17, 2018, current President Win Myint pardoned 
8,541 prisoners, including 36 political prisoners. 
(4) The Burmese security forces have used colo-
nial-era laws to arrest and charge political prisoners 
and prisoners of conscience. These laws include but 
are not limited to provisions of the Penal Code, the 
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Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Act, the 
1908 Unlawful Associations Act, the 2013 Tele-
communications Act, and the 1923 Official Secrets 
Act. 
(5) On January 5, 2015, then-President Thein 
Sein announced the reconstitution of the ‘‘Scruti-
nizing Committee into the Prisoners of Conscience 
Affairs Committee’’, which was to comprise 28 mem-
bers and which would ‘‘promptly [carry] out pris-
oners of conscience affairs at the grassroots level’’. 
However, the Committee never met and no informa-
tion has been made publicly available regarding its 
mandate, procedures, or activities. 
(6) On December 12, 2017, Reuters reporters 
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested and 
charged with violating the Official Secrets Act, con-
tinuing a trend of restricting media and free speech 
and attempting to thwart coverage of the events in 
Rakhine State. 
(7) On September 3, 2018, Wa Lone and Kyaw 
Soe Oo were convicted and sentenced to seven years 
in prison. Time Magazine included pictures of the 
two reporters on the cover of its ‘‘Person of the 
Year’’ issue on December 10, 2018, as two of the 
‘‘Guardians and the War on Truth’’. 
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(8) According to Burmese free speech organiza-
tion Athan, 44 journalists and 142 activists since 
2016 were charged with colonial-era laws used to sti-
fle dissent and restrict activist groups and have 
faced trial. 
(9) Since December 2018, three Kachin activ-
ists were sentenced to six months in prison in con-
nection with peaceful antiwar protests; a protester 
demonstrating against the Myitsone Dam (a con-
troversial Chinese-backed hydropower project) was 
charged for peaceful demonstrations, and police used 
excessive force to crack down on peaceful protesters 
in Kayah State, with some of the demonstrators 
charged under vaguely worded, repressive laws. 
(10) On August 18, 2017, Aung Ko Htwe was 
arrested because he gave a media interview in which 
he described his experience as a child soldier, includ-
ing how the military abducted and forcibly recruited 
him when he was 13 years old. He was charged 
under Section 505(b) of Burma’s Penal Code. He 
faces up to two-and-a-half years in jail from the date 
of his conviction. 
SEC. 3. CHILD SOLDIERS. 
It is the sense of Congress that former child soldier 
Aung Ko Htwe should be immediately and unconditionally 
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released, and that no one should be jailed for freely ex-
pressing him or herself or for speaking against the use 
of child soldiers. 
SEC. 4. PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY. 
It is the sense of Congress that Burma must imme-
diately drop defamation charges against the three Kachin 
activists, Lum Zawng, Nang Pu, and Zau Jet, who led 
a peaceful rally in Mytkyina, the capital of Kachin State 
in April 2018, and that the prosecution of Lum Zawng, 
Nang Pu, and Zau Jet is an attempt by the Burmese au-
thorities to intimidate, harass, and silence community 
leaders and human rights defenders who speak out about 
military abuses and the impact on civilian populations. 
SEC. 5. PRESS FREEDOM. 
It is the sense of Congress that Burma must imme-
diately and unconditionally release Wa Lone and Kyaw 
Soe Oo, and that the imprisonment of these two Reuters 
journalists for documenting and reporting the crimes 
under international law committed against the Rohingya 
people is a gross injustice. Congress holds that press free-
dom is a fundamental human right and should be upheld 
and protected in Burma and everywhere. 
SEC. 6. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States that— 
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(1) all prisoners of conscience and political pris-
oners in Burma should be unconditionally and im-
mediately released; 
(2) the Administration and the Department of 
State should use all of their diplomatic tools to en-
sure that all prisoners of conscience and political 
prisoners in Burma are released; and 
(3) the Burmese Government should repeal or 
amend all laws that violate the rights to freedom of 
expression, peaceful assembly, or association, and 
ensure that laws such as the Telecommunications 
Law of 2013 and the Unlawful Associations Act of 
1908, and laws relating to the right to peaceful as-
sembly, all comply with international human rights 
standards. 
SEC. 7. POLITICAL PRISONERS ASSISTANCE. 
The Secretary of State shall provide assistance to 
civil society organizations in Burma that work to secure 
the release of prisoners of conscience and political pris-
oners in Burma, and assistance to current and former 
prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in Burma. 
Such assistance shall include the following: 
(1) Support for the documentation of human 
rights violations with respect to prisoners of con-
science and political prisoners. 
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