H. Res. 1091 
In the House of Representatives, U. S., 
December 13, 2018. 
Whereas in recent decades the Rohingya people have lost, 
through systematic discrimination by Burmese national, 
state, and local authorities, a range of civil and political 
rights, including citizenship, and face barriers today such 
that they have been rendered stateless; 
Whereas the Burmese military and security forces have com-
mitted numerous crimes against civilians over many years 
in Burma’s Rakhine, Shan, Kachin, and Karen States; 
Whereas beginning August 25, 2017, the Burmese military 
and security forces, as well as civilian mobs, carried out 
widespread attacks, rapes, killings, and the burning of 
villages throughout Rakhine State resulting in approxi-
mately 730,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh and 
bringing the total Rohingya refugee population in Cox’s 
Bazar to over 900,000; 
Whereas on November 14, 2018, Vice President Mike Pence 
said, ‘‘This is a tragedy that has touched the hearts of 
millions of Americans. The violence and persecution by 
military and vigilantes that resulted in driving 700,000 
Rohingya to Bangladesh is without excuse.’’; 
Whereas to date, though the refugee crisis is not of their 
making, the Government of Bangladesh has generously
•HRES 1091 EH 
accommodated the rapid and massive influx of Rohingya 
refugees into Cox’s Bazar; 
Whereas the Government of Bangladesh continues to express 
concern about the lack of accountability for the perpetra-
tors of these crimes and the need to find durable solu-
tions; 
Whereas in June 2018, it was announced that the United 
Nations and the Government of Burma had reached an 
agreement for the ‘‘voluntary, safe, dignified and sustain-
able’’ return of Rohinyga to Burma; 
Whereas that agreement was contingent upon the provision 
of unimpeded access to northern Rakhine by United Na-
tions High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) and 
United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in order 
to verify the necessary conditions on the ground for such 
voluntary, safe, dignified, and sustainable returns; 
Whereas Burma’s civilian government, led by State Coun-
sellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, has 
not yet taken the necessary steps to address the violence 
directed against the Rohingya and has failed to create 
the necessary conditions for returns, including by actively 
impeding access to northern Rakhine by UNHCR, 
UNDP, humanitarian organizations, and journalists; 
Whereas on August 24, 2018, the United Nations Inter-
national Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar released a 
preliminary report stating that, ‘‘The Mission concluded 
. . . that there is sufficient information to warrant the 
investigation and prosecution of senior officials in the 
Tatmadaw chain of command, so that a competent court 
can determine their liability for genocide in relation to 
the situation in Rakhine State.’’;
•HRES 1091 EH 
Whereas on August 25, 2018, Secretary of State Mike 
Pompeo said ‘‘A year ago, following deadly militant at-
tacks, security forces responded by launching abhorrent 
ethnic cleansing of ethnic Rohingya in Burma’’, and con-
tinued ‘‘The U.S. will continue to hold those responsible 
accountable. The military must respect human rights for 
Burma’s democracy to succeed.’’; 
Whereas the Department of the Treasury announced sanc-
tions on five Tatmadaw officers and two Tatmadaw units 
for human rights abuses in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan 
States; 
Whereas on September 24, 2018, the Department of State 
released a report entitled ‘‘Documentation of Atrocities in 
Northern Rakhine State’’ that stated the military ‘‘tar-
geted civilians indiscriminately and often with extreme 
brutality’’ and that the violence in northern Rakhine 
State was ‘‘extreme, large-scale, widespread and seem-
ingly geared toward both terrorizing the population and 
driving gout the Rohingya residents’’ and that the ‘‘scope 
and scale of the military’s operations indicate that they 
were well-planned and coordinated’’: 
Whereas Reuters, a highly respected worldwide news organi-
zation, discovered evidence of mass murder in the village 
of Inn Din as part of its ongoing reporting on the Bur-
mese military’s campaign against the Rohingya, and de-
ployed journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo to fact- 
check and interview eyewitnesses to these and other 
events; 
Whereas on December 12, 2017, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo 
were arrested by Burmese security forces in a suburb of 
Yangon and remain in custody to date;
•HRES 1091 EH 
Whereas on April 20, 2018, a key witness for the prosecu-
tion, Police Captain Moe Yan Naing, testified that he 
was ordered by his superiors to ‘‘trap’’ Wa Lone; 
Whereas on September 3, 2018, Yangon Northern District 
Judge Ye Lwin ruled that Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo 
breached the colonial-era Official Secrets Act during their 
investigation into the massacre in Inn Din and subse-
quently sentenced them each to 7 years in prison with 
hard labor, despite admissions by the police under oath 
in court that the documents in question were planted 
with the journalists as a front for their arrest; 
Whereas United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met 
with Burma’s Foreign Minister, Kyaw Tin, at the 
ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in August 2018 and 
called for the immediate release of Wa Lone and Kyaw 
Soe Oo; 
Whereas on September 4, 2018, Vice President Mike Pence 
stated, ‘‘Wa Lone & Kyaw Soe Oo should be com-
mended—not 
imprisoned—for 
their 
work 
exposing 
human rights violations [and] mass killings. Freedom of 
religion [and] freedom of the press are essential to a 
strong democracy.’’; 
Whereas Members of Congress, professional journalist organi-
zations, human rights groups, and other distinguished 
leaders from around the world have called on the Bur-
mese authorities to release Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo 
from their unjust imprisonment; and 
Whereas the United Nations Convention on the Prevention 
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, signed at 
Paris December 9, 1948 declares that ‘‘means any of the 
following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in
•HRES 1091 EH 
whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious 
group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) 
Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the 
group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions 
of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction 
in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to 
prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring 
children of the group to another group’’ and ‘‘The fol-
lowing acts shall be punishable: (a) Genocide; (b) Con-
spiracy to commit genocide; (c) Direct and public incite-
ment to commit genocide; (d) Attempt to commit geno-
cide; (e) Complicity in genocide.’’: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Represent-
atives that— 
(1) the atrocities committed against the Rohingya 
by the Burmese military and security forces since Au-
gust 2017 constitute crimes against humanity and geno-
cide; 
(2) the Secretary of State should— 
(A) determine, based on available evidence, 
whether the actions by the Burmese military in 
northern Rakhine State in 2017 constitute crimes 
against humanity, genocide, or other crimes under 
international law; and 
(B) fully support efforts to collect, preserve, 
and make available evidence related to the commis-
sion of these crimes;
•HRES 1091 EH 
(3) all those responsible for these crimes against 
humanity and genocide should be tracked, sanctioned, 
arrested, prosecuted, and punished under applicable 
international criminal statutes and conventions; 
(4) every Government and multinational body 
should call such atrocities by their rightful names of 
‘‘crimes against humanity’’, ‘‘war crimes’’, and ‘‘geno-
cide’’; 
(5) the Governments of Bangladesh, the United 
States, and China, as well as the UNHCR and other ac-
tors, should only support repatriations to Burma when 
the conditions for safe, voluntary and dignified returns 
are achieved, including that of removing any impunity 
for Burma’s military, security forces, and vigilantes with 
respect to their actions contributing to the systemic dep-
rivation of the human rights, such as physical safety, 
citizenship, freedom of movement, and livelihoods, of the 
Rohingya; 
(6) the President should impose additional sanc-
tions on senior members of the Burmese military and se-
curity forces who are responsible for genocide and 
human rights abuses, including Tatmadaw Commander- 
In-Chief Min Aung Hliang; 
(7) independent and professional journalism play a 
central role in strengthening democratic governance, up-
•HRES 1091 EH 
holding the rule of law, mitigating conflict, and inform-
ing public opinion around the world; and 
(8) the Burmese military and Government should— 
(A) provide immediate, unimpeded access to 
northern Rakhine by UNHCR, UNDP, other hu-
manitarian actors, and journalists, in order to verify 
that the necessary conditions exist for voluntary, 
safe, dignified, and sustainable returns by displaced 
Rohingya in a manner consistent with internation-
ally recognized human rights and principles for ref-
ugee protection; 
(B) change the laws and policies that have con-
tributed to insecurity in the Rakhine State; and 
(C) rescind any laws that obstruct the freedom 
of the press; and 
(9) State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and Presi-
dent Win Myint should pardon and immediately release 
from prison Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, as well as all 
other journalists and political prisoners. 
Attest: 
Clerk.