I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4223 
To promote democracy and human rights in Burma, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 2, 2017 
Mr. ENGEL (for himself, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. YOHO, Mr. SHER-
MAN, Mrs. WAGNER, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, and Mr. FRANKS of Arizona) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Financial Services, 
the Judiciary, Armed Services, and Ways and Means, 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 con-
cerned 
A BILL 
To promote democracy and human rights in Burma, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Burma Unified through Rigorous Military Accountability 
Act of 2017’’ or the ‘‘BURMA Act of 2017’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:39 Nov 04, 2017
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4223.IH
H4223
lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings. 
Sec. 3. Statement of policy. 
Sec. 4. Sense of Congress on rights of returnees. 
Sec. 5. Sense of Congress with respect to humanitarian assistance and freedom 
of movement. 
Sec. 6. Multilateral assistance. 
Sec. 7. Limitation on security assistance and military and security sector co-
operation. 
Sec. 8. Trade restrictions. 
Sec. 9. Visa ban and financial sanctions with respect to military officials re-
sponsible for human rights abuses. 
Sec. 10. Strategy for promoting economic development. 
Sec. 11. Report on accountability for ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, 
and genocide in Burma. 
Sec. 12. Appropriate congressional committees defined. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The United States policy since 1988 has 
fostered positive democratic reforms in Burma, 
which have achieved significant milestones on the 
path to democracy. 
(2) On November 8, 2015, Burma held historic 
elections in which the National League for Democ-
racy won a supermajority of seats in the combined 
national Parliament. 
(3) On March 30, 2016, Htin Kyaw was inau-
gurated as the President of Burma, the country’s 
first civilian President in more than 50 years. 
(4) Aung San Suu Kyi, President of the Na-
tional League for Democracy, was barred from be-
coming President due to the provisions of section 
59(f) of the 2008 Constitution of Burma, and there-
fore assumed the office of State Counsellor, a posi-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:39 Nov 04, 2017
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4223.IH
H4223
lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
tion created for her that made her the country’s de 
facto leader. 
(5) Among Aung San Suu Kyi’s first acts as 
State Counsellor after the National League for De-
mocracy party took office was to drop charges 
against more than 100 prisoners held for political 
reasons, including well-known journalists and stu-
dent activists. President Htin Kyaw used his author-
ity to grant amnesty to another 86 convicted polit-
ical prisoners. However, as of September 2017, there 
were 220 political prisoners in Burma, 42 of whom 
were currently serving prison sentences, 51 of whom 
were awaiting trial inside prison, and 127 of whom 
were awaiting trial outside prison, according to the 
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. 
(6) Current Burmese law continues to system-
atically oppress the Rohingya people. In particular, 
the 1982 citizenship law effectively denies the 
Rohingya Burmese citizenship, rendering them 
stateless, and the Government of Burma continues 
to deny them freedom of movement, access to 
healthcare, education, and marriage. 
(7) Despite the meaningful steps taken toward 
democracy in Burma, there still remain important 
structural and systemic impediments to the realiza-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:39 Nov 04, 2017
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4223.IH
H4223
lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
tion of a fully democratic, civilian government, in-
cluding necessary reforms to the 2008 Constitution 
of Burma and to existing laws and governance struc-
tures to ensure that— 
(A) the Burmese military— 
(i) ends its ability to directly and 
undemocratically control appointments to 
25 percent of the seats in the combined 
national Parliament, providing legislators 
appointed by the military a sufficient pro-
portion of seats to veto constitutional 
amendments; 
(ii) ends its control over governmental 
ministries, including Home Affairs, De-
fense Affairs, and Border Affairs; and 
(iii) ceases to operate autonomously 
from the elected civilian government, by es-
tablishing meaningful civilian control over 
the budgets and policy of both the military 
and security forces; and 
(B) the Government of Burma— 
(i) addresses social and political dis-
enfranchisement and economic conditions 
in the Burmese state of Rakhine, and 
throughout the rest of the country, includ-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:39 Nov 04, 2017
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4223.IH
H4223
lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
ing those faced by the Rohingya people; 
and 
(ii) addresses the underlying causes of 
the current humanitarian and human 
rights crisis affecting Burma’s Rohingya 
people as well as the other residents of the 
Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan states in 
Burma, 
including 
ethnic 
cleansing, 
extrajudicial killings, sexual and gender- 
based violence, and forced displacement re-
sulting from intercommunal violence and 
the human rights abuses committed by the 
Burmese military and security forces. 
(8) Actions of the Burmese military, known as 
the Tatmadaw, including continuing assaults on per-
sonnel and territory controlled by armed ethnic orga-
nizations, military offenses immediately preceding 
the peace conference in Naypyitaw, and human 
rights abuses against civilians in conflict areas, un-
dermine confidence in establishing a credible nation-
wide cease-fire agreement to end Burma’s civil war. 
(9) The people of Burma continue to suffer 
from an ongoing internal armed conflict between the 
Tatmadaw and nearly 20 armed ethnic groups. Any 
prospects for a full democracy in Burma are contin-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:39 Nov 04, 2017
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4223.IH
H4223
lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
gent on ending the internal armed conflict and find-
ing a path toward national reconciliation between 
Burma’s Bamar majority and its various ethnic mi-
norities, including through the establishment of a 
federated state or similar structure of governance 
that provides for meaningful political participation 
by all citizens. 
(10) Since 2011, over 98,000 people have been 
displaced in the states of Kachina and Shan over the 
escalating violence and instability, resulting in con-
tinued massive internal displacement, causing a 
massive humanitarian crisis, continuing to under-
mine the trust necessary to achieve a durable, last-
ing peace, and disproportionately affecting the lives 
of innocent civilians including the thousands of in-
ternally displaced persons forced from their homes. 
(11) According to the United Nations Office for 
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, around 
50 percent of such displaced people are staying in 
areas beyond the control of the Government of 
Burma, where access to humanitarian aid is limited. 
(12) In 2015, the nongovernmental organiza-
tion Global Witness found that the estimated value 
of official production of jade in 2014 was almost 48 
percent of the official gross domestic product of 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:39 Nov 04, 2017
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4223.IH
H4223
lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
Burma. However, because of corruption and a lack 
of transparency, the economic gains of Burma are 
being pocketed by notorious leaders from the mili-
tary junta, including former dictator Than Shwe and 
drug lord Wei Hsueh Kang, and vested interests in 
maintaining such corrupt gains from trading in jade 
are undermining prospects for resolving the armed 
conflict in Burma. 
(13) On August 31, 2016, State Counsellor 
Aung San Suu Kyi and the Government of Burma 
initiated the Union Peace Conference 21st Century 
Panglong, where more than 1,400 representatives of 
various concerned parties attended a peace con-
ference in Naypyitaw in an effort to begin the proc-
ess of ending Burma’s civil war and discuss options 
in forming a democratic state of Burma. 
(14) On May 24, 2017, the Government of 
Burma held a second Panglong Peace Conference, 
with mixed results. 
(15) On October 31, 2016, the Secretary of 
State determined that Burma should remain des-
ignated as a country of particular concern for reli-
gious freedom under section 402(b) of the Inter-
national 
Religious 
Freedom 
Act 
(22 
U.S.C. 
6442(b)), and that ‘‘members of the Rohingya com-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:39 Nov 04, 2017
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4223.IH
H4223
lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
munity in particular face abuses by the Government 
of Burma, including those involving torture, unlaw-
ful arrest and detention, restricted movement, re-
strictions on religious practices, discrimination in 
employment and access to social services’’. 
(16) Both government- and military-initiated 
investigations into human rights abuses in Burma 
involving intercommunal violence or violence between 
ethnic minorities and Burmese security forces have 
failed to yield credible results. For example, the Feb-
ruary 2017 panels set up by the Burmese military 
and the Home Affairs Ministry to investigate such 
misconduct are widely perceived to lack independ-
ence and impartiality. The December 2016 commis-
sion established by Burma’s President Htin Kyaw to 
investigate the October 2016 attacks in the state of 
Rakhine dismissed claims of misconduct by security 
forces due to ‘‘insufficient evidence’’. The 2012 com-
mission that the Government established in the state 
of Rakhine that year never held anyone accountable. 
(17) In a public address on October 12, 2017, 
State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi laid out the fol-
lowing goals for the state of Rakhine: 
(A) Repatriation of those who have crossed 
over to Bangladesh. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:39 Nov 04, 2017
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4223.IH
H4223
lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
(B) Effective provision of humanitarian as-
sistance. 
(C) Resettlement of displaced populations. 
(D) Economic development and durable 
peace. 
(18) According to the Bangladesh Foreign Min-
istry, more than 600,000 Rohingya have fled to 
Bangladesh, for fear of loss of livelihoods, shelter, 
and disproportionate use of force by the military of 
Burma. 
(19) On October 23, 2017, State Department 
Spokesperson Heather Nauert said, ‘‘We express our 
gravest concern with recent events in Rakhine State 
and the violent, traumatic abuses Rohingya and 
other communities have endured. It is imperative 
that any individuals or entities responsible for atroc-
ities, including non-state actors and vigilantes, be 
held accountable’’. 
(20) At a hearing before the House Foreign Af-
fairs Committee on October 10, 2017, the Deputy 
Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refu-
gees, and Migration, Mark Sorella, said, ‘‘We have 
been providing assistance to the United Nations and 
other humanitarian partners to help those affected 
by the Rakhine state violence. The United Nations 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:39 Nov 04, 2017
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00009
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4223.IH
H4223
lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
estimated $434 million is needed. In fiscal year 
2017, the United States contributed nearly $104 
million in assistance to the displaced populations in 
Burma for refugees from Burma throughout the re-
gion’’. 
(21) At a hearing before the Senate Foreign 
Relations Committee on October 24, 2017, the Dep-
uty Assistant Secretary of State for Southeast Asia, 
Patrick Murphy, testified that current estimates in-
dicate over 600,000 people, mostly ethnic Rohingya, 
have fled to Bangladesh since the crisis began on 
August 25, 2017. In addition, Mr. Murphy indicated 
that ‘‘refugees continue to cross into Bangladesh, 
and we continue to receive credible reports of spo-
radic violence in northern Rakhine State’’. 
(22) Amnesty International and Human Rights 
Watch have reported and documented a campaign of 
violence perpetrated by the security forces of Burma, 
which have indiscriminately fired on and killed civil-
ians, raped women and girls, and arbitrarily arrested 
Rohingya men without any cause or charges, which 
Amnesty International has said ‘‘may amount to 
crimes against humanity’’ or ‘‘ethnic cleansing’’. 
Satellite images obtained by Amnesty International 
reveal that, out of the approximately 470 villages in 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:39 Nov 04, 2017
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00010
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4223.IH
H4223
lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
northern Rakhine State, nearly 300 were partially or 
completely destroyed by fire since August 25, 2017, 
most of which were completely or partially populated 
by Rohingya Muslims. 
(23) Access to the northern state of Rakhine 
has remained blocked during this crisis, including a 
prohibition of access for the United Nations and 
other humanitarian groups. For much of the second 
half of 2017, hundreds of thousands of vulnerable 
people in the state of Rakhine who needed humani-
tarian aid, including the Rohingya, Rakhine, and 
other peoples and including children with acute mal-
nutrition, were being blocked from receiving such 
aid, and aid groups expect that levels of malnutri-
tion and even starvation have dramatically increased. 
(24) In response to previous violence between 
the Burmese military and the Rohingya people in 
2016, Aung San Suu Kyi established the Advisory 
Commission on Rakhine State, headed by former 
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, to 
address tensions in Northern Rakhine. She has since 
also endorsed the Commission’s recommendations 
and established a group to move forward with imple-
mentation. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:39 Nov 04, 2017
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00011
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4223.IH
H4223
lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It shall be the policy of the United States that— 
(1) the United States supports a complete tran-
sition to democracy and genuine national reconcili-
ation in Burma; 
(2) the pursuit of a United States strategy of 
calibrated and principled engagement is essential to 
support the establishment of a peaceful, prosperous, 
and democratic Burma that includes respect for the 
human rights of all its people regardless of ethnicity 
and religion; and 
(3) the guiding principles of such a strategy 
should include— 
(A) supporting meaningful legal and con-
stitutional reforms that remove remaining re-
strictions on civil and political rights and en-
sure civilian governance, including reforms to 
the current constitutional provision reserving 25 
percent of parliamentary seats for appointments 
by the military, which provides the military with 
veto power over constitutional amendments; 
(B) establishing a fully democratic, plural-
istic, and representative political system that in-
cludes regularized free and fair elections in 
which all people of Burma can vote; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:39 Nov 04, 2017
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00012
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4223.IH
H4223
lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
(C) promoting genuine national reconcili-
ation, the conclusion of a credible and sustain-
able nationwide cease-fire agreement, including 
political accommodation of ethnic Shan, Kachin, 
Chin, Karen and other ethnic groups, and con-
stitutional change enabling inclusive permanent 
peace; 
(D) ensuring accountability for ethnic 
cleansing, crimes against humanity, and geno-
cide perpetrated against the Rohingya, Kachin, 
Shan, and other ethnic minorities by the Gov-
ernment and military of Burma, violent extrem-
ist groups, and other combatants involved in 
the conflict; 
(E) strengthening civilian institutions in 
the government, including support for greater 
transparency and accountability; 
(F) establishing professional and non-
partisan military, security, and police forces 
that operate under civilian control; 
(G) empowering local communities, civil so-
ciety, and independent media; 
(H) 
encouraging 
the 
Government 
of 
Burma to ensure equal access to full citizenship 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:39 Nov 04, 2017
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00013
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4223.IH
H4223
lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
for the Rohingya population in Burma as well 
as for those displaced in Bangladesh; 
(I) promoting responsible international and 
regional engagement; 
(J) strengthening respect for and protec-
tion of human rights and religious freedom; and 
(K) addressing and ending the humani-
tarian and human rights crises and supporting 
the ability of the displaced Rohingya to volun-
tarily return to their homes, under internation-
ally approved conditions. 
SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON RIGHTS OF RETURNEES. 
It is the sense of Congress that the Government of 
Burma, in collaboration with the regional and inter-
national community including the United Nations High 
Commissioner for Refugees, should— 
(1) ensure the dignified, safe, and voluntary re-
turn of all those displaced from their homes, espe-
cially from Rakhine State, without an unduly high 
burden of proof; and 
(2) fully implement all of the recommendations 
of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:39 Nov 04, 2017
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00014
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4223.IH
H4223
lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS
SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS WITH RESPECT TO HUMANI-
TARIAN 
ASSISTANCE 
AND 
FREEDOM 
OF 
MOVEMENT. 
(a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that additional significant and sustained funding will 
be necessary to address the medium and long-term im-
pacts of the crisis in Burma. 
(b) RESTORATION OF HUMANITARIAN ACCESS AND 
ACCOUNTABILITY IN RAKHINE STATE.—Congress calls on 
the Government of Burma and Burmese security forces 
to ensure complete and unfettered humanitarian access in 
the state of Rakhine and to support an independent inter-
national fact-finding mission to investigate allegations of 
ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, and genocide. 
(c) FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT OF REFUGEES AND IN-
TERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS.—Congress calls on the 
Government of Bangladesh— 
(1) to ensure that all refugees have freedom of 
movement and under no circumstances are subject 
to unsafe, involuntary, or uninformed repatriation; 
(2) to ensure the dignified, safe, and voluntary 
return of those displaced from their homes; and 
(3) to offer to those refugees who do not want 
to return meaningful means to obtain compensation 
or restitution. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:39 Nov 04, 2017
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00015
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4223.IH
H4223
lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS