IV
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 mas-
sacred 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;
•HRES 603 IH
Whereas in 1990 the National League for Democracy, led by
Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, won over 80 per-
cent 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 re-
gime 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 par-
liament 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 contin-
ues 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 Na-
tions representatives to meet with political prisoners, de-
mocracy activists, and refugees in Burma, but the mili-
tary regime has refused and continues to refuse to issue
the visas;
•HRES 603 IH
Whereas in 1997 the United States imposed economic sanc-
tions against the military regime in Burma as a dem-
onstration of support for the National League for De-
mocracy;
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 Rep-
resentatives 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 rep-
resentative of the duly elected parliament of Burma;
and
(3) to hold the seat vacant until such time as
it can be so occupied.
Æ