•HCON 328 EH
Whereas despite continued repression, the Burmese people
turned out in record numbers to vote in elections deemed
free and fair by international observers;
Whereas on May 27, 1990, the National League for Democ-
racy (NLD) led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi won more
than 60 percent of the popular vote and 80 percent of
the parliamentary seats in the elections;
Whereas the Burmese military rejected the results of the elec-
tions, placed Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and hundreds of
members of the NLD under arrest, pressured members
of the NLD to resign, and severely restricted freedom of
assembly, speech, and the press;
Whereas 48,000,000 people in Burma continue to suffer
gross violations of human rights, including the right to
democracy, and economic deprivation under a military re-
gime known as the State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC);
Whereas on September 16, 1998, the members of the NLD
and other political parties who won the 1990 elections
joined together to form the Committee Representing the
People’s Parliament (CRPP) as an interim mechanism to
address human rights, economic and other conditions,
and provide representation of the political views and voice
of Members of Parliament elected to but denied office in
1990;
Whereas the United Nations General Assembly and Commis-
sion on Human Rights have condemned in nine consecu-
tive resolutions the persecution of religious and ethnic
minorities and the political opposition, and SPDC’s
record of forced labor, exploitation, and sexual violence
against women;
•HCON 328 EH
Whereas the United States and the European Union Council
of Foreign Ministers have similarly condemned conditions
in Burma and officially imposed travel restrictions and
other sanctions against the SPDC;
Whereas in May 1999, the International Labor Organization
(ILO) condemned the SPDC for inflicting forced labor on
the people and has banned the SPDC from participating
in any ILO meetings;
Whereas the 1999 Department of State Country Reports on
Human Rights Practices for Burma estimates more than
1,300 people continue to suffer inhumane detention con-
ditions as political prisoners in Burma;
Whereas the Department of State International Narcotics
Control Strategy Report for 2000 determines that Burma
is the second largest world-wide source of illicit opium
and heroin and that there are continuing, reliable reports
that Burmese officials are ‘‘involved in the drug business
or are paid to allow the drug business to be conducted
by others’’, conditions which pose a direct threat to
United States national security interests;
Whereas Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been denied the basic
rights to freedom of movement and assemble with mem-
bers of the NLD by Burmese security authorities who, on
August 24, 2000, forcibly blocked her and her party from
traveling to NLD township offices near Rangoon;
Whereas after having been halted for nine days at a road-
block, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her party were forc-
ibly returned to Rangoon by Burmese security authori-
ties;
Whereas since their forcible return to Rangoon Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders have been held in-
•HCON 328 EH
communicado in their residences and diplomats and oth-
ers have been denied access to them;
Whereas the refusal to allow Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to leave
her compound or to allow others access to her has cre-
ated grave concern for her safety and welfare;
Whereas the NLD party offices have been ransacked and doc-
uments seized by Burmese authorities and access to the
party headquarters has been denied to NLD members;
Whereas the Burmese authorities have continued to refuse to
engage in a substantive dialogue with the NLD and other
elements of the democratic opposition; and
Whereas despite these massive violations of human rights and
civil liberties and chronic economic deprivation, Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi and members of the NLD have con-
tinued to call for a peaceful political dialogue with the
SPDC to achieve a democratic transition: Now, therefore,
be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that—
(1) United States policy should strongly sup-
port the restoration of democracy in Burma, includ-
ing implementation of the results of the free and fair
elections of 1990;
(2) United States policy should continue to call
upon the military regime in Burma known as the
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)—
•HCON 328 EH
(A) to guarantee freedom of assembly,
freedom of movement, freedom of speech, and
freedom of the press for all Burmese citizens;
(B) to immediately accept a political dia-
logue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Na-
tional League for Democracy (NLD), and eth-
nic leaders to advance peace and reconciliation
in Burma;
(C) to immediately and unconditionally re-
lease all detained Members elected to the 1990
parliament and other political prisoners; and
(D) to promptly and fully uphold the terms
and conditions of all human rights and related
resolutions passed by the United Nations Gen-
eral Assembly, the Commission on Human
Rights, the International Labor Organization,
and the European Union; and
(3) United States policy should sustain current
economic and political sanctions against Burma as
the appropriate means—
(A) to secure the restoration of democracy,
human rights, and civil liberties in Burma; and
•HCON 328 EH
(B) to support United States national se-
curity counternarcotics interests.
Passed the House of Representatives October 10,
2000.
Attest:
Clerk.