Title: A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that the Governments of Burma and Bangladesh ensure the safe, dignified, voluntary, and sustainable return of the Rohingya refugees who have been displaced by the campaign of ethnic cleansing conducted by the Burmese military and to immediately release unjustly imprisoned journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution condemns the violence perpetrated against the Rohingya in Burma (Myanmar) and calls on Burma to take certain actions to address the humanitarian crisis there.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 34 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 34

 Expressing the sense of the Senate that the Governments of Burma and 
   Bangladesh ensure the safe, dignified, voluntary, and sustainable 
return of the Rohingya refugees who have been displaced by the campaign 
     of ethnic cleansing conducted by the Burmese military and to 
 immediately release unjustly imprisoned journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw 
                                Soe Oo.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 29, 2019

  Mr. Merkley (for himself, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Durbin, Ms. Collins, Mrs. 
 Feinstein, Mr. Young, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Tillis, Ms. Warren, Mr. Kaine, 
  Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Brown, Mr. Markey, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Sanders, Mrs. 
  Murray, Mr. Coons, Ms. Klobuchar, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. Schatz, Ms. 
 Harris, and Mr. Peters) submitted the following resolution; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Senate that the Governments of Burma and 
   Bangladesh ensure the safe, dignified, voluntary, and sustainable 
return of the Rohingya refugees who have been displaced by the campaign 
     of ethnic cleansing conducted by the Burmese military and to 
 immediately release unjustly imprisoned journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw 
                                Soe Oo.

Whereas, on August 25, 2017, attacks on security posts in Burma by the Arakan 
        Rohingya Salvation Army militant group resulted in a brutal, systematic, 
        and disproportionate reprisal by the Burmese military and security 
        forces on Rohingya villages in Rakhine State;
Whereas approximately 700,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh since 
        the Burmese military commenced its scorched-earth campaign, with the 
        burning of villages and local monuments, and reports of widespread gang 
        rape, starvation, killing, and forcible deportation;
Whereas the August 2018 United Nations report of the Independent International 
        Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar states in paragraph 87 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'';
Whereas, on August 28, 2018, then-United States Ambassador to the United Nations 
        Nikki Haley reported to the United Nations Security Council that the 
        Department of State had conducted interviews with 1,024 Rohingya 
        refugees in camps throughout Cox's Bazar and that the results of the 
        interviews were consistent with the United Nations Independent 
        International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar;
Whereas, on September 24, 2018, the Department of State report titled, 
        ``Documentation of Atrocities in Northern Rakhine State'', concluded 
        that the military's attacks in Burma's Northern Rakhine State were 
        ``large-scale, widespread and seemingly geared toward both terrorizing 
        the population and driving out the Rohingya residents'' and that the 
        ``scope and scale of the military's operations indicate that they were 
        well-planned and coordinated'';
Whereas, on December 3, 2018, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 
        concluded that ``there is compelling evidence that the Burmese military 
        committed ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, and genocide 
        against the Rohingya'';
Whereas the Government of Burma has consistently denied access to the United 
        Nations Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar established to investigate human 
        rights violations around the country;
Whereas the fundamental operational principles of voluntary repatriation are 
        safety, to include legal and physical safety, and dignity, to include 
        treatment with respect and full acceptance by their national 
        authorities, including the full restoration of refugees' rights;
Whereas approximately 236,000 Rohingya refugees returned to Burma from 
        Bangladesh under the terms of a 1992 agreement after a previous bout of 
        violence against the Rohingya forced them to flee, only to continue to 
        be denied citizenship, face prejudice, violence, and persecution, and in 
        many instances be forced to live in internally displaced persons (IDP) 
        camps with their freedom of movement restricted;
Whereas Burma's 1982 citizenship law stripped Rohingya of their Burmese 
        citizenship, rendering them stateless;
Whereas the Government of Burma continues to systematically discriminate against 
        the Rohingya people, a long-persecuted Muslim minority within Burma, 
        including by continuing to restrict registration of Rohingya births and 
        to deny them freedom of movement, access to healthcare, land, education, 
        marriage, voting rights, and political participation;
Whereas the Government of Burma has repeatedly abused land use laws to unjustly 
        seize land from Rohingya refugees;
Whereas the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) is working 
        closely with the Government of Bangladesh and partners to provide 
        protection and assistance to the Rohingya refugees and to support the 
        host populations affected by the influx;
Whereas, on November 23, 2017, the Government of Burma and the Government of 
        Bangladesh signed an agreement, known as the ``Arrangement'', on the 
        return of displaced persons from Rakhine State, which is modeled after 
        the 1992 repatriation agreement between Burma and Bangladesh;
Whereas the Arrangement includes references to restoring normalcy and human 
        rights in Rakhine State, for refugee returns to comply with 
        international standards of safety, dignity, and voluntariness, and to 
        commencing a process to address root causes in line with the Rakhine 
        Advisory Commission recommendations;
Whereas the Department of State has assessed that Burma has not made progress on 
        the ``more crucial'' of the 88 recommendations of the Rakhine Advisory 
        Commission that are identified by Rohingya refugees as prerequisites to 
        repatriation including freedom of movement, civil documentation, and a 
        transparent pathway to citizenship;
Whereas, on June 6, 2018, the Government of Burma reached a tripartite 
        Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the UNHCR and the United Nations 
        Development Agency (UNDP) on its role in the safe, dignified, and 
        voluntary return of Rakhine State refugees;
Whereas Rohingya refugees currently hosted in Bangladesh demonstrated in protest 
        against an initial November 2018 repatriation plan between the 
        Governments of Bangladesh and Burma, citing concerns for their security 
        and the lack of meaningful political reforms in Burma to include full 
        citizenship;
Whereas UNHCR, on January 4, 2019, reported that conditions in Burma's Rakhine 
        State remain ``not conducive to return'' on the heels of the Government 
        of India's regrettable decision to repatriate 16,000 Rohingya to Burma 
        without having first ascertained the ``voluntariness of their decision 
        to return'';
Whereas, throughout this process, the Government of Burma has restricted media 
        freedom and jailed journalists;
Whereas, on December 12, 2017, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, two journalists 
        reporting and documenting atrocities against the Rohingya, were arrested 
        and on January 10, 2018, formally prosecuted with violating the 
        ``Official Secrets Act'';
Whereas Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Soo had uncovered a massacre of 10 Rohingya men 
        perpetrated by Burma's security forces and aided by local Buddhist 
        villagers in the village of Inn Din in Rakhine State;
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 
        and sentenced them each to seven years in prison with hard labor;
Whereas, on January 11, 2019, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo's appeal of their 
        conviction before the Yangon Regional High Court was denied;
Whereas Time Magazine named Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo as co-recipients of 2018 
        Time Magazine's ``Person of the Year'' in recognition for their 
        courageous reporting;
Whereas Vice President Mike Pence tweeted his concern over the sentence against 
        Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo for ``doing their job reporting on the 
        atrocities being committed on the Rohingya people'';
Whereas United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley described the 
        conviction as ``another terrible stain on the Burmese government'' and 
        called for ``their immediate and unconditional release'';
Whereas the Department of State's annual Human Rights Report on Burma for the 
        year 2017 states that--

    (1) ``legal provisions that allow the government to manipulate the 
courts for political ends, and these provisions were sometimes used to 
deprive citizens of due process and the right to a fair trial, particularly 
with regards to the freedom of expression'';

    (2) ``The government continued to detain and arrest journalists, 
activists, and critics of the government and the military during the 
year.''; and

    (3) ``Threats against and arrests of journalists increased. . . . 
Freedom of expression was more restricted during the year compared with 
2016. This included a higher number of detentions of journalists using 
various laws, including laws carrying more severe punishments than those 
used previously.'';

Whereas, according to PEN America, the discontinuation of Radio Free Asia's 
        broadcasting in Myanmar on a domestic channel constitutes a further 
        shrinking of the space for free expression in the country; and
Whereas, additionally, PEN America reports that--

    (1) there continues to be increased legal threats, imprisonment, and 
physical harassment of journalists;

    (2) there continues to be restrictions on the ability to report from 
and receive information on conflict areas; and

    (3) the lack of reform of media laws and institutions is driving a 
decline in media freedom: Now, therefore, be it

    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) condemns the violence and displacement inflicted on 
        Burma's Rohingya and other ethnic minorities;
            (2) urges the Secretary of State to make a determination 
        whether the actions by the Myanmar military constitute crimes 
        against humanity or genocide and to work with interagency 
        partners to impose targeted sanctions on Myanmar military 
        officials, to include Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, 
        responsible for these heinous acts through existing 
        authorities;
            (3) condemns the attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation 
        Army militant group;
            (4) calls on the Government of Burma to allow full access 
        to Rakhine State and ensure the full participation of UNHCR, 
        the internationally endorsed organization tasked with ensuring 
        that refugee returns are voluntary, safe, dignified, and meet 
        international refugee and human rights standards, and that the 
        voices of refugees are represented in order to ensure the 
        sustainability of such returns and to prevent further waves of 
        displacement;
            (5) commends the positive role of the Government of 
        Bangladesh in receiving Rohingya refugees to date and urges the 
        Government of Bangladesh to continue allowing the full 
        participation of UNHCR and human rights organization in 
        accessing refugee camps;
            (6) calls on UNHCR and international nongovernmental 
        organizations to continue to play a role in monitoring 
        repatriation efforts by the Governments of Bangladesh and Burma 
        to ensure a process that meets international norms for 
        voluntary, safe, and dignified repatriation;
            (7) agrees that any return of Rohingya should include 
        guarantees that any returns of refugees will be voluntary and 
        dignified, that there will be no threats to protection or 
        security upon return, that refugees will be able to return to 
        their places of origin or other locations as desired, and be 
        able to enjoy equal rights with others in Burma, including the 
        restoration or granting of full citizenship, freedom of 
        movement, and access to basic services;
            (8) recognizes that any forced relocation of Rohingya 
        refugees into temporary settlements, IDP camps, ``model 
        villages'', or other areas not of refugees' choosing is 
        unacceptable;
            (9) calls on the Government of Burma to allow for a 
        flexible and practical approach to dealing with evidence of 
        Rohingya residence in Burma, recognizing that the Rohingya 
        refugees in Bangladesh possess a wide range of documents and 
        that some refugees have no documents and will need to establish 
        their residence by other means;
            (10) calls on the Government of Burma to address root 
        causes consistent with the Rakhine Advisory Commission 
        recommendations and fully implement all of the recommendations 
        of the Commission, including providing equal access to full 
        restoration or granting of full citizenship for the Rohingya 
        population;
            (11) calls on the Government of Burma to acknowledge and 
        address the issue of statelessness for the Rohingya, the 
        deprivation of rights, and institutionalized and pervasive 
        discrimination of the Rohingya population in order to bring 
        about any sustainable solutions;
            (12) commends the Government and the people of Bangladesh 
        for their extraordinary generosity and efforts to provide 
        shelter and relief for nearly 1,000,000 Rohingya refugees 
        forced to flee their homes in Burma;
            (13) calls on the Government of Bangladesh to ensure all 
        refugees have freedom of movement and under no circumstances 
        are subject to unsafe, involuntary, precipitous, or uninformed 
        returns to Burma;
            (14) calls for all the convictions against Wa Lone and Kyaw 
        Soe Oo to be nullified, for the similar charges against many 
        other journalists currently awaiting trial to be dropped, and 
        for the immediate and unconditional release of these 
        journalists;
            (15) expresses concern about the Government of Myanmar's 
        crackdown on journalists and press freedom throughout the 
        country;
            (16) reaffirms the central role that independent and 
        professional journalism plays in strengthening democratic 
        governance, upholding the rule of law, mitigating conflict, and 
        informing public opinion around the world; and
            (17) calls upon the United States Government to continue 
        the United States status as a top global donor nation to the 
        humanitarian response in Burma and Bangladesh and for the 
        President's fiscal year 2020 budget request to reflect that 
        longstanding United States commitment.
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