Title: Burma Political Prisoners Assistance Act
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Burma Political Prisoners Assistance Act
This bill directs the Department of State to assist civil society organizations in Burma (Myanmar) working to release political prisoners and prisoners of conscience. Such assistance shall include support for (1) documenting human rights violations against such prisoners, (2) raising awareness of prisoner issues, and (3) helping former prisoners resume a normal life.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2069 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2069

  To assist prisoners of conscience in Burma, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 10, 2019

 Mr. Markey (for himself and Mrs. Blackburn) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                               Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To assist prisoners of conscience in Burma, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Burma Political Prisoners Assistance 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The United States has been a longstanding friend and 
        partner of the people of Burma, and has sought to promote their 
        democratic aspirations.
            (2) Despite a campaign pledge that Aung San Suu Kyi and the 
        National League for Democracy (NLD) ``would not arrest anyone 
        as political prisoners,'' they have failed to fulfill this 
        promise since they took control of Burma's Union Parliament and 
        the government's executive branch in April 2016.
            (3) As of March 1, 2019, there were 354 political prisoners 
        in Burma, 43 of them serving sentences, 86 awaiting trial 
        inside prison, and 225 awaiting trial outside prison according 
        to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma.
            (4) During its 3 years in power, the NLD government has 
        provided pardons for Burma's political prisoners on three 
        occasions. State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi took steps to 
        secure the release of nearly 235 political prisoners. On May 
        23, 2017, former President Htin Kyaw granted pardons to 259 
        prisoners, including 89 political prisoners. On April 17, 2018, 
        current President Win Myint pardoned 8,541 prisoners, including 
        36 political prisoners.
            (5) The Burmese security forces have historically and 
        recently used a range of repressive laws to arrest and 
        prosecute political prisoners and prisoners of conscience. 
        These laws include provisions of the Penal Code, the Peaceful 
        Assembly and Peaceful Procession Act, the 1908 Unlawful 
        Associations Act, the 2013 Telecommunications Act, and the 1923 
        Official Secrets Act.
            (6) On January 5, 2015, then-President Thein Sein announced 
        the reconstitution of the ``Scrutinizing Committee into the 
        Prisoners of Conscience Affairs Committee'', which was to 
        comprise 28 members and which would ``promptly [carry] out 
        prisoners of conscience affairs at the grassroots level''. 
        However, it appears that the Committee never even met and no 
        information has been made publicly available regarding its 
        mandate, procedures, or activities. The lack of information and 
        action appears to justify concerns that the Committee had been 
        reconstituted merely to deflect growing national and 
        international criticism, rather than to resolve the issue of 
        remaining political prisoners.
            (7) On December 12, 2017, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, two 
        Reuters reporters covering the crisis in Rakhine State, were 
        entrapped, arrested, and charged with violating the Official 
        Secrets Act, continuing a trend of restricting media and free 
        speech and attempting to thwart coverage of the events in 
        Rakhine State.
            (8) On September 3, 2018, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were 
        convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison. After 18 
        months in prison, they were released from prison. On May 28, 
        2018, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo personally received the Pulitzer 
        Prize that was awarded to them while they were imprisoned.
            (9) According to Burma free-speech organization Athan, 44 
        journalists and 142 activists have faced trial since 2016, 
        charged with repressive laws used to stifle dissent at the same 
        time restrictions on activist groups are being tightened. In 
        the first three months of 2019, three Kachin activists were 
        each sentenced to six months in prison in connection with 
        peaceful anti-war protests, a protester against the Myitsone 
        dam (a controversial Chinese backed-hydropower project) was 
        charged for peaceful demonstrations, and police used excessive 
        force to crackdown on peaceful protesters in Kayah State, with 
        some of the demonstrators charged under vaguely worded, 
        repressive laws. One of the activists, Nang Pu, was released on 
        April 1, 2019, on health grounds.
            (10) On August 18, 2017, Aung Ko Htwe was arrested because 
        he gave a media interview in which he described his experience 
        as a child soldier, including how the military abducted and 
        forcibly recruited him when he was 13 years old. He was charged 
        under section 505(b) of Burma's Penal Code. He was subsequently 
        sentenced to two years and six months in prison.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Prisoner of conscience.--The term ``prisoner of 
        conscience'' means any person who--
                    (A) is imprisoned or otherwise physically 
                restricted solely for the peaceful exercise of his or 
                her human rights; and
                    (B) has not used violence or advocated violence or 
                hatred.
            (2) Political prisoner.--The term ``political prisoner'' 
        applies to a person who has been detained or imprisoned on 
        politically motivated grounds. Political prisoners may have 
        used or advocated violence or hatred, or in some cases they may 
        have committed some minor offense, which is a pretext for a 
        politically motivated imprisonment.

SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    It is the policy of the United States--
            (1) to support Burma's democratic transition to a 
        democratic, peaceful, and prosperous state;
            (2) that prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in 
        Burma should be unconditionally and immediately released and 
        all charges or other proceedings against them should be 
        abandoned;
            (3) to use all diplomatic tools to ensure that all 
        prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in Burma are 
        released; and
            (4) to support and pressure the Government of Burma in the 
        repeal and amendment of all laws that violate the rights to 
        freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association to 
        ensure the laws described in section 2(5) comply with 
        international human rights standards.

SEC. 5. POLITICAL PRISONERS ASSISTANCE.

    The Secretary of State shall provide assistance to civil society 
organizations in Burma that work to secure the release of prisoners of 
conscience and political prisoners in Burma, and to current and former 
prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in Burma. Assistance 
shall include the following activities:
            (1) Support for the documentation of human rights 
        violations with respect to prisoners of conscience and 
        politically motivated prisoners.
            (2) Support for advocacy in Burma to raise awareness of 
        issues relating to prisoners of conscience and political 
        prisoners.
            (3) Support for efforts to repeal or amend laws that are 
        used to imprison individuals as either prisoners of conscience 
        or political prisoners.
            (4) Support, including travel costs, and legal fees, for 
        families of prisoners of conscience and political prisoners.
            (5) Support for health, including mental health, and post-
        incarceration assistance in gaining access to education and 
        employment opportunities or other forms of reparation to enable 
        former prisoners of conscience and political prisoners to 
        resume a normal life.
            (6) The delegation of specific United States mission staff 
        who will observe trials in politically motivated cases.

SEC. 6. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON CHILD SOLDIERS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) former child soldier Aung Ko Htwe should be immediately 
        and unconditionally released; and
            (2) no one should be in jail for freely expressing 
        themselves nor for speaking against the military's atrocious 
        use of child soldiers in any arena.

SEC. 7. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the Government of Burma must immediately drop 
        defamation charges against Lum Zawng and Zau Jet, two Kachin 
        activists who led a peaceful rally in Mytkyina, the capital of 
        Kachin State, whose crime is peacefully calling for 
        humanitarian access to thousands of displaced civilians and for 
        an end to the armed conflicts in northern Burma; and
            (2) the prosecution of these activists is an attempt by the 
        Burmese authorities to intimidate, harass, and silence 
        community leaders and human rights defenders who speak out 
        about military abuses and the impact of civilian populations.

SEC. 8. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON PRESS FREEDOM.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the Government of Burma must take steps to 
        significantly improve the climate for journalists, including 
        ending the enforcement of draconian laws that restrict the 
        freedom of expression and releasing all journalists imprisoned 
        for fulfilling their professional responsibilities;
            (2) press freedom is a fundamental human right and should 
        be upheld and protected in Burma and everywhere; and
            (3) to lock up journalists harkens back to the days of 
        military junta rule.
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