110 HCON 200 : Condemning the violent suppression of
U.S. House of Representatives
2007-10-03
text/xml
EN
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Whereas on August 15, 2007, Burma’s ruling military junta,
the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), cancelled fuel subsidies
resulting in the quintupling of the price of fuel which had an immediate and
damaging impact on the living conditions of the Burmese people and Burma’s
already devastated economy;
Whereas on August 19, 2007, in reaction to this crippling
measure, prominent student and democracy leaders peacefully took to the streets
in Rangoon and elsewhere to protest the draconian action of the military junta
in Rangoon; during the subsequent weeks, protests continued in Rangoon, and
spread to other cities and towns throughout Burma, including Mandalay, Sittwe,
Pakokku, Tounggok, Yehangyaung;
Whereas the growing numbers of protestors peacefully
demanded democratic reforms and the release of 1991 Noble Peace Prize Winner
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners and prisoners of
conscience;
Whereas Buddhist monks actively participated and
increasingly led these peaceful demonstrations, culminating in an estimated
100,000 people marching through Rangoon on September 24, 2007; in response to
this largest protest since the 1988 demonstrations which were brutally crushed
by the Burmese military by firing on unarmed civilians, the Burmese regime
threatened to take action
, indicating the junta’s willingness to
significantly increase the level of violence used against the Burmese
people;
Whereas on September 25, 2007, the Burmese junta imposed a
60-day (9pm-5am) curfew and a ban on gatherings of more than five people and
moved military forces into strategic locations;
Whereas on September 26, 2007, the Burmese military opened
fire on protesting crowds who bravely continued to peacefully demand democratic
reforms; the continuing vicious attacks on Buddhist monks and other peaceful
protesters, who were simply demanding human rights, democracy, and freedom, led
to the reported deaths of 200 people and hundreds of injured to date; democracy
and human rights groups further estimate that over 2,000 individuals have been
arrested, imprisoned, or tortured as part of this violent crackdown;
Whereas members of the international and Burmese media
covering the protests, including a Japanese photojournalist, have also been
killed, injured, or imprisoned by the Burmese Government;
Whereas the Burmese military junta tried to hide from the
world community its indiscriminate attacks on peaceful protestors by severely
restricting the use of the Internet, phone lines, and radio and television
equipment, making it extremely difficult to gauge the full extent of the
government’s crackdown on Buddhist Monks and other peaceful
demonstrators;
Whereas on September 27, 2007, the United Nations Security
Council held an emergency session in response to the brutal crackdown and
Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari updated the Security Council on the situation in
Burma; as a result of the Security Council meeting, United Nations Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon ordered Special Envoy Gambari to visit the region; on
September 30, 2007, Special Envoy Gambari arrived in Burma and was able to meet
with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi;
Whereas the Burmese regime has mobilized all its
resources, including armed soldiers stationed in all strategically important
locations throughout the country, including religious centers, and has made it
impossible for peaceful protesters to gather;
Whereas the rapid growth of spontaneous demonstrations
into the largest Burmese protests in the last two decades should not come as a
surprise given the human rights record of the regime over the past two
decades;
Whereas the ruling military junta in Burma has one of the
worst human rights records in the world and routinely violates the rights of
Burmese citizens, including the systematic use of rape as a weapon of war,
extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, as well as
slave and child labor;
Whereas the Burmese regime has destroyed more than 3,000
ethnic villages, displaced approximately 2,000,000 Burmese people, more than
500,000 of which are internally displaced, and arrested approximately 1,300
individuals for expressing critical opinions of the government;
Whereas in 1990, the State Law and Order Restoration
Council (SLORC), the military junta in Burma, which renamed itself the State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC) in 1997, nullified the victory of the
National League for Democracy (NLD);
Whereas NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was not allowed to
assume the office of Prime Minister and was subsequently placed under house
arrest;
Whereas Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was released in July 1995,
yet once again placed under house arrest in September 2000;
Whereas following a second release, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
and several of her followers were attacked by a government-sponsored mob on May
30, 2003, and she was then imprisoned at Insein Prison in Yangon;
Whereas on May 16, 2007, more than 50 world leaders sent a
letter demanding the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, a demand repeated by
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, 14 United Nations human rights
experts, the European Union, the United States, the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the foreign ministers of three ASEAN member states,
yet on May 27, 2007, her detention was extended; and
Whereas for her non-violent struggle for democracy and
human rights, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991: Now,
therefore, be it
That Congress—
(1)condemns the despicable crackdown on
peaceful protesters in the strongest possible terms and demands that the
Burmese junta end its violent crackdown on dissent;
(2)demands that the People’s Republic of China
and other countries that provide political and economic support to Burma’s
military junta end such support until the Burmese regime’s violent campaign
against peaceful protest has ceased and the Burmese Government has fully met
the political demands of the Burmese opposition;
(3)firmly insists that Burma’s military regime
begin a meaningful tripartite political dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the
National League for Democracy, and ethnic nationalities toward national
reconciliation, and the full restoration of democracy, freedom of assembly,
freedom of movement, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and
internationally recognized human rights for all Burmese citizens;
(4)demands the immediate and unconditional
release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, detained Buddhist monks, and all other
political prisoners and prisoners of conscience;
(5)calls on governments around the world,
including the nations of the European Union and the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) to severely tighten their sanctions regimes against
Burma, including through the imposition of import bans such as maintained by
the United States, with the goal of denying the Burmese ruling junta with hard
currency to continue its campaign of repression;
(6)calls on the United Nations Security
Council to immediately pass a resolution imposing multilateral sanctions on
Burma’s military regime, including a complete arms embargo, and to take other
appropriate action to respond to the growing threat the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC) poses in Burma;
(7)calls on the United States Government to
work with its global partners to bring to justice those Burmese military and
government leaders who have ordered or participated in any massacre during or
after the protests, or who may be guilty of crimes against humanity; and
(8)calls on the members of ASEAN to
immediately suspend Burma’s membership in such organization as a response to
the violent crackdown on political protesters.
Passed the House of
Representatives October 2, 2007.
Lorraine C. Miller,
Clerk.