[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 339 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 339

     Expressing the sense of the Senate on the situation in Burma.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 1, 2007

   Mr. Kerry (for himself, Mr. McConnell, Mr. Biden, Mr. Lugar, Mrs. 
 Boxer, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Coleman, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Kennedy, 
   Mr. Menendez, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Reid, Mr. Levin, Mr. Hagel, Mr. 
 McCain, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Casey, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Obama, Mr. Cardin, 
   Mr. Bingaman, Mr. Brownback, Mr. Sununu, Mrs. Hutchison, and Mr. 
 Whitehouse) submitted the following resolution; which was considered 
                             and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
     Expressing the sense of the Senate on the situation in Burma.

Whereas hundreds of thousands of Burmese citizens, including thousands of 
        Buddhist monks and students, engaged in peaceful demonstrations against 
        the policies of the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), 
        demanding that the State Peace and Development Council release all 
        political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San 
        Suu Kyi, and urging that the government agree to a meaningful tripartite 
        dialogue with Suu Kyi, the National League for Democracy (NLD), and the 
        ethnic minorities towards national reconciliation;
Whereas the State Peace and Development Council violently dispersed the peaceful 
        demonstrators, killing at least 10 (and reportedly more than 200) 
        unarmed protesters, including a number of monks and a Japanese 
        journalist, and arrested hundreds of others, and continues to forcibly 
        suppress peaceful protests;
Whereas the National League for Democracy won a majority of seats in the 
        parliamentary elections of 1990, but the State Peace and Development 
        Council refused to uphold the results or to negotiate a transition to 
        civilian rule and subsequently placed Aung San Suu Kyi under house 
        arrest;
Whereas Aung San Suu Kyi has spent most of the past 18 years under house arrest 
        or in jail, and is currently being held in government custody, cut off 
        from her followers and the international community;
Whereas 59 world leaders, including 3 former presidents of the United States, 
        have called on the State Peace and Development Council to release Aung 
        San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners;
Whereas the State Peace and Development Council has destroyed more than 3,000 
        villages, systematically and violently repressed ethnic minorities, 
        displaced approximately 2,000,000 Burmese people, and arrested 
        approximately 1,300 individuals for expressing critical opinions;
Whereas the United States Department of State's 2006 Reports on Human Rights 
        Practices found that Burma's junta routinely restricts its citizens' 
        freedoms of speech, press, assembly, association, religion, movement, 
        and traffics in persons, discriminates against women and ethnic 
        minorities, forcibly recruits child soldiers and child labor, and 
        commits other serious violations of human rights, including 
        extrajudicial killings, custodial deaths, disappearances, rape, torture, 
        abuse of prisoners and detainees, and the imprisonment of citizens 
        arbitrarily for political motives;
Whereas the Government of Burma relies heavily on the unconditional military and 
        economic assistance provided by the People's Republic of China;
Whereas on September 30, 2006, the United Nations Security Council officially 
        included Burma on its agenda for the first time;
Whereas on January 13, 2007, China and Russia vetoed a United Nations Security 
        Council Resolution calling on Burma to release all political prisoners, 
        allow a more inclusive political process and unhindered humanitarian 
        access, and end human rights abuses, and on September 26, 2007, China 
        blocked a United Nations Security Council Statement from condemning the 
        State Peace and Development Council crackdown against the peaceful 
        demonstrators;
Whereas the prevalence of tuberculosis in Burma, with nearly 97,000 new cases 
        detected annually, is among the highest in the world, malaria is the 
        leading cause of mortality in Burma, with 70 percent of the population 
        living in areas at risk, at least 37,000 died of HIV/AIDS in Burma in 
        2005, and over 600,000 are currently infected, and the World Health 
        Organization has ranked Burma's health sector as 190th out of 191 
        nations;
Whereas the failure of the State Peace and Development Council to respect the 
        human rights and meet the most basic humanitarian needs of the Burmese 
        people has not only caused enormous suffering inside Burma, but also 
        driven hundreds of thousands of Burmese citizens to seek refuge in 
        neighboring countries, creating a threat to regional peace and 
        stability; and
Whereas the State Peace and Development Council continues to restrict the access 
        and freedom of movement of international humanitarian organizations to 
        deliver aid throughout Burma: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate--
            (1) to strongly condemn the use of violence against 
        peaceful protestors in Burma, and to call on the Government of 
        Burma to refrain from further violence, release the 
        demonstrators it has arrested, immediately cease attacks 
        against ethnic minorities, release Aung Sang Suu Kyi and all 
        other political prisoners, and begin a meaningful tripartite 
        political dialogue with Suu Kyi, the National League for 
        Democracy, and the ethnic minorities;
            (2) to call on the People's Republic of China to remove 
        objections to efforts by the United Nations Security Council to 
        condemn the actions taken by the Government of Burma against 
        the peaceful demonstrators;
            (3) to call on the People's Republic of China and all other 
        nations that have provided military assistance to the 
        Government of Burma to suspend such assistance until civilian 
        democratic rule is restored to Burma;
            (4) that the Government of Burma should engage in a 
        peaceful dialogue with opposition leaders and ethnic minorities 
        to implement political, economic, and humanitarian reforms that 
        will improve the living conditions of the Burmese people and 
        lead to the restoration of civilian democratic rule;
            (5) to recognize and welcome the many constructive 
        statements issued by various nations, and particularly the 
        statement issued by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations 
        on September 27, 2007, which demanded an immediate end to 
        violence in Burma, the release of all political prisoners, and 
        a political solution to the crisis;
            (6) that the United States and the United Nations should 
        strongly encourage China, India, and Russia to modify their 
        position on Burma and use their influence to convince the 
        Government of Burma to engage in dialogue with opposition 
        leaders and ethnic minorities towards national reconciliation;
            (7) to support the United Nations mission to Burma led by 
        Ibrahim Gambari, and to call on the Government of Burma to 
        allow the mission freedom of movement and access to top 
        government leaders in order to prevent additional violence and 
        to further peaceful dialogue towards national reconciliation; 
        and
            (8) that the United States should work with the 
        international community to pressure the Government of Burma to 
        lift all restrictions on humanitarian aid delivery and then 
        allow international humanitarian aid organizations to work to 
        alleviate suffering and improve living conditions for the most 
        vulnerable populations.
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