[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1710 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1710

     Calling on the military regime in Burma, the State Peace and 
 Development Council, to immediately recognize the Rohingya people as 
 full and equal citizens of Burma, lift all restrictions on movement, 
marriage, and access to education for the Rohingya people, and end its 
   campaign of religious and ethnic persecution amounting to crimes 
                   against humanity throughout Burma.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 29, 2010

  Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. Pitts, and Mr. McGovern) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                           on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
     Calling on the military regime in Burma, the State Peace and 
 Development Council, to immediately recognize the Rohingya people as 
 full and equal citizens of Burma, lift all restrictions on movement, 
marriage, and access to education for the Rohingya people, and end its 
   campaign of religious and ethnic persecution amounting to crimes 
                   against humanity throughout Burma.

Whereas the military regime in Burma, the State Peace and Development Council 
        (SPDC), appears to be perpetrating crimes against humanity and war 
        crimes against ethnic nationalities, particularly the Karen, Karenni and 
        Shan in eastern Burma, including the apparent widespread and systematic 
        use of rape as a weapon of war, forced labor, the use of human 
        minesweepers, the destruction of over 3,500 villages since 1996, and 
        murder;
Whereas National League for Democracy (NLD) leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner 
        Daw Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest and has been excluded 
        from the political process;
Whereas over 2,100 political prisoners remain in jail, subjected to severe 
        torture, dire conditions, and denial of medical treatment;
Whereas the SPDC continues to forcibly recruit child soldiers;
Whereas the SPDC continues its campaign of ethnic and religious persecution 
        against Christians, particularly among the Chin and Kachin peoples;
Whereas the Rohingya people, despite having lived in northern Arakan State for 
        centuries, are denied citizenship, treated as temporary residents, 
        subjected to severe restrictions on movement, marriage and access to 
        education, and suffer grave violations of human rights, including forced 
        labor, extortion, exploitation, discrimination, abuse, rape, and 
        religious persecution;
Whereas the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma has 
        concluded that these and other violations may amount to crimes against 
        humanity, and has recommended the establishment of a United Nations 
        commission of inquiry to investigate these crimes;
Whereas the Governments of the United States, United Kingdom, France, Canada, 
        Australia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Netherlands, and New 
        Zealand have expressed support for the United Nations Special 
        Rapporteur's recommendations;
Whereas approximately 1 million Rohingya out of a total population of 3 million 
        have fled Burma and are living in exile in Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, the 
        United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Pakistan, and other countries;
Whereas an estimated 29,700 unregistered Rohingya in makeshift camps are in need 
        of assistance;
Whereas Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have been facing severe pressure to 
        return to Burma, and more than 1,000 have been arrested, pushed back 
        across the border, or jailed in Bangladesh since mid-2009;
Whereas at least five Rohingya forced back into Burma from Bangladesh were 
        arrested by the NaSaKa, the Burmese Government's border security force, 
        and are currently in Buthidaung jail, sentenced on August, 20, 2009, to 
        five years imprisonment;
Whereas U Kyaw Min, a Rohingya Member of Parliament elected in 1990, who was 
        sentenced to 47 years imprisonment for political reasons and immigration 
        charges, was transferred from Insein to Mingyan jail in 2007 and his 
        wife, two daughters, and one son have been sentenced to 12 years 
        imprisonment and are currently detained in Insein Prison;
Whereas at least 1,000 Rohingya are in immigration detention camps in Saudi 
        Arabia, some of whom have been detained for more than two years;
Whereas in 2009, local Thai civil defense organizations forced hundreds of 
        Rohingya out to sea on boats without engines and with only a ten-day 
        supply of food and water;
Whereas 52 Rohingya still remain in indefinite detention in a Bangkok 
        Immigration Detention Centre, while two have already died in detention 
        in Thailand; and
Whereas Medecins sans Frontieres has described the Rohingya as one of the ten 
        people groups in the world most at risk of extinction: Now, therefore, 
        be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) calls on the SPDC to recognize the Rohingya people as 
        full and equal citizens of Burma and to lift all restrictions 
        on movement, marriage, and access to education;
            (2) calls on the United States Department of State to 
        continuously raise the question of the status of the Rohingya 
        people in its dialogue with the SPDC;
            (3) calls on the Government of Bangladesh to desist from 
        forcing unregistered Rohingya to return to Burma and to seek a 
        durable solution for the Rohingya people;
            (4) calls on the Government of Bangladesh, in cooperation 
        with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 
        and other international agencies, to address the dire 
        humanitarian conditions and food insecurity in the makeshift 
        camps housing an estimated 32,000 unregistered Rohingya, 
        especially during the monsoon;
            (5) calls on the Government of Thailand to allow UNHCR 
        access to detained Rohingya rescued at sea and to allow 
        refugees status determinations;
            (6) calls on the Government of Thailand to provide Rohingya 
        refugees with adequate protection;
            (7) calls on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to allow Rohingya 
        access to education and livelihoods;
            (8) calls on the United States Government to provide 
        increased humanitarian assistance in northern Arakan State;
            (9) calls on the United States Government to provide 
        continued support for education for Rohingya refugees outside 
        Burma;
            (10) calls on the United States Government to consistently 
        raise the plight of the Rohingya with the Governments of 
        Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Thailand, and other members 
        of the Association of South-East Asian Nations;
            (11) calls on the United States Government to raise the 
        plight of the Rohingya within the United Nations at every 
        opportunity;
            (12) calls on the United States Government to put 
        consistent pressure on the SPDC to release all political 
        prisoners, including Rohingya Member of Parliament U Kyaw Min 
        and his family;
            (13) calls on the United States Government to proactively 
        support the recommendation of the United Nations Special 
        Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma for the establishment of a 
        commission of inquiry to investigate crimes against humanity 
        and war crimes in Burma, including the violations perpetrated 
        against the Rohingya people; and
            (14) calls on the United States Government to continue to 
        engage with the Government of Bangladesh in the economic 
        development of the Cox's Bazar region in which the majority of 
        the Rohingya refugee population lives.
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