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
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.