[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 586 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 586

Calling on the Government of Burma to develop a non-discriminatory and 
comprehensive solution that addresses Rakhine State's needs for peace, 
security, harmony, and development under equitable and just application 
              of the rule of law, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 20, 2014

Mr. Menendez (for himself, Mr. Kirk, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Rubio, 
   Mr. Markey, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Booker, Mr. Coons, and Mrs. Shaheen) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                          on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Calling on the Government of Burma to develop a non-discriminatory and 
comprehensive solution that addresses Rakhine State's needs for peace, 
security, harmony, and development under equitable and just application 
              of the rule of law, and for other purposes.

Whereas, of the 1,500,000 members of the Rohingya ethnic minority community 
        worldwide, over 1,200,000 stateless Rohingya live in Burma, mostly in 
        northern Rakhine State, including 140,000 internally displaced persons 
        (IDPs);
Whereas the security, stability, and development of Rakhine State is dependent 
        on the rule of law and non-discriminatory access to citizenship, 
        livelihoods and services, and protection for all residents;
Whereas, on November 12, 2014, President Barack Obama traveled to Burma, where 
        he ``stressed the need to find durable and effective solutions for the 
        terrible violence in Rakhine state, solutions that end discrimination, 
        provide greater security and economic opportunities, protect all 
        citizens, and promote greater tolerance and understanding,'' while 
        noting that legitimate government is a government based on ``the 
        recognition that all people are equal under the law'';
Whereas the Department of State has, since 1999, regularly expressed its 
        particular concern for severe legal, economic, and social discrimination 
        against Burma's Rohingya population in its Country Report for Human 
        Rights Practices;
Whereas the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma reported 
        a ``long history of discrimination and persecution against the Rohingya 
        Muslim community which could amount to crimes against humanity'';
Whereas the current Government of Burma, like its predecessors, continues to use 
        the Burma Citizenship Law of 1982 to exclude Rohingya from a list of 
        legally recognized ethnic groups, despite many having lived in Rakhine 
        State for generations, thereby rendering Rohingya stateless and 
        vulnerable to exploitation and abuse;
Whereas, in its March 2014 census, the first in over 30 years, the Government of 
        Burma reneged on its commitment to allow all people in Burma to self-
        identify and ordered the Rohingya to ethnically identify as ``Bengali'', 
        resulting in their exclusion from census data and thereby severely 
        undermining the validity of the data for Rakhine State and creating the 
        potential for further discrimination and conflict;
Whereas local and national policies and practices discriminate against Rohingya 
        by denying them freedom of movement outside their villages and camps, 
        restricting access to livelihood, education, and health care;
Whereas authorities have required Rohingya to obtain official permission for 
        marriages, with reportedly onerous, humiliating, and financially 
        prohibitive requirements for approval;
Whereas a two-child policy sanctioned solely upon the Rohingya population in two 
        townships in northern Rakhine State hinders the ability of additional 
        children to access basic government services, marry, or acquire property 
        and restricts the rights of women, sometimes resulting in serious health 
        consequences due to illegal and unsafe abortions;
Whereas persecution, including arbitrary arrest, detention, and extortion of 
        Rohingya and other Muslim communities, continues to be widespread;
Whereas violence targeting Rohingya in Maungdaw, Buthidaung, and Sittwe in June 
        and July 2012 resulted in the deaths of at least 57 Muslims and the 
        destruction of 1,336 Rohingya homes and left thousands displaced;
Whereas, between October 21-30, 2012, numerous people were killed, and a village 
        in Mrauk-U township was destroyed during deadly ethnic violence between 
        the Rakhine and Rohingya communities;
Whereas the lack of a credible independent investigation has resulted in 
        persistent questions about violence that may have resulted in the death 
        of Rohingya in a village in Maungdaw township in January 2014, and human 
        rights groups reported mass arrests and arbitrary detention of Rohingya 
        in the aftermath of this violence;
Whereas local, state, and national security police and border officers have 
        failed to protect those vulnerable to attack and, in some cases, 
        participated in violence against Rohingya and other Muslims;
Whereas the Government of Burma has relocated displaced Rohingya into 
        displacement camps where they have limited access to adequate shelter, 
        clean water, food, sanitation, health care, livelihoods, or basic 
        education for their children;
Whereas thousands of Rohingya are entirely reliant on international assistance 
        for food, clean water, and health care because they are not permitted to 
        move for work and therefore cannot provide for their families;
Whereas, in February 2014, the Government of Burma suspended the activities of 
        Nobel Laureate Medecins Sans Frontieres, the primary provider of health 
        care to hundreds of thousands in Rakhine State;
Whereas the Government of Burma entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with the 
        Medecins Sans Frontieres in September 2014 but all services have not 
        resumed;
Whereas attacks on organizations and their property in Sittwe, the capital of 
        Rakhine State, in March 2014 caused over 300 international aid workers 
        to evacuate the area, and while many of these aid workers have now 
        returned, they have not yet been able to resume full operations, leaving 
        many more people vulnerable, particularly in the area of health care;
Whereas the denial of unhindered humanitarian assistance when populations are in 
        need of such services is a severe breach of a government's 
        responsibility to protect and support its residents and suggests 
        disregard for individuals who suffer the effects of disease and 
        malnourishment as a result of a lack of assistance;
Whereas hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled to neighboring countries, 
        including 34,000 that have registered in official camps in Bangladesh, 
        plus another 300,000 to 500,000 that are unregistered in Bangladesh, and 
        at least 35,000 in Malaysia, plus many thousands more in Thailand and 
        Indonesia;
Whereas, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 
        approximately 100,000 Rohingya have fled from Rakhine State, and up to 
        2,000 Rohingya who fled Burma by boat are presumed dead or are missing 
        at sea since 2012;
Whereas up to 200,000 Rohingya, who fled persecution from Burma up to 20 years 
        ago and sought refugee protection in Bangladesh, continue to face 
        discrimination, statelessness, and other hurdles to accessing necessary 
        services in their country of refuge;
Whereas, according to the Department of State's 2014 Trafficking in Persons 
        Report, the Rohingya community in Bangladesh is especially vulnerable to 
        human trafficking, and unregistered Rohingya who were trafficking 
        victims may have been detained indefinitely in Bangladesh due to lack of 
        documentation;
Whereas the Government of Bangladesh has banned marriage registrars from 
        officiating marriages involving Rohingyas attempting to wed one another 
        and those seeking unions with Bangladeshi nationals; and
Whereas, in Thailand, according to the United States Department of State's 2014 
        Trafficking in Persons Report, corrupt civilian and military officials 
        are alleged to have profited from the smuggling of Rohingya asylum 
        seekers from Burma and Bangladesh and allegedly have been complicit in 
        their sale into forced labor on commercial fishing vessels: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) calls on the Government of Burma to develop a non-
        discriminatory and comprehensive solution that addresses 
        Rakhine State's needs for peace, security, harmony, and 
        development under equitable and just application of the rule of 
        law;
            (2) welcomes the Government of Burma's announcement that 
        Medecins Sans Frontieres has been invited back to work in 
        Rakhine State and encourages the Government of Burma to ensure 
        that the organization is able to resume operations alongside 
        other humanitarian organizations without undue restrictions on 
        their humanitarian operations;
            (3) calls on the Government of Burma to end all forms of 
        persecution and discrimination, including freedom of movement 
        restrictions, of the Rohingya people and ensure respect for 
        internationally recognized human rights for all ethnic and 
        religious minority groups within Burma;
            (4) calls on the Government of Burma to respect the 
        Rohingya's right to self-identification, redraft the 
        Citizenship Law of 1982 so that it conforms to internationally 
        recognized legal standards, and include both Rakhine and 
        Rohingya leaders and community members in the redrafting 
        process;
            (5) calls on the Government of Burma to support an 
        international and independent investigation into the violence 
        that has occurred in Rakhine State since June 2012, implement 
        the recommendations put forth, and prosecute the perpetrators 
        of violence consistent with due process;
            (6) calls on the Government of Burma to conform to 
        international norms on the provision of unrestricted 
        humanitarian access by international organizations to all in 
        need, without discrimination based on nationality, race, 
        ethnicity, gender, religious belief, or political opinion;
            (7) calls on the regional governments to protect the rights 
        of Rohingya asylum seekers and refugees, as well as respect the 
        international legal principle of non-refoulement; and
            (8) calls on the United States Government and the 
        international community to call on the Government of Burma to 
        take all necessary measures to end the persecution and 
        discrimination of the Rohingya population and to protect the 
        fundamental rights of all ethnic and religious minority groups 
        in Burma.
                                 <all>