[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1091 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1091

 Calling on the Government of Burma to release Burmese journalists Wa 
   Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo sentenced to seven years imprisonment after 
    investigating attacks against civilians by Burma's military and 
                security forces, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 27, 2018

   Mr. Chabot (for himself, Mr. Engel, Mr. Royce of California, Mr. 
    Schiff, Mr. Yoho, Mr. Sherman, Mrs. Comstock, and Mr. Crowley) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                           on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Calling on the Government of Burma to release Burmese journalists Wa 
   Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo sentenced to seven years imprisonment after 
    investigating attacks against civilians by Burma's military and 
                security forces, and for other purposes.

Whereas for years under the rule of the military junta and continuing under a 
        democratically elected government in Burma, journalists face threats of 
        violence and retaliation, especially for those covering military abuses, 
        religious intolerance, and the genocide and crimes against humanity that 
        occurred in Rakhine State;
Whereas Reuters, a highly respected worldwide news organization, discovered a 
        mass murder in the village of Inn Din as part of its ongoing reporting 
        on the Burmese military's campaign against the Rohingya and Reuters 
        journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were doing fact-checking and 
        interviewing eyewitnesses to these and other events;
Whereas, on December 12, 2017, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, were arrested by police 
        in a suburb of Yangon and have been in custody to the present;
Whereas, on April 20, 2018, a key witness for the prosecution, Police Captain 
        Moe Yan Naing, testified that he was ordered by his superiors to 
        ``trap'' Wa Lone;
Whereas, on September 3, 2018, Yangon Northern District Judge Ye Lwin ruled that 
        Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo breached the colonial-era Official Secrets Act 
        when they collected and obtained confidential documents during their 
        investigation into the massacre in Inn Din, and then sentenced them each 
        to 7 years in prison with hard labor;
Whereas Secretary of State Pompeo met with Burma's Foreign Minister, Kyaw Tin at 
        the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in August 2018 and called for the 
        immediate release of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo;
Whereas, on September 4, 2018, Vice President Mike Pence said, ``Wa Lone & Kyaw 
        Soe Oo should be commended--not imprisoned--for their work exposing 
        human rights violations [and] mass killings. Freedom of religion [and] 
        freedom of the press are essential to a strong democracy.'';
Whereas Members of Congress, professional journalist organizations, human rights 
        groups, and other distinguished writers from around the world have 
        called on the Burmese authorities to release Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo 
        from their unjust imprisonment;
Whereas the Burmese military has committed numerous crimes against civilians 
        over many years in Burma's Rakhine, Shan, and Karen States;
Whereas Marzuki Darusman, chair of the United Nations fact-finding mission on 
        Burma said in a statement on September 18, 2018, ``Peace will not be 
        achieved while the Tatmadaw remains above the law. The Tatmadaw is the 
        greatest impediment to Myanmar's development as a modern democratic 
        nation. The Commander-in-Chief of the Tatmadaw, Min Aung Hlaing, and all 
        the current leadership must be replaced, and a complete restructuring 
        must be undertaken to place the Tatmadaw under full civilian control. 
        Myanmar's democratic transition depends on it.'';
Whereas in recent decades the Rohingya people have lost, through systematic 
        discrimination by Burmese national, state, and local authorities, a 
        range of civil and political rights, including citizenship, and face 
        barriers today such that they are mostly a stateless people;
Whereas, on August 25, 2017, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army carried out 
        attacks on government positions in Rakhine State;
Whereas since the August 25, 2017, attacks, Burma's military and security 
        forces, as well as private mobs, have carried out widespread attacks, 
        rapes, killings, and the burning of villages throughout Rakhine State 
        resulting in approximately 700,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh;
Whereas Burma's civilian government, led by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi 
        and President Win Myint, has not yet taken necessary steps to address 
        the violence and should take further measures;
Whereas, on November 22, 2017, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson stated, ``After 
        a careful and thorough analysis of available facts, it is clear that the 
        situation in northern Rakhine State constitutes ethnic cleansing against 
        the Rohingya.'';
Whereas the Department of the Treasury announced sanctions on five Tatmadaw 
        officers and two Tatmadaw units for human rights abuses in Rakhine, 
        Kachin, and Shan States;
Whereas, on August 24, 2018, the United Nations International Fact Finding 
        Mission on Myanmar released a preliminary report stating that, ``The 
        Mission concluded . . . that there is sufficient information to warrant 
        the investigation and prosecution of senior officials in the Tatmadaw 
        chain of command, so that a competent court can determine their 
        liability for genocide in relation to the situation in Rakhine State.'';
Whereas, on August 25, 2018, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, ``A year ago, 
        following deadly militant attacks, security forces responded by 
        launching abhorrent ethnic cleansing of ethnic Rohingya in Burma'', and 
        continued ``The U.S. will continue to hold those responsible 
        accountable. The military must respect human rights for Burma's 
        democracy to succeed.''; and
Whereas, on September 24, 2018, the Department of State released a report 
        entitled ``Documentation of Atrocities in Northern Rakhine State'' that 
        stated the military ``targeted civilians indiscriminately and often with 
        extreme brutality'' and that the violence in northern Rakhine State was 
        ``extreme, large-scale, widespread and seemingly geared toward both 
        terrorizing the population and driving gout the Rohingya residents'' and 
        that the ``scope and scale of the military's operations indicate that 
        they were well-planned and coordinated'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns the attacks against civilians by Burma's 
        military and security forces;
            (2) urges the Secretary of State to make a determination 
        based on available evidence as to whether or not the actions by 
        the Burmese military in northern Rakhine State in 2017 
        constitute crimes against humanity, genocide, or other crimes 
        and to fully support efforts to collect, preserve, and make 
        available evidence related to these crimes;
            (3) considers the actions by the Burmese military against 
        the Rohingya in northern Rakhine State in 2017 to be genocide 
        as defined in the United Nations Convention on the Prevention 
        and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (entered into force 
        with respect to the United States on November 25, 1988) and 
        therefore urges the Secretary of State put the full force of 
        United States diplomacy behind an effort to refer the 
        atrocities against the Rohingya to the appropriate 
        international mechanisms for prosecution;
            (4) calls on Burma's military and government to allow 
        refugees to immediately and voluntarily return to Burma in a 
        manner consistent with internationally recognized human rights 
        and principles for refugee protection and to change laws and 
        policies that have contributed to insecurity in the Rakhine 
        State;
            (5) calls on the President to impose additional sanctions 
        on senior members of the Burmese military and security forces 
        who are responsible for human rights abuses, including Tatmadaw 
        Commander-In-Chief Min Aung Hliang;
            (6) calls on the United States Ambassador to the United 
        Nations to work to refer the atrocities against the Rohingya to 
        the appropriate international mechanisms for prosecution;
            (7) reaffirms the central role that independent and 
        professional journalism plays in strengthening democratic 
        governance, upholding the rule of law, mitigating conflict, and 
        informing public opinion around the world;
            (8) condemns the unjust prosecution of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe 
        Oo for doing the work of professional journalists;
            (9) calls on State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and 
        President Win Myint to pardon Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo as well 
        as all other journalists and political prisoners;
            (10) calls on the Secretary of State to engage immediately 
        and at the highest levels with the Government of Burma to press 
        for the immediate release from prison of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe 
        Oo; and
            (11) calls on the Government of Burma to rescind or 
        substantially modify laws that obstruct the freedom of the 
        press.
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