[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 360 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 360

    Calling for international accountability for the crimes against 
  humanity committed by the Burmese military against the Rohingya in 
                                 Burma.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 13, 2017

 Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. Merkley, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Markey, and 
Mr. Van Hollen) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
                 to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
    Calling for international accountability for the crimes against 
  humanity committed by the Burmese military against the Rohingya in 
                                 Burma.

Whereas actions by the military of Burma, known as the Tatmadaw, including 
        continuing assaults on personnel and territory controlled by armed 
        ethnic organizations, military offensives immediately preceding and 
        following national peace conferences, and human rights abuses against 
        noncombatant civilians in conflict areas, undermine the confidence in 
        establishing a credible nationwide cease-fire agreement to end Burma's 
        civil war;
Whereas Burmese military officials have a longstanding history of targeting 
        ethnic groups and armed ethnic organizations in Burma, in addition to 
        the Rohingya, and whereas there are ongoing conflicts currently in the 
        Shan, Kachin, and Rakhine states;
Whereas August 25, 2017, attacks on security posts in Burma by the military 
        group Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army resulted in a brutal, systematic, 
        and disproportionate reprisal by the Burmese military and security 
        forces on Rohingya villages;
Whereas more than 624,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh since the 
        Burmese military commenced its scorched-earth campaign, with the burning 
        of villages and local monuments, and reports of widespread rape, 
        starvation, killing, and forcible deportation;
Whereas Burmese military officials have promulgated fabrications about the 
        Rohingya to sow negative public perception of the minority ethnic group, 
        including that they are not Burmese, that they are uniformly implicated 
        in terrorist activities and controlled by international terrorist groups 
        with the intention of creating an Islamic State, that they attacked 
        their own people and burned down their own villages in order to gain 
        international sympathy, and that they are fleeing to Bangladesh for 
        economic reasons or to create the appearance of ethnic cleansing;
Whereas the Government of Burma has consistently denied access to the United 
        Nations Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar established to investigate human 
        rights violations around the country;
Whereas the Commander in Chief of the Burmese military, Senior General Min Aung 
        Hlaing, has made statements communicating his antipathy for the Rohingya 
        people, including on March 27, 2017, where he reportedly said that 
        ``[t]he Bengalis in Rakhine state are not Myanmar citizens and they are 
        just people who come and stay in the country'', and on September 2, 
        2017, where he reportedly said that the ongoing military operations 
        against the Rohingya were aimed at ``unfinished business'' from World 
        War II;
Whereas a Human Rights Watch report entitled, ```All of My Body Was Pain': 
        Sexual Violence Against Rohingya Women and Girls in Burma'', documented 
        the Burmese military's widespread acts of sexual violence against women 
        and girls since August 25, 2017;
Whereas Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court 
        includes murder, forced deportation, rape, and persecution among its 
        definition of ``crimes against humanity'';
Whereas, on September 11, 2017, in his opening statement for the United Nations 
        Human Rights Council's 36th session, United Nations High Commissioner 
        for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein reiterated his concern about the 
        pattern of gross violation of human rights of the Rohingya in Burma, 
        calling the persecution a ``textbook case of ethnic cleansing'';
Whereas, on October 23, 2017, the Department of State suspended travel waivers 
        for Burmese military leaders, found that all Burmese military units and 
        officers involved in operations in northern Rakhine State are ineligible 
        for United States assistance programs, rescinded invitations for Burmese 
        security leaders to travel to United States-sponsored programs, and 
        pressed for access for the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on 
        Myanmar to hold responsible those who have committed violence against 
        the Rohingya;
Whereas, on November 3, 2017, the international human rights organization Human 
        Rights Watch called for the United Nations Security Council to refer 
        Burma to the International Criminal Court in light of Burma's failure to 
        investigate mass atrocities against the Rohingya;
Whereas, on November 6, 2017, the United Nations Security Council issued 
        Presidential Statement SC/13055 calling on Burma to ``end the excessive 
        military force and intercommunal violence that had devastated the 
        Rohingya community in Rakhine State'' in Burma;
Whereas, on November 16, 2017, the United Nations General Assembly Third 
        Committee approved draft resolution A/C.3/72/L.48 calling for an end to 
        the abuse of human rights against the Rohingya by Burmese authorities, 
        accountability for the perpetrators, and unrestricted access for United 
        Nations investigators in Burma;
Whereas, on November 22, 2017, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared that 
        the Burmese military's crackdown ``constitutes ethnic cleansing against 
        the Rohingyas'';
Whereas, on November 28, 2017, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination 
        of Discrimination against Women called on Burma to report within six 
        months on rapes and sexual violence against Rohingya women and girls by 
        its security forces in northern Rakhine State and further to take 
        measures to punish soldiers responsible for these acts;
Whereas the United Nations Human Rights Council held a Special Session on 
        December 5, 2017, where it adopted a resolution strongly condemning the 
        alleged systematic and gross violations of human rights and abuses 
        committed against the Rohingya in Burma and requested the High 
        Commissioner for Human Rights to continue to track the progress 
        concerning the human rights situation of Rohingya people; and
Whereas the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al 
        Hussein recommended on December 5, 2017, the establishment of ``a new 
        impartial and independent mechanism, complementary to the work of the 
        Fact-Finding Mission, to assist individual criminal investigations of 
        those responsible'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) recognizes the adoption of the resolution (A/HRC/RES/S-
        27/1) on the situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and 
        other minorities in Burma by the United Nations Human Rights 
        Council on December 5, 2017;
            (2) condemns the Burmese military for its atrocities 
        against the Rohingya, which constitute ethnic cleansing and 
        crimes against humanity;
            (3) reaffirms the longstanding international prohibitions 
        and norms against the use of ethnic cleansing and crimes 
        against humanity in any circumstance and calls on the United 
        Nations to pass resolutions condemning the human rights 
        violations by Burmese security forces against the Rohingya;
            (4) urges the Government of Burma to allow for full, 
        unhindered humanitarian access to the affected areas, and to 
        allow the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission to Myanmar to 
        examine the human rights violations by military and security 
        forces in Burma and others abuses, with a particular focus on 
        the situation in Rakhine State;
            (5) urges State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi to fully 
        implement the Final Report of the Advisory Commission on 
        Rakhine State;
            (6) urges the Government of Burma to take immediate steps 
        to close internally displaced persons (IDP) camps and the 
        Rohingya ghetto at Aung Mingalar in Sittwe while respecting the 
        rights and dignity of populations currently residing in these 
        camps, and to further lift restrictions on freedom of movement 
        of Rohingya living in villages throughout northern Rakhine 
        State;
            (7) calls on the Secretary of State and the Secretary of 
        the Treasury to impose targeted sanctions and travel 
        restrictions against senior leaders of the Burmese military 
        implicated in atrocities, including its multiple holding 
        companies and banks;
            (8) urges the international community to assist with the 
        economic development of the Rakhine State, one of the poorest 
        states in Burma, in which poverty exacerbates tensions between 
        ethnic groups;
            (9) urges the Government of Burma to conduct a 
        comprehensive and transparent investigation--with the support 
        of a credible international third party--to examine abuses 
        against the Rohingya and hold perpetrators accountable;
            (10) urges the United Nations to establish an independent 
        mechanism to assist individual criminal investigations of those 
        responsible for atrocity crimes against the Rohingya and refer 
        those responsible to the International Criminal Court;
            (11) calls on the United Nations Security Council to impose 
        a comprehensive arms embargo against Burma; and
            (12) calls upon the nations of the world to revoke travel 
        visas for Burmese Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung 
        Hlaing and all other members of the Burmese military 
        responsible for the ethnic cleansing campaign and crimes 
        against humanity against the Rohingya.
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