[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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