[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2327 Referred in Senate (RFS)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2327
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 25, 2019
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign
Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To direct the Secretary of State to provide assistance to civil society
organizations in Burma that work to secure the release of prisoners of
conscience and political prisoners in Burma, and assistance to current
and former prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in Burma,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Burma Political Prisoners Assistance
Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy
(NLD) pledged that they ``would not arrest anyone as political
prisoners'', but have failed to fulfill this promise since they
took control of Burma's Union Parliament and the Government's
executive branch in April 2016.
(2) As of the end of April 2019, there were 331 political
prisoners in Burma, 48 of them serving sentences, 90 awaiting
trial inside prison, and 193 awaiting trial outside prison,
according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
in Burma.
(3) During its 3 years in power, the NLD Government has
provided pardons for Burma's political prisoners on six
occasions. State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi took steps to
secure the release of nearly 235 political prisoners in April
2016. On May 23, 2017, former President Htin Kyaw granted
pardons to 259 prisoners, including 89 political prisoners. On
April 17, 2018, current President Win Myint pardoned 8,541
prisoners, including 36 political prisoners. In April and May
2019, he pardoned more than 23,000 prisoners, including 20
political prisoners.
(4) The Burmese security forces have used colonial-era laws
to arrest and charge political prisoners and prisoners of
conscience. These laws include but are not limited to
provisions of the Penal Code, the Peaceful Assembly and
Peaceful Procession Act, the 1908 Unlawful Associations Act,
the 2013 Telecommunications Act, and the 1923 Official Secrets
Act.
(5) On December 12, 2017, Reuters reporters Wa Lone and
Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested and charged with violating the
Official Secrets Act, continuing a trend of restricting media
and free speech and attempting to thwart coverage of the events
in Rakhine State.
(6) On September 3, 2018, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were
convicted and sentenced to 7 years in prison. Time Magazine
included pictures of the two reporters on the cover of its
``Person of the Year'' issue on December 10, 2018, as two of
the ``Guardians and the War on Truth''.
(7) On May 6, 2019, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were released
after more than 500 days behind bars.
(8) According to Burmese free speech organization Athan, 44
journalists and 142 activists since 2016 were charged with
colonial-era laws used to stifle dissent and restrict activist
groups and have faced trial.
(9) Since December 2018, three Kachin activists were
sentenced to 6 months in prison in connection with peaceful
antiwar protests; a protester demonstrating against the
Myitsone Dam (a controversial Chinese-backed hydropower
project) was charged for peaceful demonstrations, and police
used excessive force to crack down on peaceful protesters in
Kayah State, with some of the demonstrators charged under
vaguely worded, repressive laws.
(10) On August 18, 2017, Aung Ko Htwe was arrested because
he gave a media interview in which he described his experience
as a child soldier, including how the Burmese military abducted
and forcibly recruited him when he was 13 years old. He was
charged under Section 505(b) of Burma's Penal Code.
(11) Although former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson took
Burma off the State Department's list of the worst offenders in
the use of child soldiers in 2017, the Department reinstated
Burma to the list in 2018. According to the United Nations, the
Burmese military and ethnic guerrilla groups remain
``persistent perpetrators' in the recruitment and use of
children in [Burma].''.
SEC. 3. CHILD SOLDIERS.
It is the sense of Congress that no one should be jailed for freely
expressing him or herself or for speaking against the use of child
soldiers.
SEC. 4. PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY.
It is the sense of Congress that Burma must immediately drop
defamation charges against the three Kachin activists, Lum Zawng, Nang
Pu, and Zau Jet, who led a peaceful rally in Mytkyina, the capital of
Kachin State in April 2018, and that the prosecution of Lum Zawng, Nang
Pu, and Zau Jet is an attempt by the Burmese authorities to intimidate,
harass, and silence community leaders and human rights defenders who
speak out about military abuses and the impact on civilian populations.
SEC. 5. PRESS FREEDOM.
It is the sense of Congress that press freedom is a fundamental
human right and should be upheld and protected in Burma and everywhere,
and that Burmese authorities must immediately cease the arbitrary
arrest, detention, imprisonment, and physical attacks of journalists,
which have created a climate of fear and self-censorship among local
journalists.
SEC. 6. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It is the policy of the United States that--
(1) all prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in
Burma should be unconditionally and immediately released;
(2) the Administration and the Department of State should
use all of their diplomatic tools to ensure that all prisoners
of conscience and political prisoners in Burma are released;
and
(3) the Burmese Government should repeal or amend all laws
that violate the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful
assembly, or association, and ensure that laws such as the
Telecommunications Law of 2013 and the Unlawful Associations
Act of 1908, and laws relating to the right to peaceful
assembly, all comply with international human rights standards.
SEC. 7. POLITICAL PRISONERS ASSISTANCE.
The Secretary of State shall continue to provide assistance to
civil society organizations in Burma that work to secure the release of
prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in Burma, and
assistance to current and former prisoners of conscience and political
prisoners in Burma. Such assistance may include the following:
(1) Support for the documentation of human rights
violations with respect to prisoners of conscience and
political prisoners.
(2) Support for advocacy in Burma to raise awareness of
issues relating to prisoners of conscience and political
prisoners.
(3) Support for efforts to repeal or amend laws that are
used to imprison individuals as either prisoners of conscience
or political prisoners.
(4) Support for health, including mental health, and post-
incarceration assistance in gaining access to education and
employment opportunities or other forms of reparation to enable
former prisoners of conscience and political prisoners to
resume a normal life.
(5) The creation, in consultation with former political
prisoners and prisoners of conscience, their families, and
representatives, of an independent prisoner review mechanism in
Burma to review the cases of individuals who may have been
charged or deprived of their liberty for peacefully exercising
their human rights, review all laws used to arrest, prosecute,
and punish individuals as political prisoners and prisoners of
conscience, and provide recommendations to the Burmese
Government for the repeal or amendment of all such laws.
Passed the House of Representatives September 24, 2019.
Attest:
CHERYL L. JOHNSON,
Clerk.