118 HRES 86 IH: Condemning the Burmese military for perpetrating gross violations of human rights as part of its brutal campaign to suppress the democratic aspirations of the people of Burma, two years after the coup d’état on February 1, 2021.
U.S. House of Representatives
2023-02-01
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EN
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IV
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 86
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 1, 2023
Ms. Eshoo (for herself, Ms. Tenney, Mr. Meeks, Mr. Bera, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Costa, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Connolly, Ms. Norton, Ms. Titus, Mr. Sherman, and Ms. Kamlager-Dove) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, the Judiciary, and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
RESOLUTION
Condemning the Burmese military for perpetrating gross violations of human rights as part of its brutal campaign to suppress the democratic aspirations of the people of Burma, two years after the coup d’état on February 1, 2021.
Whereas after a decade of promising democratic reforms in Burma, the Burmese military (hereinafter referred to as the “Tatmadaw”) launched a coup against the civilian government on February 1, 2021, preventing a democratically elected Parliament from being seated;
Whereas the Tatmadaw seized control of the government, declared a national state of emergency, and unlawfully detained many democratically elected officials, including State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint, and dozens of Members of Parliament affiliated with the National League for Democracy (NLD);
Whereas the House of Representatives adopted H. Res. 134 on March 19, 2021, condemning the coup and calling for the restoration of civilian government and the release of detained officials;
Whereas the people of Burma, insistent that their country continue along the path toward democracy, courageously organized a civil disobedience movement and took to the streets to demand that the Tatmadaw relinquish power;
Whereas, on April 16, 2021, democratically elected members of Parliament, who had been denied the opportunity to serve by the Tatmadaw, formed a National Unity Government that asserts it is the legitimate Government of Burma;
Whereas the Tatmadaw has used lethal force, including extrajudicial executions, to violently suppress the prodemocracy movement, killing more than 2,500 civilians since the coup began in February 2021;
Whereas the Tatmadaw has relied heavily on mass arrests to stifle dissent and has detained at least 13,600 protesters, activists, and journalists since February 2021;
Whereas the Tatmadaw has used brutal and inhumane methods to intimidate, degrade, and torture detainees;
Whereas Tatmadaw soldiers have perpetrated rape and other forms of sexual violence with impunity;
Whereas the Tatmadaw has employed digital authoritarian tools and tactics to silence opposition, including internet shutdowns, online censorship, and high-tech surveillance;
Whereas the Tatmadaw has eroded the independence of the Burmese judiciary and conducted sham trials to convict political prisoners including State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint;
Whereas, on July 23, 2022, the Tatmadaw executed four prominent prodemocracy activists, prompting widespread international condemnation;
Whereas the Tatmadaw continues to perpetrate a horrific genocide against the Rohingya population in Burma’s Rakhine State, and has also committed atrocities against other ethnic minority communities in the Kachin, Karen, Mon, Rakhine, Shan, and Chin States;
Whereas the House of Representatives adopted H. Res. 1091 on December 13, 2018, expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the atrocities committed against the Rohingya by the Tatmadaw constitute genocide;
Whereas, on March 21, 2022, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the Department of State’s determination that the Tatmadaw committed genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya population of Burma;
Whereas the turmoil caused by the coup and the Tatmadaw’s violence and mismanagement of the economy have resulted in a severe economic crisis that, according to the World Bank, has caused poverty in Burma to double since March 2020;
Whereas the deteriorating security situation in Burma following the coup has resulted in the internal displacement of nearly 1.3 million people and prompted thousands more to flee the country as refugees;
Whereas the Biden administration has frozen more than $1,000,000,000 in Burmese Government funds held in the United States and coordinated with the European Union, Canada, and the United Kingdom to impose targeted sanctions against individuals and entities responsible for the coup, including Min Aung Hlaing, the commander in chief of the Tatmadaw;
Whereas Congress recently passed the bipartisan BURMA Act of 2022 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, granting the President increased authority to impose sanctions on individuals and entities affiliated with the Tatmadaw and authorizing increased humanitarian aid for the Burmese people;
Whereas numerous civil society and human rights groups have recommended additional sanctions targeting the largest sources of the Tatmadaw’s foreign currency revenue such as the state-controlled natural gas, mining, and timber entities, including the highly lucrative Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE);
Whereas it has been reported that the European Union sanctions on MOGE have been effective in blocking revenues from the Shwe gas pipeline being transferred to the Tatmadaw;
Whereas aviation fuel shipments imported to Burma by foreign suppliers enable the Tatmadaw to carry out horrifyingly violent and indiscriminate air strikes on civilian targets such as villages, schools, religious buildings, medical facilities, and camps for the internally displaced and continue wreaking devastating havoc across the country; and
Whereas the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, which was established by the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate the Tatmadaw’s crimes against humanity and compile evidence for future prosecutions, is crucial to ensuring accountability for atrocities and bringing justice to the people of Burma: Now, therefore, be it
That the House of Representatives—
(1)
condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the military coup that took place in Burma on February 1, 2021;
(2)
denounces the Tatmadaw for perpetrating gross violations of human rights as part of its brutal campaign to suppress the democratic aspirations of the people of Burma;
(3)
stands in solidarity with the courageous people of Burma as they struggle to wrest political power from the hands of their authoritarian military;
(4)
calls on the Tatmadaw to—
(A)
cease all violence against prodemocracy activists and reach a cease-fire with ethnic armed organizations;
(B)
release all political prisoners;
(C)
unconditionally vacate all fraudulent verdicts stemming from politically motivated charges and legal proceedings against elected officials, journalists, civil society leaders, prodemocracy activists, and other unjustly convicted Burmese people;
(D)
engage in constructive dialogue with all parties to negotiate a pathway toward a government that reflects the will of the Burmese people;
(E)
grant humanitarian actors unhindered access to all relevant areas of Burma to help alleviate the immense suffering that has resulted from the Tatmadaw’s violence; and
(F)
respect the human rights and civil liberties of all people of Burma, including ethnic minorities who currently face state-sponsored persecution;
(5)
rejects any attempts by the Tatmadaw to hold sham general elections in 2023 without first ceasing its violence against prodemocracy forces and releasing all opposition politicians, as any such election would be far from free or fair; and
(6)
calls on the President, and the relevant Federal agencies, to take immediate action to—
(A)
work with international partners and multilateral institutions, including the United Nations Security Council, to enact new targeted sanctions on individuals and entities affiliated with the Tatmadaw, including an international arms embargo and a prohibition on the sale of aviation fuel and other dual use items to the Burmese military;
(B)
coordinate with like-minded partners and allies to restrict the Tatmadaw’s ability to finance its military operations by imposing new sanctions on Tatmadaw-linked individuals as well as Tatmadaw-controlled entities, including state-owned enterprises;
(C)
work with Indonesia, the 2023 chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and current country coordinator for the U.S.-ASEAN Partnership, to leverage its position and regional heft to exert greater pressure on the Tatmadaw to fully and meaningfully implement the five-point consensus and bring an end to the crisis;
(D)
issue public warnings to businesses and individuals outlining the legal liability of doing business with the Tatmadaw, including potential liability associated with the Tatmadaw’s crimes against humanity;
(E)
enhance enforcement of existing sanctions prohibiting the importation of precious and semiprecious gemstones, jade, timber, and amber from Burma to the United States;
(F)
implement the BURMA Act fully and expeditiously;
(G)
provide robust humanitarian assistance in Burma, Bangladesh, Thailand, and the surrounding region and ensure that targeted sanctions allow all necessary exemptions to permit the delivery of humanitarian assistance to civilians in need;
(H)
ensure that United States-based social media companies, including Facebook, not allow their platforms to be used as vehicles for disinformation campaigns or advocating violence against the Burmese people;
(I)
build on the Department of State’s March 21, 2022, genocide determination by supporting efforts to end impunity for those committing the crime of genocide and pledging to intervene in the International Court of Justice case in support of The Gambia against Myanmar;
(J)
direct the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States to bring about greater international cooperation to pursue justice and accountability in Burma; and
(K)
support inclusive international accountability efforts, including the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, with a particular emphasis on Burma’s civil society organizations, to investigate and hold perpetrators of atrocities accountable.