[House Document 107-70]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



                                     

107th Congress, 1st Session - - - - - - - - - - - - - House Document 107-70


 
                  A REPORT ON THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY
                         WITH RESPECT TO BURMA

                               __________

                                MESSAGE

                                  from

                   THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

                              transmitting

A REPORT ON DEVELOPMENTS CONCERNING THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY WITH RESPECT 
 TO BURMA THAT WAS DECLARED IN EXECUTIVE ORDER 13047 OF MAY 20, 1997, 
                     PURSUANT TO 50 U.S.C. 1703(c)




    May 15, 2001.--Message and accompanying papers referred to the 
     Committee on International Relations and ordered to be printed
To the Congress of the United States:
    As required by section 401(c) of the National Emergencies 
Act, 50 U.S.C. 1641(c), and section 204(c) of the International 
Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), 50 U.S.C. 1703(c), I 
transmit herewith a 6-month periodic report on the national 
emergency with respect to Burma that was declared in Executive 
Order 13047 of May 20, 1997.

                                                    George W. Bush.
    The White House, May 15, 2001.
 President's Periodic Report on the National Emergency With Respect to 
                                 Burma

    I hereby report to the Congress on developments over the 
course of the past six months concerning the national emergency 
with respect to Burma that was declared in Executive Order No. 
13047 of May 20, 1997, pursuant to section 570 of the Foreign 
Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs 
Appropriations Act (the ``Act'') and the International 
Emergency Economic Powers Act (``IEEPA''). This report is 
submitted pursuant to section 204(c) of IEEPA, 50 U.S.C. 
1703(c) and section 401(c) of the National Emergencies Act, 50 
U.S.C. 1641(c). This report discusses only matters concerning 
the national emergency with respect to Burma that was declared 
in Executive Order No. 13047.
    1. Since the issuance of Executive Order No. 13047, the 
Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control 
(``OFAC'') has administered the Burmese sanctions. OFAC 
continues to disseminate details of this program to the 
financial, securities, and international trade communities by 
both electronic and conventional media, as well as to the U.S. 
Embassy in Rangoon for distribution to U.S. companies operating 
in Burma. In the six-month period since November 20, 2000, OFAC 
has issued no specific licenses authorizing transactions 
otherwise prohibited by the Regulations, and has neither 
assessed nor collected any civil monetary penalty for 
violations of the Regulations.
    2. The expenses incurred by the Federal Government in the 
six-month period from November 20, 2000 that are directly 
attributable to the exercise of powers and authorities 
conferred by the declaration of a national emergency with 
respect to Burma are estimated at approximately $11,000, most 
of which represent wage and salary costs for Federal personnel. 
Personnel costs were largely centered in the Department of the 
Treasury (particularly in the Office of Foreign Assets Control, 
the Office of the Under Secretary for Enforcement, and the 
Office of the General Counsel) and the Department of State 
(particularly the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, the 
Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and the Office of the 
Legal Adviser).
    3. The situation reviewed above continues to present an 
extraordinary and unusual threat to the national security and 
foreign policy of the United States. The declaration of the 
national emergency with respect to Burma contained in Executive 
Order 13047 in response to the large-scale repression of the 
democratic opposition by the Government of Burma since 
September 30, 1996, reflected the belief that it is in the 
national security and foreign policy interests of the United 
States to seek an end to abuses of human rights in Burma, to 
support efforts to achieve democratic reform which would 
promote regional peace and stability, and to urge effective 
counter-narcotics policies.
    In the past six months, the State Peace and Development 
Council (``SPDC'') has shown no sign of willingness to cede its 
hold on absolute power. Although the Burmese Government in late 
2000 entered into dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of 
Burma's democratic opposition, the ruling junta continues to 
refuse to recognize the results of the free and fair 1990 
elections in which the National League for Democracy won a vast 
majority of the popular vote and parliamentary seats. The 
regime still holds more than 1,500 political prisoners, and its 
well documented human rights abuses, particularly against 
ethnic minorities, continue unabated. Burma has taken limited, 
but insufficient, steps to counter narcotics production and 
trafficking.
    In an unprecedented decision, effective November 30, 2000, 
the International Labor Organization (ILO) recommended that its 
members and other international organizations review their ties 
with the Burmese regime and take appropriate measures if those 
ties in any way abet the system of forced or compulsory labor 
in Burma. The action was called for by the International Labor 
Conference in June 2000 and was prompted by the failure of the 
Burmese regime to take action on the recommendations of an ILO 
``Commission of Inquiry'' which found forced labor in Burma to 
be ``widespread and systematic.'' This was the most significant 
international action to have been taken against Burma by an 
international organization in many years.
    The net effect of U.S. and international measures to 
pressure the SPDC to end its repression and move toward 
democratic government has been a further decline in investor 
confidence in Burma and deeper stagnation of the Burmese 
economy. Observers agree that the Burmese economy appears to be 
further weakening and that the government has a serious 
shortage of foreign exchange reserves with which to pay for 
imports. While Burma's economic crisis is largely a result of 
the SPDC's own heavy-handed mismanagement, the SPDC is unlikely 
to find a way out of the crisis unless political developments 
permit an easing of international pressure. I shall continue to 
exercise the powers at my disposal to deal with these problems 
and will report periodically to the Congress on significant 
developments.

                                
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