[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 73 (Tuesday, June 9, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H4247-H4248]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   HUMAN RIGHTS ATROCITIES BEING COMMITTED BY BURMESE MILITARY FORCES

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1

[[Page H4248]]

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of persecuted 
religious believers in Burma also known as Myanmar. The Burmese 
Government engages in horrifying human rights violations against 
numerous religious and ethnic minorities.
  I met a few weeks ago with a group of Christians from Burma. Reports 
tell of one Karen family which fled Burma after the military forced the 
husband to help build a pipeline for the UNOCAL and TOTAL oil 
companies. The husband escaped the forced labor, but soldiers hunted 
him down, then tortured his wife and seriously burned their 2-month-old 
baby. The baby died, and the rest of the family fled to refugee camps 
in Thailand.
  This story is not unusual for the Karen and Chin peoples of Burma.
  Mr. Speaker, I have photographs which reflect the atrocities 
committed by the Burmese military forces. The photos show the murder of 
a Karen man and woman. They are too horrible to describe and show, but 
if any Member wishes to see them privately, they can come to my office.
  Human rights violations like this must not be allowed to continue. I 
urge the State Peace and Development Council to immediately cease these 
horrible human rights abuses.

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