[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 60 (Tuesday, May 16, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4025-S4026]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 113--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE CONGRESS 
 IN RECOGNITION OF THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS 
IN BURMA AND THE URGENT NEED TO IMPROVE THE DEMOCRATIC AND HUMAN RIGHTS 
                         OF THE PEOPLE OF BURMA

  Mr. MOYNIHAN (for himself, Mr.  McConnell, Mr. Lott, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. 
Feingold, Mr. Ashcroft, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Helms, Mr. Lugar, Mr. 
Durbin, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Wellstone, and Mr. Sarbanes) 
submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                            S. Con. Res. 113

       Whereas in 1988 thousands of Burmese citizens called for a 
     democratic change in Burma and participated in peaceful 
     demonstrations to achieve this result;
       Whereas these demonstrations were brutally repressed by the 
     Burmese military, resulting in the loss of hundreds of lives;
       Whereas despite continued repression, the Burmese people 
     turned out in record numbers to vote in elections deemed free 
     and fair by international observers;
       Whereas on May 27, 1990, the National League for Democracy 
     (NLD) led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi won more than 60 percent of 
     the popular vote and 80 percent of the parliamentary seats in 
     the elections;
       Whereas the Burmese military rejected the results of the 
     elections, placed Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and hundreds of 
     members of the NLD under arrest, pressured members of the NLD 
     to resign, and severely restricted freedom of assembly, 
     speech, and the press;
       Whereas 48,000,000 people in Burma continue to suffer gross 
     violations of human rights, including the right to democracy, 
     and economic deprivation under a military regime known as the 
     State Peace and Development Council (SPDC);
       Whereas on September 16, 1998, the members of the NLD and 
     other political parties who won the 1990 elections joined 
     together to form the Committee Representing the People's 
     Parliament (CRPP) as an interim mechanism to address human 
     rights, economic

[[Page S4026]]

     and other conditions, and provide representation of the 
     political views and voice of Members of Parliament elected to 
     but denied office in 1990;
       Whereas the United Nations General Assembly and Commission 
     on Human Rights have condemned in nine consecutive 
     resolutions the persecution of religious and ethnic 
     minorities and the political opposition, and SPDC's record of 
     forced labor, exploitation, and sexual violence against 
     women;
       Whereas the United States and the European Union Council of 
     Foreign Ministers have similarly condemned conditions in 
     Burma and officially imposed travel restrictions and other 
     sanctions against the SPDC;
       Whereas in May 1999, the International Labor Organization 
     (ILO) condemned the SPDC for inflicting forced labor on the 
     people and has banned the SPDC from participating in any 
     ILO meetings;
       Whereas the 1999 Department of State Country Reports on 
     Human Rights Practices for Burma identifies more than 1,300 
     people who continue to suffer inhumane detention conditions 
     as political prisoners in Burma;
       Whereas the Department of State International Narcotics 
     Control Report for 2000 determines that Burma is the second 
     largest world-wide source of illicit opium and heroin and 
     that there are continuing, reliable reports that Burmese 
     officials are ``involved in the drug business or are paid to 
     allow the drug business to be conducted by others'', 
     conditions which pose a direct threat to United States 
     national security interests; and
       Whereas despite these massive violations of human rights 
     and civil liberties and chronic economic deprivation, Daw 
     Aung San Suu Kyi and members of the NLD have continued to 
     call for a peaceful political dialogue with the SPDC to 
     achieve a democratic transition: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) United States policy should strongly support the 
     restoration of democracy in Burma, including implementation 
     of the results of the free and fair elections of 1990;
       (2) United States policy should continue to call upon the 
     military regime in Burma known as the State Peace and 
     Development Council (SPDC)--
       (A) to guarantee freedom of assembly, freedom of movement, 
     freedom of speech, and freedom of the press for all Burmese 
     citizens;
       (B) to immediately accept a political dialogue with Daw 
     Aung San Suu Kyi, the National League for Democracy (NLD), 
     and ethic leaders to advance peace and reconciliation in 
     Burma;
       (C) to immediately and unconditionally release all detained 
     Members elected to the 1990 parliament and other political 
     prisoners; and
       (D) to promptly and fully uphold the terms and conditions 
     of all human rights and related resolutions passed by the 
     United Nations General Assembly, the Commission on Human 
     Rights, the International Labor Organization, and the 
     European Union; and
       (3) United States policy should sustain current economic 
     and political sanctions against Burma as the appropriate 
     means--
       (A) to secure the restoration of democracy, human rights, 
     and civil liberties in Burma; and
       (B) to support United States national security 
     counternarcotics interests.

  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, the Senator from Kentucky and I rise 
today to submit, along with several of our distinguished colleagues, a 
resolution commemorating the 10th anniversary of free and fair 
elections in Burma.
  On May 27, 1990, the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Daw 
Aung San Suu Kyi, won a majority of the parliamentary seats in the 
elections. This was a great victory for the champions of democracy and 
human rights in Burma. However, the Burmese military arbitrarily 
annulled the results and arrested Aung San Suu Kyi and hundreds of NLD 
members. Others were forced to flee, and the people's freedoms of 
assembly, speech and the press were severely restricted.
  Today, the steady erosion of human rights continues under the heavy 
hand of the military regime known as the State Peace and Development 
Council (SPDC). This resolution calls upon the SPDC to guarantee basic 
freedoms to its people; accept a political dialogue with the NLD and 
other Burmese political leaders; and to comply with human rights 
agreements and resolutions emanating from such bodies as the United 
Nations General Assembly, the European Union, and the International 
Labor Organization.
  The struggle in Burma is not over. The 1999 Department of State 
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for Burma identifies more 
than 1,300 people who continue to suffer as political prisoners. A 
recent study traced the distribution patterns of different HIV strains 
to paths of heroin traffic originating from the country. As a New York 
Times editorial wrote on March 16, 2000, ``The cruelty of * * * Burma 
is increasingly a regional problem that threatens to destabilize its 
Southeast Asian neighbors with refugees, narcotics and now AIDS.'' I 
urge my colleagues to pass this important resolution.

                          ____________________