[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 119 (Thursday, September 19, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1609]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   MARKING THE 14TH ANNIVERSARY OF BLOODY RISE TO POWER OF MILITARY 
                         DICTATORSHIP IN BURMA

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. LANE EVANS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 18, 2002

  Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, today marks the fourteenth anniversary of the 
bloody rise to power of the military dictatorship in Burma. This 
despotic regime has denied its people basic liberties and freedoms 
including democratic representation, free speech, and an independent 
press. Allegations have also come to light that this regime has used 
the mass rape of women and children to instill fear. They have 
imprisoned and murdered thousands of their political opponents and 
closed thirty universities since 1995 to suppress popular student 
opposition.
  I would like to speak specifically to the issue of labor rights in 
Burma. It is an undisputed fact that the Government of Burma has forced 
thousands of its citizens into forced labor. Bonded servitude is woven 
into the social fabric of many nations, but in Burma it is even more 
contemptuous because it is nothing more than slavery at its core and it 
is sanctioned by the government and employed by its military.
  For many years, international organizations including the 
International Labor Organization, the International Confederation of 
Free Trade Unions, and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights 
have attempted to get the regime to emancipate it's slaves. Burma has 
flaunted international sanctions and continues to be uncooperative and 
deny access to human rights organizations investigating these and many 
other human rights abuses.
  Burma's military regime emphatically rejects core labor rights 
including prohibitions on child labor, forced labor, and freedom of 
association. This is even more disconcerting because the military elite 
prop up a system of sweatshops producing textile products for western 
markets. Even under strict quotas, Burmese textile exports have 
exploded into the U.S. market creating a direct source of hard currency 
for the military dictatorship. And there are credible allegations being 
investigated that many goods skirt sanctions by masking their country 
of origin.
  Textile exports are the life support for the Burmese regime and we 
need a complete ban on Burmese exports until we see freedom and an end 
to slavery. I commend my colleagues and the Administration that have 
stood up for human rights in Burma and kept the pressure on the regime. 
Now is not the time to relax sanctions, but instead tighten the noose 
on one of the world's worst totalitarian governments.

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