[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 147 (Monday, October 1, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12382-S12383]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SENATE RESOLUTION 339--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE ON THE 
                           SITUATION IN BURMA

  Mr. KERRY (for himself, Mr. McConnell, Mr. Biden, Mr. Lugar, Mrs. 
Boxer, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Durbin, Mr.

[[Page S12383]]

Coleman, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Menendez, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. 
Reid, Mr. Levin, Mr. Hagel, Mr. McCain, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Casey, Mrs. 
Clinton, Mr. Obama, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Bingaman, Mr. Brownback, Mr. 
Sununu, Mrs. Hutchison, and Mr. Whitehouse) submitted the following 
resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

                              S. Res. 339

       Whereas hundreds of thousands of Burmese citizens, 
     including thousands of Buddhist monks and students, engaged 
     in peaceful demonstrations against the policies of the ruling 
     State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), demanding that 
     the State Peace and Development Council release all political 
     prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San 
     Suu Kyi, and urging that the government agree to a meaningful 
     tripartite dialogue with Suu Kyi, the National League for 
     Democracy (NLD), and the ethnic minorities towards national 
     reconciliation;
       Whereas the State Peace and Development Council violently 
     dispersed the peaceful demonstrators, killing at least 10 
     (and reportedly more than 200) unarmed protesters, including 
     a number of monks and a Japanese journalist, and arrested 
     hundreds of others, and continues to forcibly suppress 
     peaceful protests;
       Whereas the National League for Democracy won a majority of 
     seats in the parliamentary elections of 1990, but the State 
     Peace and Development Council refused to uphold the results 
     or to negotiate a transition to civilian rule and 
     subsequently placed Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest;
       Whereas Aung San Suu Kyi has spent most of the past 18 
     years under house arrest or in jail, and is currently being 
     held in government custody, cut off from her followers and 
     the international community;
       Whereas 59 world leaders, including 3 former presidents of 
     the United States, have called on the State Peace and 
     Development Council to release Aung San Suu Kyi and all other 
     political prisoners;
       Whereas the State Peace and Development Council has 
     destroyed more than 3,000 villages, systematically and 
     violently repressed ethnic minorities, displaced 
     approximately 2,000,000 Burmese people, and arrested 
     approximately 1,300 individuals for expressing critical 
     opinions;
       Whereas the United States Department of State's 2006 
     Reports on Human Rights Practices found that Burma's junta 
     routinely restricts its citizens' freedoms of speech, press, 
     assembly, association, religion, movement, and traffics in 
     persons, discriminates against women and ethnic minorities, 
     forcibly recruits child soldiers and child labor, and commits 
     other serious violations of human rights, including 
     extrajudicial killings, custodial deaths, disappearances, 
     rape, torture, abuse of prisoners and detainees, and the 
     imprisonment of citizens arbitrarily for political motives;
       Whereas the Government of Burma relies heavily on the 
     unconditional military and economic assistance provided by 
     the People's Republic of China;
       Whereas on September 30, 2006, the United Nations Security 
     Council officially included Burma on its agenda for the first 
     time;
       Whereas on January 13, 2007, China and Russia vetoed a 
     United Nations Security Council Resolution calling on Burma 
     to release all political prisoners, allow a more inclusive 
     political process and unhindered humanitarian access, and end 
     human rights abuses, and on September 26, 2007, China blocked 
     a United Nations Security Council Statement from condemning 
     the State Peace and Development Council crackdown against the 
     peaceful demonstrators;
       Whereas the prevalence of tuberculosis in Burma, with 
     nearly 97,000 new cases detected annually, is among the 
     highest in the world, malaria is the leading cause of 
     mortality in Burma, with 70 percent of the population living 
     in areas at risk, at least 37,000 died of HIV/AIDS in Burma 
     in 2005, and over 600,000 are currently infected, and the 
     World Health Organization has ranked Burma's health sector as 
     190th out of 191 nations;
       Whereas the failure of the State Peace and Development 
     Council to respect the human rights and meet the most basic 
     humanitarian needs of the Burmese people has not only caused 
     enormous suffering inside Burma, but also driven hundreds of 
     thousands of Burmese citizens to seek refuge in neighboring 
     countries, creating a threat to regional peace and stability; 
     and
       Whereas the State Peace and Development Council continues 
     to restrict the access and freedom of movement of 
     international humanitarian organizations to deliver aid 
     throughout Burma: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate--
       (1) to strongly condemn the use of violence against 
     peaceful protestors in Burma, and to call on the Government 
     of Burma to refrain from further violence, release the 
     demonstrators it has arrested, immediately cease attacks 
     against ethnic minorities, release Aung Sang Suu Kyi and all 
     other political prisoners, and begin a meaningful tripartite 
     political dialogue with Suu Kyi, the National League for 
     Democracy, and the ethnic minorities;
       (2) to call on the People's Republic of China to remove 
     objections to efforts by the United Nations Security Council 
     to condemn the actions taken by the Government of Burma 
     against the peaceful demonstrators;
       (3) to call on the People's Republic of China and all other 
     nations that have provided military assistance to the 
     Government of Burma to suspend such assistance until civilian 
     democratic rule is restored to Burma;
       (4) that the Government of Burma should engage in a 
     peaceful dialogue with opposition leaders and ethnic 
     minorities to implement political, economic, and humanitarian 
     reforms that will improve the living conditions of the 
     Burmese people and lead to the restoration of civilian 
     democratic rule;
       (5) to recognize and welcome the many constructive 
     statements issued by various nations, and particularly the 
     statement issued by the Association of Southeast Asian 
     Nations on September 27, 2007, which demanded an immediate 
     end to violence in Burma, the release of all political 
     prisoners, and a political solution to the crisis;
       (6) that the United States and the United Nations should 
     strongly encourage China, India, and Russia to modify their 
     position on Burma and use their influence to convince the 
     Government of Burma to engage in dialogue with opposition 
     leaders and ethnic minorities towards national 
     reconciliation;
       (7) to support the United Nations mission to Burma led by 
     Ibrahim Gambari, and to call on the Government of Burma to 
     allow the mission freedom of movement and access to top 
     government leaders in order to prevent additional violence 
     and to further peaceful dialogue towards national 
     reconciliation; and
       (8) that the United States should work with the 
     international community to pressure the Government of Burma 
     to lift all restrictions on humanitarian aid delivery and 
     then allow international humanitarian aid organizations to 
     work to alleviate suffering and improve living conditions for 
     the most vulnerable populations.

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