[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 72 (Friday, May 18, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E867]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        BURMA SANCTIONS SHOULD NOT BE EASED, LIFTED, OR REMOVED

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                           HON. TRENT FRANKS

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 18, 2012

  Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, on March 30, 2012, the Associated 
Press had an article about the Obama Administration expanding sanctions 
against the Syrian regime. These new sanctions focused on military and 
security officials, particularly targeting the Minister of Defense. In 
a statement, Under Secretary of the Treasury David Cohen said, ``The 
U.S. and the international community will hold to account those who 
stand with the Assad regime as it trains the instruments of war against 
Syrian civilians . . . the time has long since passed for Syrian 
officials at all levels to turn their backs on this bloody regime.'' 
The article went on to state that over 9,000 people had been killed in 
the fighting in Syria.
  Jump ahead to today, and reports in the Washington Post that the U.S. 
is now ``coordinating'' ``more and better weapons'' for the Syrian 
opposition. Persian Gulf states are funding the weapons.
  Also today we hear deeply disturbing news that the Administration is 
``easing'' sanctions against the dictatorship in Burma. This has to 
raise the question of why Administration officials are actively 
working--in fact ``coordinating''--the delivery of ``significantly more 
and better weapons'' for the Syrian opposition, but is literally 
turning its back on and deliberately ignoring the extreme brutally 
being carried out on a daily basis by the Burmese dictatorship against 
the people of Burma, particularly the Kachin people.
  Why would the Administration lift sanctions against a brutal 
dictatorship that has years and years of documented, horrific human 
rights violations against the people of its nation, when in the Middle 
East, the Administration is supporting the opposition forces fighting 
against a different brutal dictatorship? Why is it that one brutal 
dictatorship has the ire and opposition of the U.S. Government, but 
another dictatorship, that has yet to prove it will uphold and 
implement its commitments, is being rewarded for continuing to attack, 
rape, and kill its people?
  What is going on that our nation, which says it stands for the 
protection of human rights and the upholding and protection of basic 
human freedoms, would decide to help one group fighting a brutal 
dictatorship while deliberately ignoring, and now, even supporting a 
terrible dictatorship on the other side of the world? The 
Administration needs to strongly reconsider its actions in Burma.
  This easing of sanctions against a brutal Burmese regime comes in the 
face of much opposition from the people of Burma, ethnic leaders, 
democracy activists, NGOs, ASEAN parliamentarians, and Nobel Peace 
Prize winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and is disturbing and puzzling to 
say the least.
  What does this Administration expect to gain for itself by easing 
sanctions against Burma? It certainly can't be anything that will help 
the people of Burma, since the ethnic leaders and the democracy groups 
have urged the U.S. not to lift, ease, or remove sanctions.
  United to End Genocide says, ``Economic investment is one of the 
driving forces behind the Burmese army's attacks against civilians in 
Kachin State. By expediting the rollback of sanctions, President Obama 
has told Burma's long suffering ethnic nationalities that they aren't 
part of the equation.''
  Democracy leader Aung Din with U.S. Campaign for Burma says, ``The 
United States will be responsible for generously rewarding the regime 
if the war in Kachin State and human rights abuses in ethnic areas do 
not end, hundreds of remaining political prisoners are not released, 
and political settlements between the regime and ethnic resistance 
groups are not realized.''
  The Vice President of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus 
(AIPMC), `` `urged the U.S. Government to maintain sanctions on 
business activities in Myanmar, warning that a gold rush in the 
Southeast Asian nation could fuel further human rights abuses, risk 
fragile ceasefires and arrest ongoing democratic reforms rather than 
bolster them.' As everyone with any knowledge on Myanmar will attest, 
the changes we have seen to date are far from irreversible. It is 
ludicrous to reward the current government's untested reforms by paving 
the way for a gold rush. Fighting in Myanmar's ethnic areas continues 
and many of the ethnic leaders are concerned that these reforms are 
just a ploy to pave the way for `development' projects on their 
lands.''
  The Central Executive Committee of the United Nationalities Federal 
Council, which consists of representatives of all the ethnic minority 
groups--all of whose people have endured horrific attacks at the hands 
of the Burmese regime--says, ``It is necessary for the international 
community to oppose and pressure Bamah [Burma] Tatmadaw for its wrong 
actions. Accordingly, we would like to request the international 
community not suspend or lift the remaining political, military, 
financial and economic sanctions.''
  And Nobel Peace Prize winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi urged great caution 
in lifting or easing sanctions urging that the American people be 
allowed to decide whether or not sanctions against Burma should change.
  Instead of listening to the people of Burma as well as those 
outsiders and foreigners working on behalf of the people of Burma, the 
U.S. Administration has ignored them all. Instead, it has gone the path 
of cozying up to dictators and believing their promises . . . an odd 
decision since the dictators have not tended to keep their word in the 
past. The pattern generally has been that as soon as the dictators have 
received what they wanted from the West or the international community, 
they have simply gone back to their old ways while the rest of the 
world stands by and wrings its hands in consternation. Nothing has been 
done to hold those dictators to account for their actions.
  Now, with the easing of sanctions, the U.S. has given the regime what 
it wants and has lost any leverage it might have. It is appalling that 
a country founded on freedom and democracy has taken steps to 
deliberately undermine democracy and freedom in Burma and instead has 
chosen to support a dictatorship bent on absolute control of its 
people.
  I wonder if this Administration has read the stacks and stacks of 
reports detailing the rape, death and destruction of the ethnic 
minorities and their villages. Has it read its own State Department's 
report on the dictators' policy of rape of ethnic women? Has it read 
its own Country Reports over the years that have documented the torture 
of political prisoners? Has this Administration read reports that have 
come out in the past month about the 70,000 displaced persons in Kachin 
State? The latest attacks have all taken place while the regime has 
allegedly been making ``progress'' towards democracy and openness.
  Would this Administration open up to the Assad regime and remove 
sanctions while its military was involved in deliberately killing the 
Syrian people? Clearly not.
  The Administration has even sent U.S. military advisors and experts 
to help the Ugandan Government track and capture the brutal warlord 
Joseph Kony and his cronies. Yet, despite well known and thoroughly 
documented violence, brutality, and destruction under the orders of the 
regime in Burma, the U.S. Government has now decided that the people of 
Burma no longer matter.
  I am ashamed of these actions by the U.S. Government. The sanctions 
should not be eased, and the Administration must re-impose these 
sanctions and listen to the people of Burma instead of the siren call 
of the dictators' money, brutal power, and false promises.
  To the people of Burma, I say, please know that you are not forgotten 
and there are many in the West who stand with you and will work to 
ensure that your freedoms and rights are upheld and protected. Your 
voice should not be ignored and you should be able to live in peace in 
your own country. Shame on those, particularly Western officials, who 
would tell you by their actions that you have no rights and your life 
is worthless.

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