[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 68 (Wednesday, May 7, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H3929-H3932]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           URGING BURMA TO END PERSECUTION OF ROHINGYA PEOPLE

  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the 
resolution (H. Res. 418) urging the Government of Burma to end the 
persecution of the Rohingya people and respect internationally 
recognized human rights for all ethnic and religious minority groups 
within Burma, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 418

       Whereas over 800,000 Rohingya ethnic minority live in 
     Burma, mostly in the western Rakhine state;
       Whereas currently, approximately 140,000 Rohingya are 
     internally displaced in central Rakhine state and hundreds of 
     thousands have fled to neighboring countries, including at 
     least 231,000 in Bangladesh, at least 15,000 in Malaysia, and 
     many more in Thailand and Indonesia;
       Whereas the current Government of Burma, like its 
     predecessors, continues to use the Burma Citizenship Law of 
     1982 to exclude from approved ethnic groups the Rohingya 
     people, despite many having lived in northern Rakhine state 
     for generations, and has thereby rendered Rohingyas stateless 
     and vulnerable to exploitation and abuse;
       Whereas the Rohingya have historically experienced other 
     particularized and severe legal, economic, and social 
     discrimination, including restrictions on travel outside 
     their village of residence, limitations on their access to 
     higher education, and a prohibition from working as civil 
     servants, including as doctors, nurses, or teachers;
       Whereas authorities have also required Rohingya to obtain 
     official permission for marriages and have singled out 
     Rohingya in northern Rakhine state for forced labor and 
     arbitrary arrests;
       Whereas the Government of Burma has forcefully relocated 
     Rohingya into relief camps, where they lack decent shelter, 
     access to clean water, food, sanitation, health care, the 
     ability to support themselves, or basic education for their 
     children;
       Whereas a two-child policy sanctioned solely upon the 
     Rohingya population in the districts of Maungdaw and 
     Buthidaung in northern Rakhine state restricts the rights of 
     women and children, prevents children from obtaining Burmese 
     citizenship, denies Rohingyas access to basic government 
     services, and fosters discrimination against Muslim women by 
     Buddhist nurses and midwives;
       Whereas the United States Department of State has regularly 
     expressed since 1999 its particular concern for severe legal, 
     economic, and social discrimination against Burma's Rohingya 
     population in its Country Report for Human Rights Practices;
       Whereas the level of persecution, including widespread 
     arbitrary arrest, detention, and extortion of Rohingya and 
     other Muslim communities, has dramatically increased over the 
     past year and a half;
       Whereas communal violence has affected both Muslims and 
     Burma's majority Buddhist population, but has overwhelmingly 
     targeted Burma's ethnic Muslim minorities, which altogether 
     comprise less than 5 percent of Burma's population;
       Whereas violence targeting Rohingyas in Maungdaw and Sittwe 
     in June and July of 2012 resulted in the deaths of at least 
     57 Muslims and the destruction of 1,336 Rohingyas homes;
       Whereas on October 23, 2012, at least 70 Rohingyas were 
     killed, and the Yan Thei village of the Mrauk-U Township was 
     destroyed;
       Whereas the United Nations High Commissioner for Human 
     Rights reported possessing credible evidence of the deaths of 
     at least 48 Rohingyas in Du Chee Yar Tan village in Maungdaw 
     Township, Rakhine state in January 2014, and human rights 
     groups reported mass arrests and arbitrary detention of 
     Rohingya in the aftermath of this violence;
       Whereas Burmese officials have denied the killings of 
     Rohingyas in Du Chee Yar Tan village in January 2014 and 
     responded to international media coverage of the violence 
     with threats against media outlets, including the Associated 
     Press;
       Whereas violence has also targeted Muslims not of Rohingya 
     ethnicity, including riots in March 2013 in the town of 
     Meiktila that resulted in the death of at least 43 Burmese 
     Muslims, including 20 students and several teachers massacred 
     at an Islamic school, the burning of at least 800 homes and 5 
     mosques, and the displacement of 12,000 people;
       Whereas on October 1, 2013, riots involving more than 700 
     Buddhists in Thandwe township resulted in the death of 4 
     Kaman Muslim men and the stabbing death of a 94-year-old 
     Muslim woman;
       Whereas over 4,000 religious, public, and private Rohingya 
     structures have been destroyed;
       Whereas Rohingyas have experienced and continue to 
     experience further restrictions on their practice of Islam, 
     culture, and language;
       Whereas the violence against ethnic Muslim populations, 
     including the Rohingya and other Muslim groups, is part of a 
     larger troubling pattern of violence against other ethnic and 
     religious minorities in Burma;
       Whereas the Government of Burma expelled Medecins Sans 
     Frontieres from Rakhine state, leaving Rohingya communities 
     and others without access to health care and life-saving 
     treatment for malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV; and
       Whereas the Rakhine state threatens to ban all unregistered 
     nongovernmental organizations from operating in Rakhine 
     state, severely limiting the provision of necessary services 
     to Rohingyas and others in need: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) recognizes the initial steps Burma has taken in 
     transitioning from a military dictatorship to a quasi-
     civilian government, including the conditional release of 
     some political prisoners, and calls for more progress to be 
     made in critical areas of democracy, constitutional reform, 
     and national reconciliation in order for Burma to achieve its 
     own goal of political liberalization;
       (2) calls on the Government of Burma to end all forms of 
     persecution and discrimination of the Rohingya people and 
     ensure respect for internationally recognized human rights 
     for all ethnic and religious minority groups within Burma;
       (3) calls on the Government of Burma to recognize the 
     Rohingya as an ethnic group indigenous to Burma, and to work 
     with the Rohingya to resolve their citizenship status;
       (4) calls on the United States Government and the 
     international community to put consistent pressure on the 
     Government of Burma to take all necessary measures to end the 
     persecution and discrimination of the Rohingya population and 
     to protect the fundamental rights of all ethnic and religious 
     minority groups in Burma; and
       (5) calls on the United States Government to prioritize the 
     removal of state-sanctioned discriminatory policies in its 
     engagement with the Government of Burma.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Royce) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to 
include any extraneous materials in the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 418. This is a 
bipartisan resolution offered by the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
McGovern) calling on the government of Burma to end its persecution of 
the Rohingya Muslims and respect the human rights of all ethnic and 
religious minority groups within Burma.

[[Page H3930]]

  The Rohingya Muslims are one of the most persecuted minority groups 
in the world. According to Burma's 1982 citizenship law, the Rohingya 
are prohibited from holding Burmese citizenship, even though they have 
lived in Burma for generations after generations. For over three 
decades, the government of Burma has systematically denied the Rohingya 
even the most basic of human rights, while subjecting them to 
unspeakable abuses.
  Since 2012, 140,000 Rohingya and other Muslims in Burma have been 
displaced by violence, with hundreds killed. On January 13, unknown 
assailants entered a village in Rakhine State and killed 48 people 
while they slept.

                              {time}  1945

  This is what happens when a government refuses to recognize its own 
people.
  In fact, a nongovernmental organization based in Southeast Asia 
recently disclosed credible documents detailing the full extent of 
state involvement in persecuting Rohingyas.
  Not long ago, the Government of Burma expelled Doctors Without 
Borders from the country, denying, once again, the most basic of human 
rights. The Government of Burma cannot claim progress toward meeting 
its goals for reform if it does not improve the treatment of Rohingya 
Muslims and other minority groups.
  The United States must prioritize the protection of human rights in 
its engagement with Burma. I urge the State Department to take off its 
rose-colored glasses and recognize that progress on human rights in 
Burma is, indeed, limited. Now is the time for the State Department to 
bring additional leverage to bear, and this resolution will help us do 
that.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I rise in strong support of H. Res. 418, a resolution urging the 
Government of Burma to end its persecution of the Rohingya people.
  I would like to thank my good friend and cochairman of the Tom Lantos 
Human Rights Commission, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
McGovern), for authoring this important resolution.
  H. Res. 418 calls on the Government of Burma to end its persecution 
of the Rohingya people and to respect the human rights of all ethnic 
and religious minority groups. The plight of the Rohingya gets very 
little public attention, and I am pleased that this House is addressing 
the abuses they and other minorities have suffered.
  The State Department's 2013 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 
acknowledges ``credible reports of extrajudicial killings, rape and 
sexual violence, arbitrary detentions and torture and mistreatment in 
detention, deaths in custody, and systematic denial of due process and 
fair trial rights overwhelmingly perpetrated against the Rohingya.''
  Last month, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma 
stated that the recent developments in Burma reflect a ``long history 
of discrimination and persecution against the Rohingya Muslim 
community, which could amount to crimes against humanity.''
  The U.N. has also described the Rohingya community as virtually 
friendless because they are denied citizenship and face severe 
restrictions on marriage, employment, health care, education, and daily 
movement.
  In February, the Burmese Government expelled Doctors Without Borders; 
and since then, deaths due to preventable complications during 
pregnancy have occurred on an almost daily basis in Rohingya camps, 
where pregnant women make up a quarter of the group's emergency 
referrals.
  Mr. Speaker, as the Government of Burma transitions from decades-long 
military rule to a civilian government, it is important to hold it 
accountable for persistent human rights abuses.
  The killings, arbitrary detentions, and the destruction of homes have 
caused 140,000 people to be internally displaced; and hundreds of 
thousands have been forced to flee to neighboring countries, including 
to Thailand, Bangladesh, and Malaysia.
  If Burma truly seeks to rejoin the international community, the 
manner in which it treats its own people will be a key marker of the 
government's sincerity. Burma must abide by human rights principles of 
equality and human dignity, and this resolution calls upon the Burmese 
Government to do just that.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H. Res. 418, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio 
(Mr. Chabot). He is the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on 
Asia and the Pacific.
  Mr. CHABOT. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a strong supporter and cosponsor of H. 
Res. 418, urging the Government of Burma to end the persecution of the 
Rohingya people and to respect internationally recognized human rights 
for all ethnic and religious minority groups within Burma.
  I want to commend the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), my 
friend and colleague, for offering this legislation, which is certainly 
timely, and we appreciate his leadership on this.
  As chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, I believe it 
is imperative that the U.S. and the international community raise 
awareness of this ongoing crisis in Burma and of the need for its 
government to respect the human rights of all of its ethnic and 
religious minority groups, which it is clearly not doing at this time.
  Last year, we held two hearings in my subcommittee to examine the 
deteriorating human rights situation and ethnic unrest in Burma. It has 
become abundantly clear that the political and social situation there 
is extremely fragile and that the continuing persecution of the 
minority Rohingya population is just, as was said, a profound crisis.
  Some 140,000 displaced Rohingya have been forced to live in camps 
described as open-air prisons. Doctors Without Borders was forced out 
by the Burmese Government, and since then, nearly 150 Rohingya have 
died of medically-related causes.
  This particular photo illustrates that the Doctors Without Borders' 
clinic is shuttered. They are gone. The people are not getting the 
medical care that they are entitled to, and people are literally dying 
as a result of this.
  Further, mob violence has made a number of other international NGOs 
evacuate Burma for fear and for being, essentially, excluded by the 
government. They were doing good work for people who really needed it, 
who were in dire straits.
  The Burmese Government has taken few, if any, steps to forge a 
peaceful, harmonious, and prosperous future for the Rakhine State. It 
is complicit in extrajudicial killings, rape, arbitrary detention, 
torture, deaths in detention, and for the denial of due process and 
fair trial rights for the Rohingya.

  As these horribly repressed people who are afforded no identity by 
the Burmese Government have been forced into camps, the Burmese 
Government has confiscated their land, their homes, and property for 
redistribution to the Buddhist Rakhine majority.
  A recent report by the group United to End Genocide found that 
nowhere else in the world are there more precursors to genocide--signs 
that genocide may well happen--than in Burma right now.
  This is why I recently introduced H.R. 4377, the Burma Human Rights 
and Democracy Act of 2014, with my colleague from New York (Mr. 
Crowley), a Democrat. This legislation would place conditions on 
providing International Military and Educational Training or for 
Foreign Military Financing assistance to the Burmese Government.
  In light of the Burmese Government's and military's complicity in 
these ongoing human rights abuses against the Rohingya and other ethnic 
groups, it is much too soon for us to be engaging at a level that 
provides U.S. foreign assistance to Burma's corrupt and abusive 
military.
  It concerns me that the administration still refuses to cooperate or 
to detail what its strategy really is for the future of military 
engagement with Burma.
  Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 418 highlights its need for the U.S. and 
international community to continue pressuring Burma to end its blatant 
persecution and discrimination of the Rohingya population.

[[Page H3931]]

  I want to, again, thank Mr. McGovern, Mr. Franks, Mr. Pitts, and Mr. 
Smith for cosponsoring this resolution. I believe the passage of the 
resolution will send a strong message to the Burmese Government, and I 
would urge my colleagues to support this measure.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I now yield such time as he may consume to 
the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), the author of the 
resolution.
  Mr. McGOVERN. I want to thank my colleague, Mr. Engel, for yielding 
me the time and for his leadership on this and on so many other issues 
of human rights. I also want to thank Chairman Royce for his support 
and Chairman Chabot. I appreciate all that you do for human rights.
  I admire all of these gentlemen who are here on the floor. They have 
been outspoken for human rights, not only in Burma, but all around the 
world.
  Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to rise in support of this resolution 
urging the Government of Burma to end the persecution of the Rohingya 
people and to respect internationally recognized human rights for all 
ethnic and religious minority groups within Burma.
  I especially want to thank my good friend and colleague, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania, Congressman Joe Pitts, for his leadership 
on this issue and for joining me in introducing this bipartisan 
resolution.
  Over 800,000 people of the Rohingya ethnicity live in Burma, mostly 
in the Rakhine State. Even though many Rohingyas have lived in the 
Rakhine for generations, the Burma citizenship law of 1982 has excluded 
them from approved ethnic groups, thereby rendering them stateless and 
vulnerable to exploitation, violence, and abuse.
  While the Rohingya and other minorities in Burma have historically 
experienced severe discrimination, there has been a dramatic increase 
in discrimination and violence against them in the past 2 years.
  Attacks in June and July of 2012 resulted in the deaths of at least 
57 Muslims and in the destruction of 1,336 Rohingya homes. On October 
23, 2012, at least 70 Rohingyas were killed, and their township was 
destroyed.
  Further, the United Nations' High Commissioner for Human Rights 
reported possessing credible evidence of the deaths of at least 48 
Rohingyas in January of this year, and human rights groups reported 
mass arrests and arbitrary detentions of Rohingya in the aftermath of 
this violence.
  In addition, other Muslim minorities have also suffered from violent 
attacks, and many have lost their lives and property in the last year 
and a half. Such violence against ethnic Muslim populations, including 
the Rohingya, is part of a larger, troubling pattern of violence 
against ethnic and religious minorities in Burma.
  The Government of Burma remains apathetic to the plight of the 
Rohingya population, and it has failed to properly investigate the 
major events of anti-Rohingya violence. Instead, both the Rakhine State 
and central government continue to impose explicitly racist policies 
that seek to control the everyday lives of the Rohingya.
  Authorities require Rohingya to obtain official permission for 
marriages and have often singled out Rohingya for forced labor and 
arbitrary arrests. The Government of Burma has forcefully relocated 
Rohingya into relief camps, where they lack decent shelter, access to 
clean water, food, sanitation, health care, and the ability to support 
themselves, or basic education for their children.
  The Rohingya are the sole targets of the two-child policy and are the 
subjects to severe restrictions of movement. Further, as evidenced by 
the latest census in Burma, the Burmese Government continues to deny 
the Rohingyas their right for self-identification, sending a clear 
message that the Rohingya are outsiders who have no place in Burma.
  Today, approximately 140,000 Rohingya are internally displaced, and 
hundreds of thousands have fled to neighboring countries by boats; many 
have died at sea. Those who remain in the country live in dire poverty 
and deprivation.
  Some relief used to come from humanitarian organizations like Doctors 
Without Borders, but even that aid is no longer available. The 
Government of Burma expelled Doctors Without Borders in March, 
allegedly after the group cared for the victims of a violent assault on 
a Rohingya village, an assault which the government denies ever 
happened.
  Increasingly, severe restrictions and violent attacks on other 
humanitarian aid groups have forced the majority of them to flee the 
Rakhine State, and the Rohingya now remain with no one and with nowhere 
to turn for help and health care. Every day, more and more people die 
of causes that could be preventable or treatable if humanitarian groups 
had the chance to help.
  According to a March 14 article in The New York Times, which I will 
submit for the Record, nearly 750,000 people, the majority of them 
Rohingya, have been deprived of medical services since the Burmese 
Government banned the operations of Doctors Without Borders.
  According to the article, during the first 2 weeks of March alone, 
about 150 of those most vulnerable and in need of care died, including 
20 pregnant women who were facing life-threatening deliveries.

                [From the New York Times, Mar. 14, 2014]

       Ban on Doctors' Group Imperils Muslim Minority in Myanmar

                            (By Jane Perlez)

       Bangkok.--Nearly 750,000 people, most of them members of a 
     Muslim minority in one of the poorest parts of Myanmar, have 
     been deprived of most medical services since the government 
     banned the operations of Doctors Without Borders, the 
     international health care organization and the main provider 
     of medical care in the region.
       The government ordered a halt to the work of Doctors 
     Without Borders two weeks ago after some officials accused 
     the group of favoring the Muslims, members of the Rohingya 
     ethnic group, over a rival group, Rakhine Buddhists.
       Already, anecdotal evidence and medical estimates show that 
     about 150 of the most vulnerable have died since Feb. 28, 
     more than 20 of them pregnant women facing life-threatening 
     deliveries, medical professionals said. Doctors Without 
     Borders had been the only way for pregnant women facing 
     difficult deliveries to get a referral to a government 
     hospital, they said.
       At the time of the order, the government said it was 
     suspending the group's operations in Rakhine State in the far 
     north, but it has offered no time frame for when services 
     might be resumed. The deputy director general of the Ministry 
     of Health, Dr. Soe Lwin Nyein, said in a statement that his 
     department would manage the health needs of the ``whole 
     community.'' A spokesman for President Thein Sein, Ye Htut, 
     said the government dispatched an emergency response team 
     with eight ambulances after the Doctors Without Borders 
     clinics were closed.
       Myanmar's health services are among the most rudimentary in 
     Asia, and with severe government restrictions on movement 
     that prevent Muslims from seeking medical help outside their 
     villages in Rakhine State, the impact of the shutdown will be 
     severe, medical professionals said.
       Doctors Without Borders was by far the biggest health 
     provider in the northern part of Rakhine around the townships 
     of Maungdaw and Buthidaung, serving about 500,000 people, 
     most of them Rohingya, they said. An additional 200,000 
     people, many of them Rohingya in displaced camps around the 
     state capital, Sittwe, had access to the group's services.
       In Aung Mingla, a Muslim neighborhood in Sittwe, patients 
     with tuberculosis, a common disease in the area, said they 
     were down to their last supplies of medicine. The Rohingya 
     who live in Aung Mingla are prevented from leaving the 
     district by barbed-wire security posts and police officers.
       ``Since Doctors Without Borders is not in Rakhine, I don't 
     know who will provide medicine when my supply runs out in 
     three months,'' said one patient, Muklan, 30, who like many 
     people in Myanmar goes by a single name. ``I hope Doctors can 
     come back as soon as possible.''
       Another Rohingya man, Shafiul, who worked for Doctors 
     Without Borders in Aung Mingla, said he was concerned for his 
     patients with tuberculosis, malaria and H.I.V. ``These 
     patients have been getting help from Doctors Without Borders 
     for years,'' he said.
       In northern Rakhine State, where Doctors Without Borders 
     had run five permanent clinics and 30 mobile ones, about 20 
     percent of children are acutely malnourished, medical 
     professionals said. An intensive feeding center for those 
     patients was shuttered as part of the government's directive.
       For the most part, Western donors and the United Nations 
     say they are reluctant to antagonize the government of 
     Myanmar, which has started along the path of economic and 
     political reform. The donors have chosen quiet diplomacy over 
     outspoken criticism of the government's policies toward the 
     Rohingya.
       But the action against Doctors Without Borders raised some 
     public alarm.
       ``We are extremely concerned about the situation,'' said 
     Mark Cutts, the head of the United Nations Office for the 
     Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Myanmar. ``We are in 
     intense discussion with the government in

[[Page H3932]]

     a way that will allow operations to resume as soon as 
     possible.''
       The deputy health director, Dr. Soe Lwin Nyein, said the 
     government would accept supplies of medicine for tuberculosis 
     and H.I.V. from Doctors Without Borders. But how these 
     supplies will be distributed remains unclear. Negotiations 
     are underway with the government over the distribution, 
     Western officials said.
       Other international organizations, including the 
     International Committee of the Red Cross, which supports 
     government health centers around the towns of Sittwe and 
     Mrauk U, have been allowed to continue operations in Rakhine. 
     But Doctors Without Borders was by far the largest health 
     provider.
       The government targeted the group after its rural clinics 
     provided treatment to 22 Muslims in the aftermath of a 
     rampage by Rakhine security officers and civilians in the 
     village of Du Chee Yar Tan in January. The United Nations 
     says 40 people were killed in the violence that night.
       The government has denied that the deaths occurred, and on 
     Tuesday, a presidential commission sent to the village to 
     conduct an inquiry reported that it could find no evidence of 
     the killings. The commission was the third investigative 
     group sent by the government, and its findings matched those 
     of the previous inquiries.
       After the killings in January, the government criticized 
     Doctors Without Borders for hiring Rohingya and said the 
     group was giving disproportionate attention to Rohingya 
     patients. Under state regulations in Rakhine, Rohingya are 
     prevented from visiting many of the state-run clinics.
       Doctors Without Borders says it has treated patients in 
     Rakhine since 1994 regardless of ethnicity, and foreign aid 
     workers point out that the Rakhine Buddhist ethnic group has 
     access to government health facilities that are generally 
     denied to the Rohingya.
       A radical Buddhist leader in Myanmar, Ashin Wirathu, who 
     has compared Muslims to dogs, arrived in Sittwe on Wednesday 
     for a five-day visit that was likely to stir anti-Muslim 
     sentiments further. In a sermon at the main Buddhist temple 
     Wednesday night, he said that if Western democracies were 
     allowed to have influence in Myanmar, the Rakhine people 
     would be overwhelmed by increasing numbers of Muslims, and 
     would eventually disappear.
       The monk's visit appeared to be timed ahead of a national 
     census--the first in Myanmar in more than 30 years--that is 
     due to take place March 30 to April 10 across Myanmar. 
     Tensions during the census, funded in part by the United 
     Nations and the British government, are expected to be high 
     in Rakhine.
       Rakhine politicians have said they oppose allowing the 
     Rohingya to identify themselves as Rohingya when they fill 
     out the census forms. If they did, the census would probably 
     show that their numbers are greater than the current estimate 
     of 1.3 million. The overall population is estimated at 60 
     million.
       By shutting down Doctors Without Borders, the government is 
     ensuring that there will be fewer foreigners to witness any 
     outbreaks of violence during the census process, aid workers 
     said.

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, when Doctors Without Borders was able to 
work in Rakhine, they sent approximately 400 emergency cases every 
month to local hospitals, but according to the World Health 
Organization, fewer than 20 people received referrals by the government 
for emergency care in March. Such a difference suggests that the 
Rohingya who are in desperate need of emergency care are left to suffer 
or to die.
  In light of these disturbing events, it is important that the House 
speaks with one voice today and calls on the Government of Burma to end 
all forms of persecution and discrimination of the Rohingya people and 
to ensure respect for internationally recognized human rights for all 
ethnic and religious minority groups within Burma.
  The Burmese Government needs to recognize the Rohingya as an ethnic 
group indigenous to Burma and work with the Rohingya to resolve their 
citizenship status.
  Finally, the U.S. Government needs to make the removal of state-
sanctioned discriminatory policies a priority in their engagement with 
the Government of Burma.

                              {time}  2000

  Let me be clear: the situation is dire and rapidly deteriorating. 
Multiple recognized independent human rights NGOs, as well as the U.N. 
Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma, have stated that the 
series of actions directed at the Rohingyas in Burma could amount to 
crimes against humanity.
  Further, a recent report by the U.S. NGO, United to End Genocide, 
states that nowhere in the world are there more precursors to genocide 
than in Burma right now.
  In the past few weeks, we have all taken time to remember and 
commemorate the victims of the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, and 
the genocide in Rwanda. We saw the same disturbing signs in other 
moments of history, and we know what the consequences are of not paying 
attention. Showing support for this bill is one step that we can take 
today to fulfilling the solemn pledge of ``never again.''
  I urge my colleagues to vote in support of this bill.
  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  In closing, I would like to thank Congressman McGovern, the gentleman 
from Massachusetts, for drafting this important legislation. Once 
again, I thank Chairman Royce for his continued bipartisan leadership.
  As has been said, this resolution calls upon the Burmese government 
to end the persecution of the Rohingya people and to respect the human 
rights of all ethnic and religious minority groups.
  Until now, the treatment of the Rohingya has been largely ignored by 
the international community. That is the purpose of this resolution--so 
they cannot be ignored any longer.
  It is time for the United States to send a clear and strong message 
to the government of Burma that we will not tolerate the persecution of 
religious and ethnic minorities, and that it must abide by human rights 
principles of equality and dignity if it is to rejoin the international 
community.
  So I urge my colleagues to support this resolution, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Again, I want to thank the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
McGovern), for his support of the Rohingya people, but also for his 
dedication to human rights. I have had an opportunity to work with Mr. 
McGovern on a number of different human rights bills. I think he 
eloquently explained tonight the challenge that we face here. I was 
proud to join him as a cosponsor of this measure and work with him.
  I also, of course, want to thank the gentleman from New York, Eliot 
Engel, for his continued focus on human rights around the world.
  On this issue, it is true that the Burmese government has recently 
taken steps to open its closed society, but the reality is that the 
recent events here are deeply, deeply troubling to anyone who is 
watching. As I indicated, 48 Rohingya were murdered, aid workers trying 
to care for thousands of displaced have been attacked in the country, 
and Doctors Without Borders was kicked out of Burma.
  This resolution calls on the government of Burma to immediately 
recognize the Rohingya as an ethnic minority and to grant them 
citizenship, a step that is long overdue, as Mr. McGovern pointed out.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan resolution. Let's all 
send a message that the current state of human rights in Burma is 
unacceptable.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Royce) that the House suspend the rules 
and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 418, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the resolution, as amended, was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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