[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 93 (Wednesday, June 6, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3250-S3251]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 2341. Mr. MERKLEY (for himself and Mr. Young) submitted an 
amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 2282 submitted by Mr. 
Inhofe (for himself and Mr. McCain) and intended to be proposed to the 
bill H.R. 5515, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2019 for 
military activities of the Department of Defense, for military 
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, 
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end of subtitle E of title XII, add the following:

     SEC. 12__. SENSE OF SENATE ON RETURN OF ROHINGYA REFUGEES TO 
                   BURMA.

       It is the sense of the Senate that the Senate--
       (1) condemns the violence and displacement inflicted on 
     Burma's Rohingya and other ethnic minorities;
       (2) calls for an immediate halt to all hostilities by 
     Burmese authorities;
       (3) condemns the attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation 
     Army militant group;
       (4) calls on the Government of Burma to allow full access 
     to Rakhine State and ensure the full participation of the 
     United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the 
     internationally endorsed organization tasked with ensuring 
     that refugee returns are voluntary, safe, dignified, and 
     respect fundamental human rights, and that the voices of 
     refugees are represented to ensure the sustainability of such 
     returns and to prevent further waves of displacement;
       (5) calls on the Government of Burma to allow the United 
     Nations-backed Independent International Fact-Finding Mission 
     on Myanmar immediate and unfettered access to Burma, 
     including northern Rahkine

[[Page S3251]]

     State, to establish the facts and circumstances of the 
     alleged recent human rights violations by Burmese military 
     and security forces against the Rohingya and other ethnic 
     minorities;
       (6) commends the positive role of the Government of 
     Bangladesh in receiving Rohingya refugees to date and urges 
     the Government of Bangladesh to continue allowing the full 
     participation of the United Nations High Commissioner for 
     Refugees and human rights organizations in accessing refugee 
     camps;
       (7) calls on the United Nations High Commissioner for 
     Refugees and international nongovernmental organizations to 
     play a role in monitoring repatriation efforts by the 
     Governments of Bangladesh and Burma to ensure a process that 
     meets international norms for voluntary, safe, and dignified 
     repatriation;
       (8) agrees that any return of Rohingya should include 
     guarantees that any returns of refugees will be voluntary and 
     dignified, that there will be no threats to protection or 
     security upon return, that refugees will be able to return to 
     their places of origin or other locations as desired, and be 
     able to enjoy equal rights with others in Burma, including 
     the restoration or granting of full citizenship, freedom of 
     movement, and access to basic services;
       (9) recognizes that any forced relocation of Rohingya 
     refugees into temporary settlements, internally displaced 
     persons (IDP) camps, ``model villages,'' or other areas not 
     of refugees' choosing is unacceptable;
       (10) calls on the Government of Burma to allow for a 
     flexible and practical approach to dealing with evidence of 
     Rohingya residence in Burma, recognizing that the Rohingya 
     refugees in Bangladesh possess a wide range of documents and 
     that some refugees have no documents and will need to 
     establish their residence by other means;
       (11) calls on the Government of Burma to address root 
     causes consistent with the Rakhine Advisory Commission 
     recommendations and fully implement all of the 
     recommendations of the Commission, including providing equal 
     access to full restoration or granting of full citizenship 
     for the Rohingya population;
       (12) calls on the Government of Burma to acknowledge and 
     address the issue of statelessness for the Rohingya, the 
     deprivation of rights, and institutionalized and pervasive 
     discrimination of the Rohingya population in order to bring 
     about any sustainable solutions;
       (13) commends the Government and the people of Bangladesh 
     for their extraordinary generosity and efforts to provide 
     shelter and relief for nearly 1,000,000 Rohingya refugees 
     forced to flee their homes in Burma;
       (14) calls on the Government of Bangladesh to ensure all 
     refugees have freedom of movement and under no circumstances 
     are subject to unsafe, involuntary, precipitous, or 
     uninformed returns to Burma; and
       (15) calls on the Government of Burma to immediately 
     release journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo.
                                 ______