[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 195 (Tuesday, December 11, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H10061-H10065]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 CALLING ON THE GOVERNMENT OF BURMA TO RELEASE BURMESE JOURNALISTS WA 
                          LONE AND KYAW SOE OO

  Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1091) calling on the Government of 
Burma to release Burmese journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo sentenced 
to seven years imprisonment after investigating attacks against 
civilians by Burma's military and security forces, and for other 
purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 1091

       Whereas in recent decades the Rohingya people have lost, 
     through systematic discrimination by Burmese national, state, 
     and local authorities, a range of civil and political rights, 
     including citizenship, and face barriers today such that they 
     have been rendered stateless;
       Whereas the Burmese military and security forces have 
     committed numerous crimes against civilians over many years 
     in Burma's Rakhine, Shan, Kachin, and Karen States;
       Whereas beginning August 25, 2017, the Burmese military and 
     security forces, as well as civilian mobs, carried out 
     widespread attacks, rapes, killings, and the burning of 
     villages throughout Rakhine State resulting in approximately 
     730,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh and bringing the total 
     Rohingya refugee population in Cox's Bazar to over 900,000;
       Whereas on November 14, 2018, Vice President Mike Pence 
     said, ``This is a tragedy that has touched the hearts of 
     millions of Americans. The violence and persecution by 
     military and vigilantes that resulted in driving 700,000 
     Rohingya to Bangladesh is without excuse.'';
       Whereas to date, though the refugee crisis is not of their 
     making, the Government of Bangladesh has generously 
     accommodated the rapid and massive influx of Rohingya 
     refugees into Cox's Bazar;

[[Page H10062]]

       Whereas the Government of Bangladesh continues to express 
     concern about the lack of accountability for the perpetrators 
     of these crimes and the need to find durable solutions;
       Whereas in June 2018, it was announced that the United 
     Nations and the Government of Burma had reached an agreement 
     for the ``voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable'' return 
     of Rohinyga to Burma;
       Whereas that agreement was contingent upon the provision of 
     unimpeded access to northern Rakhine by United Nations High 
     Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) and United Nations Development 
     Program (UNDP) in order to verify the necessary conditions on 
     the ground for such voluntary, safe, dignified, and 
     sustainable returns;
       Whereas Burma's civilian government, led by State 
     Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, has not 
     yet taken the necessary steps to address the violence 
     directed against the Rohingya and has failed to create the 
     necessary conditions for returns, including by actively 
     impeding access to northern Rakhine by UNHCR, UNDP, 
     humanitarian organizations, and journalists;
       Whereas on August 24, 2018, the United Nations 
     International Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar released a 
     preliminary report stating that, ``The Mission concluded . . 
     . that there is sufficient information to warrant the 
     investigation and prosecution of senior officials in the 
     Tatmadaw chain of command, so that a competent court can 
     determine their liability for genocide in relation to the 
     situation in Rakhine State.'';
       Whereas on August 25, 2018, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo 
     said ``A year ago, following deadly militant attacks, 
     security forces responded by launching abhorrent ethnic 
     cleansing of ethnic Rohingya in Burma'', and continued ``The 
     U.S. will continue to hold those responsible accountable. The 
     military must respect human rights for Burma's democracy to 
     succeed.'';
       Whereas the Department of the Treasury announced sanctions 
     on five Tatmadaw officers and two Tatmadaw units for human 
     rights abuses in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States;
       Whereas on September 24, 2018, the Department of State 
     released a report entitled ``Documentation of Atrocities in 
     Northern Rakhine State'' that stated the military ``targeted 
     civilians indiscriminately and often with extreme brutality'' 
     and that the violence in northern Rakhine State was 
     ``extreme, large-scale, widespread and seemingly geared 
     toward both terrorizing the population and driving gout the 
     Rohingya residents'' and that the ``scope and scale of the 
     military's operations indicate that they were well-planned 
     and coordinated'':
       Whereas Reuters, a highly respected worldwide news 
     organization, discovered evidence of mass murder in the 
     village of Inn Din as part of its ongoing reporting on the 
     Burmese military's campaign against the Rohingya, and 
     deployed journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo to fact-check 
     and interview eyewitnesses to these and other events;
       Whereas on December 12, 2017, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were 
     arrested by Burmese security forces in a suburb of Yangon and 
     remain in custody to date;
       Whereas on April 20, 2018, a key witness for the 
     prosecution, Police Captain Moe Yan Naing, testified that he 
     was ordered by his superiors to ``trap'' Wa Lone;
       Whereas on September 3, 2018, Yangon Northern District 
     Judge Ye Lwin ruled that Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo breached the 
     colonial-era Official Secrets Act during their investigation 
     into the massacre in Inn Din and subsequently sentenced them 
     each to 7 years in prison with hard labor, despite admissions 
     by the police under oath in court that the documents in 
     question were planted with the journalists as a front for 
     their arrest;
       Whereas United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met 
     with Burma's Foreign Minister, Kyaw Tin, at the ASEAN Foreign 
     Ministers' Meeting in August 2018 and called for the 
     immediate release of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo;
       Whereas on September 4, 2018, Vice President Mike Pence 
     stated, ``Wa Lone & Kyaw Soe Oo should be commended--not 
     imprisoned--for their work exposing human rights violations 
     [and] mass killings. Freedom of religion [and] freedom of the 
     press are essential to a strong democracy.'';
       Whereas Members of Congress, professional journalist 
     organizations, human rights groups, and other distinguished 
     leaders from around the world have called on the Burmese 
     authorities to release Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo from their 
     unjust imprisonment; and
       Whereas the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and 
     Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, signed at Paris December 
     9, 1948 declares that ``means any of the following acts 
     committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a 
     national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) 
     Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or 
     mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately 
     inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to 
     bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) 
     Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the 
     group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to 
     another group'' and ``The following acts shall be punishable: 
     (a) Genocide; (b) Conspiracy to commit genocide; (c) Direct 
     and public incitement to commit genocide; (d) Attempt to 
     commit genocide; (e) Complicity in genocide.'': Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of 
     Representatives that--
       (1) the atrocities committed against the Rohingya by the 
     Burmese military and security forces since August 2017 
     constitute crimes against humanity and genocide;
       (2) the Secretary of State should--
       (A) determine, based on available evidence, whether the 
     actions by the Burmese military in northern Rakhine State in 
     2017 constitute crimes against humanity, genocide, or other 
     crimes under international law; and
       (B) fully support efforts to collect, preserve, and make 
     available evidence related to the commission of these crimes;
       (3) all those responsible for these crimes against humanity 
     and genocide should be tracked, sanctioned, arrested, 
     prosecuted, and punished under applicable international 
     criminal statutes and conventions;
       (4) every Government and multinational body should call 
     such atrocities by their rightful names of ``crimes against 
     humanity'', ``war crimes'', and ``genocide'';
       (5) the Governments of Bangladesh, the United States, and 
     China, as well as the UNHCR and other actors, should only 
     support repatriations to Burma when the conditions for safe, 
     voluntary and dignified returns are achieved, including that 
     of removing any impunity for Burma's military, security 
     forces, and vigilantes with respect to their actions 
     contributing to the systemic deprivation of the human rights, 
     such as physical safety, citizenship, freedom of movement, 
     and livelihoods, of the Rohingya;
       (6) the President should impose additional sanctions on 
     senior members of the Burmese military and security forces 
     who are responsible for genocide and human rights abuses, 
     including Tatmadaw Commander-In-Chief Min Aung Hliang;
       (7) independent and professional journalism play a central 
     role in strengthening democratic governance, upholding the 
     rule of law, mitigating conflict, and informing public 
     opinion around the world; and
       (8) the Burmese military and Government should--
       (A) provide immediate, unimpeded access to northern Rakhine 
     by UNHCR, UNDP, other humanitarian actors, and journalists, 
     in order to verify that the necessary conditions exist for 
     voluntary, safe, dignified, and sustainable returns by 
     displaced Rohingya in a manner consistent with 
     internationally recognized human rights and principles for 
     refugee protection;
       (B) change the laws and policies that have contributed to 
     insecurity in the Rakhine State; and
       (C) rescind any laws that obstruct the freedom of the 
     press; and
       (9) State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win 
     Myint should pardon and immediately release from prison Wa 
     Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, as well as all other journalists and 
     political prisoners.

  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 of California. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend 
their remarks and include extraneous material in the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, with this resolution, the House will take the important 
step of naming the atrocities committed against the Rohingya people in 
Burma for what they are. The word for that is ``genocide.''
  The Rohingya people, predominantly of Burma's Rakhine State, are 
often called the world's most persecuted minority. The Rohingya are 
essentially stateless people, as the Burmese Government refuses to 
recognize them as citizens, despite the fact that the Rohingya people 
have lived in Burma for generations. Further, institutional 
restrictions on the Rohingya have impacted their rights to study, work, 
travel, access healthcare services, practice religion, and even to 
marry.
  The most recent wave of persecution began in August 2017, when 
Burmese security forces and civilian mobs began a horrific wave of 
attacks. Mass murder, rape, and destruction of villages throughout 
Rakhine State has been well documented. We have talked to the 
survivors.
  These atrocities have driven 700,000 Rohingya from their homes to 
Bangladesh, bringing the total Rohingya refugee population in that 
country to nearly 1 million. Bangladesh has been very generous in 
accepting all these refugees in the face of such dire circumstances.
  A year and a half later, the evidence is overwhelming. As I said at 
our hearing on the subject this past September,

[[Page H10063]]

it is time that we take the next step in declaring that these crimes 
amount to genocide.
  In September, the State Department released a report on the stomach-
turning, systematic, and widespread acts of violence against the 
Rohingya in northern Rakhine State, but failed to label these 
atrocities genocide.
  The State Department's investigation revealed countless heart-
wrenching pieces of evidence, like the account of one woman who hid in 
bushes as she watched Burmese soldiers throw infants and toddlers into 
a river to drown and shot the mothers of these infants who tried to 
save them.
  The United States has a moral obligation to call these crimes 
genocide. Failing to do so gives the perpetrators cover and hinders 
efforts to bring those accountable to justice. With this resolution, 
the House fulfills its part of that duty.
  The measure also accomplishes a number of other important goals. It 
provides a thorough accounting of the crisis, calls out the complicit 
Burmese Government, urges the Secretary of State to join us in formally 
declaring genocide, and promotes multilateral agreement on that 
declaration.
  Importantly, the resolution also calls for the immediate pardon and 
release of two journalists who were framed and jailed by Burmese 
authorities for shining a light on some of the atrocities by government 
forces.
  Congress has a proud legacy of declaring genocide when warranted, 
just as we did over 2 years ago when the House voted unanimously to 
declare ISIS' atrocities against religious minorities in Iraq and in 
Syria genocide. It is time to take this sober step again.
  I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this measure and 
fulfilling our responsibility to reinforce the universal values we hold 
dear.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this measure.
  First of all, I want to thank Mr. Chabot for authoring this 
resolution. I also want to thank Representative Joe Crowley for his 
extraordinary dedication to all the people of Burma, including the 
Rohingya people. I thank Chairman Royce for bringing this resolution 
forward and for his leadership on this crucial issue throughout the 
years.
  This resolution calls on the Government of Burma to release Burmese 
Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who have been sentenced to 
7 years following their investigation into the attacks on Rohingya 
civilians by the Burmese military and security forces. There is 
overwhelming evidence that these journalists were entrapped by the 
Burmese Government, who targeted them because of their reporting of the 
military's horrific crimes.
  Their jail sentence is a part of a broader issue. Despite elections 
in 2015 that brought a pro-democracy civilian government to power, the 
Burmese Government still operates on antiquated laws that lead to 
locking up prisoners of conscience, even when their only crimes are 
reporting information that is unflattering or inconvenient for the 
government or for the military.
  This resolution rightly calls on the civilian government in Burma to 
repeal the laws that have been used to crack down on civil society and 
free expression and to pardon prisoners of conscience who have been 
imprisoned under these unjust laws.
  We must take a moment and reflect on the context of these arrests.
  The journalists were investigating what we now know were the crimes 
against humanity and genocide of the Rohingya people. They should not 
be sitting in a prison cell. They should be celebrated for faithfully 
carrying out their obligation to report the truth.
  This resolution does something else that is very important. It states 
that, in the opinion of the House, the atrocities inflicted on the 
Rohingya people by the Burmese military constitute genocide.
  It is important that we call it by name. It is a critical step 
towards justice for the victims. So we need to use the word 
``genocide.''

  I am glad that this resolution urges the Trump administration to call 
this atrocity what it is and pursue accountability for this heinous 
violence.
  With this resolution, Congress continues to assert our leadership and 
show that we stand with the Rohingya people. We will not be silent as 
the Burmese Government allows or tacitly encourages attacks on the 
press and on civil society. We will call out injustice when we see it.
  So I support this measure, and I urge all Members to do the same.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), the chairwoman emeritus of 
the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my friend  Steve 
Chabot's resolution, H. Res. 1091, which calls for the release of two 
Burmese journalists who were unjustly imprisoned for what crime? 
Courageously reporting on the genocide against the people known as the 
Rohingya.
  In September, I joined Jan Schakowsky and  Steve Chabot in sending a 
letter to Secretary of State Pompeo expressing our grave concern for 
the 7-year sentence given to these brave journalists. Unfortunately, 
the stories of these men are just two of the many, many sad examples of 
the erosion of press freedom and other basic rights in Burma.
  At a time when these brave men should be rewarded for helping make 
the evidence available to the U.N. commission investigating these 
crimes, they get jail time. This resolution sends a strong message that 
the world is paying attention.
  In 2012, I was worried that it was too soon for the Obama 
administration to ease sanctions on Burma. Unfortunately, it has proven 
to be too soon. In the aftermath of the massacre of the Rohingya, we 
must hold all individuals responsible for these crimes against humanity 
accountable. I call on the Burmese Government to release these 
journalists and reform the law so that freedom of the press is not 
obstructed.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank, once again, our chairman, Ed Royce, and 
Eliot Engel for their continued commitment to bringing forth bipartisan 
and important bills to the floor.
  I urge my colleagues to support Mr. Chabot's resolution.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Levin), who retires this year and leaves an extraordinary 
legacy in this Chamber.
  (Mr. LEVIN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution calling 
for the release of the two journalists imprisoned after investigating 
attacks against the Rohingya ethnic minority in Burma, also known as 
Myanmar.
  As I said in the resolution I introduced in early September calling 
for their release: ``The Burmese police captain involved in their 
arrest reportedly admitted during the trial that his superior ordered 
him to entrap the journalists.''
  The atrocities committed against the Rohingya--mass killings; rape 
perpetrated on a massive scale; whole villages burned to the ground, 
with people being burned alive in their homes; and over 700,000 fleeing 
the violence to neighboring Bangladesh--have been so extreme that the 
United Nations issued a report earlier this year calling for Burma's 
military leaders to be investigated and prosecuted on the charges of 
genocide. There can be no doubt about the culpability of Burma's 
military in the oppression and violence inflicted on the Rohingya.
  I had the privilege of meeting Aung San Suu Kyi a few years ago as 
part of a delegation led by Nancy Pelosi, joining in admiration for her 
perseverance and triumph over oppression. There has been a hesitation 
by some to criticize Suu Kyi, worrying that it could make it more 
likely the military would take over the civilian government she leads. 
But her words and actions in the face of what, in reality, has been 
genocide have been deeply disturbing, contrary to her past example as a 
beacon of freedom.

                              {time}  1430

  In 2017, the late John McCain and Richard Durbin introduced in the 
Senate and I introduced in the House a resolution that encouraged 
``Aung San Suu Kyi to live up to her inspiring

[[Page H10064]]

words upon receiving the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize with respect to ethnic 
reconciliation in Burma, and in particular to address the historic and 
brutal repression of the Rohingya in Rakhine State.''
  Unfortunately, that resolution was not acted upon.
  When Aung San Suu Kyi later said: ``We believe that, for the sake of 
long-term stability and security, we have to be fair to all sides,'' it 
was a disturbing message of minimization.
  Suu Kyi later said: ``In a way we can say that we understand our 
country better than any other country does, and I'm sure you will say 
the same of yours, that you understand your country better than anybody 
else.''
  As Bishop Desmond Tutu said in a letter to Suu Kyi: ``My dear sister: 
If the political price of your ascension to the highest office in 
Myanmar is your silence, the price is surely too steep.''
  This resolution speaks out against the genocide and crimes against 
humanity that occurred in Rakhine State. All of humanity must speak out 
clearly and decisively.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge unanimous support for this resolution.
  Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot), a senior member of the Foreign 
Affairs Committee. He is the author of this measure.
  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Royce and Ranking 
Member Engel for their leadership on this issue, H. Res. 1091, which I 
introduced to commit the House to a determination that the Burmese 
military's atrocities against the Rohingya minority in Rakhine State 
were genocide and to call for the release of the two Reuters 
journalists who have been unjustly imprisoned by the Burmese government 
for their investigation into these atrocities.
  On August 25 last year, the Burmese military began a barbaric 
campaign against the Rohingya people in Rakhine State. This 
premeditated operation resulted in 700,000 Rohingya fleeing from Burma 
into Bangladesh. In September, Congressman Crowley and I wrote to then-
Secretary Tillerson to raise our serious concerns about the violence.
  Since then, sufficient evidence has been brought to light to fill in 
many gruesome details of what exactly happened. Much of this evidence 
is contained in two reports released in September.
  First, the U.N. Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar released its final 
report that argued that the Burmese military had genocidal intent 
against the Rohingya.
  Second, the State Department released a report summarizing a survey 
of Rohingya survivors in Bangladesh that it had commissioned. The State 
Department's report is particularly disturbing. It calls the violence 
extreme, large-scale, widespread, and states that ``the scope and scale 
of the military's operations indicate they were well planned and 
coordinated.''
  Of the 1,000 Rohingya interviewed, about 80 percent witnessed 
killings and the destruction of villages. In total, 400 villages were 
burned to the ground. About half of those surveyed witnessed a rape.
  I could go on, but the gruesomeness of the eyewitness accounts I 
would rather not repeat in a civilized setting.
  Senior administration officials and numerous Members of Congress have 
all condemned these atrocities in harsh, unmistakable terms. In light 
of this evidence, I am asking my colleagues today to join me in making 
a legal determination by labeling these crimes what they were: genocide 
and crimes against humanity.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman an 
additional 1 minute.
  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I also urge the administration and the Senate to make 
determinations similar to the one in this resolution so that we send a 
clear, unequivocal message to the Burmese Government and to the world 
that these barbaric and vicious atrocities will not be tolerated.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, as co-chair of the House Freedom of the Press 
Caucus, I also want to draw attention to the second half of the 
resolution, which condemns the Burmese Government's decision to jail 
two Reuters journalists for trying to uncover the facts about the 
massacre in Rakhine State.
  Tomorrow marks the anniversary of their arrest, so it is especially 
timely that we are considering this resolution and calling for their 
release.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Sherman), a senior member of the House Committee on 
Foreign Affairs and the ranking member of the Asia and the Pacific 
Subcommittee
  Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, for reasons well explained by the preceding 
speakers, I am pleased to join in supporting this resolution and to 
commend Mr. Chabot for introducing it. I was pleased to introduce it 
along with him and along with the chair, the ranking member, and 
several other Members of this House.
  This resolution deals with Burma, whose government chooses to call 
itself Myanmar, but we officially take the position that the country 
retains its name of Burma. This resolution calls out the Burmese 
military for their acts of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya and 
highlights the cases of two journalists who were imprisoned for simply 
trying to shed light on these historic stories.
  One of my priorities as ranking member of the Asia and the Pacific 
Subcommittee has been to focus attention on the 700,000 Rohingya who 
have been forced to flee Burma and relocate to Bangladesh, one of the 
world's poorest countries.
  They have not fled because they wanted to leave home. They have not 
fled because Bangladesh is someplace where it is easy to make a living. 
They have fled to refugee camps because they have no choice, for the 
Rohingya communities have faced widespread attacks, rapes, killings, 
and burning of villages, all orchestrated by the Burmese military.
  Not only that, but the Burmese State takes the position that the 
Rohingya are not citizens of their country because they can't prove 
that their great-grandparents were born in the country.
  So, if someone is born in Burma, their parents were born in Burma, 
they could even prove their grandparents were born in Burma, they are 
denied a Burmese passport.
  Now, this resolution uses the term ``genocide,'' not a word we should 
throw around, but in this case it is clearly a test that has been met.
  In reports by the Public International Law & Policy Group and by our 
own Holocaust museum, the evidence is there that the United Nations' 
definition of genocide has been met.
  The United Nations' Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of 
the Crime of Genocide defines ``genocide'' as acts committed with the 
intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or 
religious group. That is exactly what the Burmese military is doing, 
and denying citizenship is just part of that effort.
  This resolution sends an important message to the Burmese military, 
and it also focuses on two Reuters journalists who exposed the mass 
murder in the village of Indin. Those two journalists are Wa Lone and 
Kyaw Soe Oo, who were interviewing eyewitnesses to this crime. This is 
part of the Burmese genocide of the Rohingya.
  But instead of applauding their bravery, the Burmese Government 
arrested them and accused them of violating the Official Secrets Act. 
Of course, we understand that a government that is committing genocide 
wants to declare that genocide to be a state secret.
  And so, for that as their only crime, these two journalists have been 
sentenced to 7 years of hard labor in prison.
  There is only one just outcome here. State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi 
and President Win Myint must pardon these journalists. They must 
acknowledge that the Burmese military is committing atrocities against 
the Rohingya. They must provide the Rohingya papers of citizenship.
  We need to pass this resolution, hopefully unanimously, to say that 
genocide must be stopped and the two journalists must be released.
  Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho), chairman of the Foreign Affairs 
Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.
  Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 1091. This 
resolution

[[Page H10065]]

calls the atrocities committed against the Rohingya what they are--
genocide--and asks the government of Burma to release two innocent 
journalists who were framed for helping to bring these crimes to light.
  I want to thank my predecessor, as chair of the Subcommittee on Asia 
and the Pacific, Congressman Chabot, and Ranking Member Engel for 
introducing this resolution.
  Since August 2017, 700,000 Rohingya have fled their homes in Rakhine 
to neighboring Bangladesh to escape the horrible violence perpetrated 
by the Burmese military. In total, almost a million Rohingya refugees 
have been driven out of their homes in northern Rakhine and are 
sheltering in Bangladesh.
  They, the Rohingya, didn't just decide to pick up all their 
belongings one day and leave. They are fearing for their lives, and so 
they left.
  The United Nations released a report just months ago asserting that 
the Burmese military systematically targeted civilians in a manner 
consistent with genocidal intent. This fact-finding mission and other 
international NGOs have documented the violence, including torture; 
rape; killing unarmed civilians, including women and children; and 
burning down the Rohingya villages.
  Make no mistake; this is genocide.
  In a recent committee hearing on Burma, I spoke about the importance 
of journalists documenting these atrocities. However, we are seeing 
journalists inside Burma being punished and jailed for doing the basic 
requirements of their job.
  This resolution rightly calls for the release of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe 
Oo, the two Reuters journalists who were framed wrongfully and 
sentenced by the Burmese government to over 7 years in jail after 
investigating the very violence we are calling a genocide here today.
  How many more times do we and the world allow this to happen again? 
We either stand together as civilized nations, call this what it is--
genocide--or we look the other way again as nations of the world did in 
World War II in Nazi, Germany, or during the Darfur genocide.
  We either are serious about this or not.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to join my fellow colleagues as an original 
cosponsor on this resolution and urge the rest of the House to join in 
support. When we say never again, we must mean never again. The House 
is today taking an important first step and speaking clearly on these 
atrocities.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to 
close.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to, again, thank my colleagues and Chairman Royce 
for their hard work on this measure, as always. This is an important 
resolution. It gives a name to the atrocities that occurred in Rakhine 
State, calling them genocide, and urges the Trump administration to 
take appropriate action to hold the Burmese military accountable for 
these crimes.
  I agree with what everybody has mentioned. The resolution also calls 
for the release of two journalists wrongly imprisoned in Burma; and by 
passing this resolution today, we not only speak on behalf of these two 
journalists, but call for an open, civil, transparent, and increasingly 
democratic society in Burma.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope all Members will join me in supporting this 
measure, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would like to thank my colleagues on the 
committee for actually, again, speaking with one voice on this issue, 
especially the author, Representative Chabot, but also Representatives 
Engel, Schiff, Yoho, Sherman, Comstock, and Crowley for joining as 
original cosponsors.
  Mr. Speaker, this past September our committee convened another 
hearing to examine the desperate living conditions of Rohingya refugees 
in Bangladesh, and again we heard the story of survivors, all 
describing the same methodical, unthinkable acts of terror perpetrated 
by the Burmese military and by the security forces. Witnesses had no 
doubt that, based on all the evidence, genocide had occurred.
  It is time Congress, the administration, and the rest of the world 
called these atrocities by their rightful name, and that is genocide.
  Mr. Speaker, 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. 1091, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and 
nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

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