[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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