[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 46 (Thursday, March 11, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1504-S1505]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

                                 ______
                                 

  SENATE RESOLUTION 105--CONDEMNING THE COUP IN BURMA AND CALLING FOR 
    MEASURES TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THE BURMESE PEOPLE, INCLUDING 
   ROHINGYA, WHO HAVE BEEN THREATENED AND DISPLACED BY A CAMPAIGN OF 
               GENOCIDE CONDUCTED BY THE BURMESE MILITARY

  Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mr. Young, Mr. Durbin, Ms. Collins, Mr. 
Coons, Ms. Warren, Mr. Markey, Mrs. Feinstein, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. 
Brown, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Kaine, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. 
Van Hollen, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Warner, Mr. Reed, Ms. Rosen, and Mrs. 
Shaheen) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 105

       Whereas, on February 1, 2021, the Government of Burma was 
     overthrown by the Burmese army, or Tatmadaw, returning the 
     same army responsible for the genocidal military campaign 
     against the Rohingya people to a greater position of power 
     and authority, at least temporarily;
       Whereas the hundreds of thousands of Burmese citizens who 
     have taken peacefully to the streets to protest the coup have 
     been met with increasingly brutal displays of force by the 
     Tatmadaw and the Myanmar Police Force, and over 50 citizens 
     have been killed to date;
       Whereas, since the February 2021 coup, the Tatmadaw-
     enforced media and communications blackouts and travel limits 
     are limiting the ability of journalists and humanitarian 
     actors to provide services or monitor the safety and security 
     of people across Burma, including approximately 600,000 
     Rohingya remaining in Rakhine State;
       Whereas media reports that the Burmese military have 
     recently blocked shipments of humanitarian assistance 
     intended for persons displaced by the ongoing offensive and 
     militarization in the ethnic states;
       Whereas recently announced United States sanctions target 
     Tatmadaw actors specifically for their role in the coup, but 
     ethnic minorities living within Burmese borders have suffered 
     a wide range of systematic abuse and discrimination for many 
     years;
       Whereas, since August 25, 2017, approximately 740,000 
     Rohingya have fled from Burma to escape the Burmese military 
     and security force's well-documented and systematic campaign 
     of persecution and atrocities;
       Whereas most of the Rohingya fled to neighboring 
     Bangladesh, resulting in the creation of the world's largest 
     and most densely populated refugee camp, while others escaped 
     to India, Thailand, Malaysia, and other parts of South and 
     Southeast Asia;
       Whereas, on December 3, 2018, the United States Holocaust 
     Memorial Museum concluded that ``there is compelling evidence 
     that the Burmese military committed ethnic cleansing, crimes 
     against humanity, and genocide against the Rohingya'';
       Whereas the May 2019 Amnesty International report on war 
     crimes in Rakhine State outlines continued human rights 
     violations, including ``indiscriminate attacks'' on 
     civilians, and expresses alarm about the impact of continued 
     fighting on the food security of Rakhine State;
       Whereas then-United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 
     Zeid Ra`ad al-Hussein testified that the Tatmadaw's brutal 
     campaign against the Rohingya was a ``textbook example of 
     ethnic cleansing'' and ``without regard for basic principles 
     of international law'';
       Whereas, in his nomination hearing, Secretary of State 
     Antony Blinken stated that he would oversee an interagency 
     review to determine whether Burma's crimes against the 
     Rohingya amount to genocide;
       Whereas, after many years of hosting hundreds of thousands 
     of Rohingya refugees while bearing other internal challenges, 
     media report that the Government of Bangladesh is growing 
     weary of hosting the Rohingya, building new barriers to 
     restrict the ability for Rohingyas to work, access education, 
     buy SIM cards, learn the local language, exercise their right 
     to freedom of expression, including peaceful assembly, or 
     move freely;
       Whereas, in a step toward reducing the refugee population 
     on the mainland, the Government of Bangladesh has relocated 
     over 10,000 Rohingya from Cox's Bazar to Bhasan Char, a 
     flood-prone island in the Bay of Bengal, but has denied the 
     United Nations access to the island and the ability to 
     undertake independent technical and protection assessments to 
     verify whether the island is safe and habitable to host this 
     vulnerable population;
       Whereas it has not been verified that Rohingya refugees' 
     ongoing relocation to Bhasan Char is fully informed and 
     voluntary, as required under international law;
       Whereas the United Nations Refugee Agency reports that 
     2,400 Rohingya refugees chose dangerous boat journeys to 
     escape their limited futures in Bangladesh over the last 
     year, leading to at least 200 deaths and missing persons;
       Whereas efforts to force the return to Burma of more than 
     800,000 Rohingya refugees now living in Bangladesh would 
     constitute a gross violation of international human rights 
     law and would come at increased risk during this time of 
     political instability and military rule;
       Whereas the fundamental operational principles of voluntary 
     repatriation must be based on informed consent, legal and 
     physical safety, dignity, and the absence of any form of 
     coercion, economic or otherwise, as well as the full 
     protection of the returnees' human rights, including the 
     right to restore their citizenship status in Burma;
       Whereas approximately 236,000 Rohingya refugees returned to 
     Burma from Bangladesh under the terms of a 1992 agreement 
     after a previous bout of violence against the Rohingya forced 
     them to flee, only to face continued denial of restoration of 
     their citizenship, prejudice, violence, and persecution, and 
     in many instances forced to live in internally displaced 
     persons camps with their freedom of movement restricted;
       Whereas Burma's 1982 citizenship law stripped Rohingya of 
     their Burmese citizenship, rendering them stateless;
       Whereas the Government of Burma continues to systematically 
     discriminate against the Rohingya people, including by 
     restricting registration of Rohingya births and denying them 
     freedom of movement as well as access to healthcare, land, 
     education, marriage, voting rights, and political 
     participation;
       Whereas, on November 23, 2017, the Government of Burma and 
     the Government of Bangladesh signed an agreement, known as 
     the ``Arrangement'', on the return of displaced persons from 
     Rakhine State, which is modeled after the 1992 repatriation 
     agreement between Burma and Bangladesh;
       Whereas the Arrangement includes references to restoring 
     normalcy and human rights in Rakhine State, ensuring refugee 
     returns comply with international standards of safety, 
     dignity, and voluntariness, and commencing a process to 
     address root causes in line with the Rakhine Advisory 
     Commission recommendations;
       Whereas Rohingya refugees currently hosted in Bangladesh 
     demonstrated in protest against an initial November 2018 
     repatriation plan between the Governments of Bangladesh and 
     Burma, citing concerns for their security and the lack of 
     meaningful political reforms in Burma to include restoration 
     of their full citizenship; and
       Whereas, following the 2021 coup, human rights groups, 
     humanitarian actors, and refugees in Cox's Bazar continue to 
     express grave concerns about the heightened risk for a 
     renewed campaign of genocide in Burma, calling for a halt to 
     any efforts to move or adjust the status of any Rohingya 
     persons: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) condemns the February 1, 2021, military coup that 
     deposed an elected government and cast a pall over years of 
     hope, investment, and progress toward a more democratic and 
     free Burma;
       (2) expresses deep concern for the safety and security of 
     the hundreds of thousands of Burmese people who have taken to 
     the streets to protest the coup, and condemns the Tatmadaw 
     and the Myanmar Police Force for their acts of terrorism 
     against Burma's civilian populations;
       (3) calls on Burmese authorities to allow journalists, 
     human rights organizations, United Nations monitors, and 
     humanitarian actors full and safe access to every part of the 
     country, including Rakhine State, to ensure that humanitarian 
     needs of all internally displaced persons are being met and 
     that human rights of every population in Burma, including 
     ethnic minorities, can be monitored and protected;
       (4) asks the governments of countries neighboring Burma, 
     including Bangladesh and Thailand, to provide immediate, 
     direct cross-border assistance to adequately address 
     humanitarian needs of all refugees suffering from ongoing 
     Burma Army militarization and offensives;
       (5) welcomes steps by the Government of Bangladesh and 
     other neighboring states to receive Rohingya refugees, but 
     raises substantial concern regarding reports of refugees 
     being turned away or moved into holding centers, as well as 
     for the health and safety of all refugees, including those 
     currently living in camps at Cox's Bazar and Bhasan Char;
       (6) appeals to Bangladesh and other countries in the region 
     to commit to providing safe harbor for Rohingya refugees, 
     until their human rights, including their right to 
     restoration of full citizenship, can be guaranteed;
       (7) calls on international organizations and all host 
     governments, including the Government of Bangladesh, to 
     ensure improved access for Rohingya refugees to basic 
     services, education, and livelihood opportunities;
       (8) asks the Government of Bangladesh to allow the 
     international community, including the United Nations and 
     other human rights and humanitarian actors, full and complete 
     access to all Rohingya in Bangladesh while refraining from 
     any forced relocation of Rohingya refugees into temporary 
     settlements or other ``model villages'';
       (9) urges the Government of Bangladesh to grant the United 
     Nations access to conduct independent, comprehensive 
     technical and protection assessments of Bhasan Char and to 
     verify that any relocations of Rohingya refugees to Bhasan 
     Char are voluntary and done with fully informed consent;

[[Page S1505]]

       (10) encourages the Government of Bangladesh to guarantee 
     Rohingya refugees on Bhasan Char freedom of movement, 
     including the right to choose to return to Cox's Bazar;
       (11) commends the significant contributions of numerous 
     donor nations, including the United States, and encourages 
     donors to increase future investments to better meet the 
     significant humanitarian needs in Burma and Bangladesh, while 
     taking particular care to ensure that no donor funding 
     supports the Burmese military regime or individuals who 
     supported or benefited from the coup;
       (12) affirms United States Government efforts to engage 
     regional partners, including the Association for Southeast 
     Asian Nations (ASEAN), to coordinate pressure on Burma to end 
     all oppression of minority communities and address all 
     related human rights concerns;
       (13) urges countries in the region to abide by commitments 
     made under regional declarations to provide assistance and 
     safe disembarkation to Rohingya and others stranded at sea;
       (14) enjoins United States and multinational business that 
     have invested in Burma to discontinue investment in military-
     owned businesses and State-owned enterprises that fund the 
     Tatmadaw and enable the oppression and mistreatment of the 
     Rohingya and other ethnic minorities in Burma; and
       (15) urges the President of the United States--
       (A) to fully investigate and continue to hold accountable 
     Burmese military leaders, including Senior General Min Aung 
     Hlaing, for gross violations of human rights, war crimes, 
     crimes against humanity, including sexual and gender-based 
     violence, or genocide;
       (B) to suspend all political and financial support to the 
     State Administrative Council and the peace process including 
     to the Joint Peace Fund;
       (C) to make a formal determination on behalf of the United 
     States designating the actions against the Rohingya by the 
     Burmese military as genocide;
       (D) to advocate with counterparts from other donor nations 
     to reinstate all humanitarian aid for Burmese refugees and 
     internally displaced persons that can be provided directly to 
     those needing assistance without passing funds through the 
     army, government, or military-owned enterprises; and
       (E) to work with interagency partners to impose any 
     additional targeted sanctions through existing authorities, 
     including under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights 
     Accountability Act (subtitle F of title XII of Public Law 
     114-328; 22 U.S.C. 2656), the Burmese Freedom and Democracy 
     Act of 2003 (Public Law 108-61; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note) and the 
     Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE (Junta's Anti-Democratic 
     Efforts) Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-286; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note 
     ), to prevent further egregious violations of human rights 
     against ethnic minorities in Burma.

                          ____________________