[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 11087-11089]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



            INTRODUCTION OF H.R. 2211--THE BURMA FREEDOM ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 19, 2001

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, it is only befitting the heroic struggle of 
the outstanding human rights and democracy leader in Burma, the 1991 
Nobel Peace Prize Winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, that I today, on her 
birthday, introduce H.R. 2211. This bipartisan legislation bans the 
import of all articles into the United States which were produced, 
manufactured or grown in Burma.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that similar legislation has been 
introduced in the Senate by Senator Tom Harkin and Senator Jesse

[[Page 11088]]

Helms. Together our efforts in introducing the House bill today will 
close an important loophole in the current sanctions of the United 
States with regard to Burma.
  I am taking this strong step in light of the ongoing egregious human 
rights violations which the Burmese people continue to suffer by the 
hands of the brutal military regime which now calls itself the State 
Peace and Development Council (SPDC). This legislation, which is 
already cosponsored by my colleagues Constance Morella of Maryland, 
Benjamin Gilman of New York, Pete Stark of California, Ileana Ros-
Lehtinen of Florida, Nancy Pelosi of California, Christopher Smith of 
New Jersey, Donald Payne of New Jersey, Dana Rohrabacher of California, 
Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, Joseph Pitts of Pennsylvania, William Delahunt 
of Massachusetts, Robert Andrews of New Jersey, Neil Abercrombie of 
Hawaii, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, Michael Capuano of Massachusetts, Lane 
Evans of Illinois, James McGovern of Massachusetts, Sam Farr of 
California, Albert Wynn of Maryland and Janice Schakowsky of Illinois, 
sends a strong signal to the Burmese military dictatorship that the 
United States will no longer allow one of the world's most brutal 
regimes to reap the benefits of its outrageous practices of forced and 
child labor, rape and the mass imprisonment of opposition and ethnic 
minorities leaders.
  In response to the outrageous and systematic use of forced and child 
labor, the International Labor Organization (ILO) evoked in June 2000--
for the first time in its 82-year history--an extraordinary 
constitutional procedure to adopt a resolution which calls on the State 
Peace and Development Council to take concrete actions to end forced 
labor in Burma. In an unprecedented step, the ILO recommended that 
governments, employers, and workers organizations take appropriate 
measures to ensure that their relations with the SPDC do not abet the 
system of forced or compulsory labor. In addition, the ILO urges other 
international bodies to reconsider any cooperation they may engage in 
with Burma and, if appropriate, cease as soon as possible any activity 
that could abet the practice of forced or compulsory labor.
  Mr. Speaker, if we take our responsibilities as the world leader on 
democracy and human rights seriously, the United States simply cannot 
stand idly by when the ILo calls on the world community to live up to 
its obligations. If the United States sends a strong international 
signal by passing this legislation, it would show that we are 
determined and unwavering in our efforts to support the democracy 
movement led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League of 
Democracy (NLD) by providing international leadership. Based on this 
leadership, the SPDC will soon face a determined world community in 
which it is totally isolated.
  Already in 1997, Congress enacted sanctions and former President 
Clinton issued an Executive Order in response to the egregious human 
rights violations in Burma. These measures established the existing 
prohibition on U.S. private companies making new investments in Burma. 
The European Union followed suit and imposed economic sanctions on 
Burma, removing trade preferences, freezing the regime's assets, and 
issuing a ban on travel visas for the regime's leadership. That the 
SPDC is not totally insensitive to this kind of pressure became obvious 
when the military dictatorship surprisingly entered into a secret 
dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi now almost seven months ago, which 
unfortunately has not yielded any tangible results.
  Existing U.S. investment restrictions, while an important step in the 
right direction, clearly do not go far enough. To everyone's surprise, 
despite the existing sanctions regime, imports of Burmese articles and 
goods into the United States grew steadily and are perfectly legal. We 
have to close this loophole, and our legislation would do that. We keep 
the pressure on the SPDC. Our conditions for the SPDC have to be 
absolutely clear and unequivocal: trade with the United States will 
only be resumed if the military regime allows sustained and measurable 
progress in the areas of human rights and democracy, and the SPDC must 
make significant progress in the talks with the only credible person 
involved in the ongoing secret negotiations, the winner of the 
overturned 1990 general elections and Noble Peace Prize Winner, Aung 
San Suu Kyi.
  The 1999 State Department Human Rights Country Report on Burma cited 
``credible reports that Burmese Army soldiers have committed rape, 
forced porterage, and extrajudicial killing.'' The report further 
describes arbitrary arrests and the detention of at least 1300 
political prisoners. The most recent report by the State Department for 
the year 2000 finds that ``The Government's extremely poor human rights 
record and longstanding severe repression of its citizens continued 
during the year. Citizens continued to live subject at any time and 
without appeal to the arbitrary and sometimes brutal dictates of the 
military regime. Citizens did not have the right to change their 
government. There continued to be credible reports, particularly in 
ethnic minority areas, that security forces committed serious human 
rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings and rape. 
Disappearances continued, and members of the security forces tortured, 
beat, and otherwise abused prisoners and detainees. Prison conditions 
remained harsh and life threatening, but have improved slightly in some 
prisons after the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was 
allowed access to prisons in May 1999. Arbitrary arrest and detention 
for expression of dissenting political views continued to be a common 
practice. The Government held Aung San Suu Kyi incommunicado twice in 
September, following attempts to travel beyond the bounds of Rangoon 
City and to Mandalay. At year's end, the Government continued to hold 
Aung San Suu Kyi in detention; it also held 48 members-elect of 
parliament and more than 1,000 NLD supporters under detention, all as 
part of a government effort to prevent the parliament elected in 1990 
from convening. Since 1962 thousands of persons have been arrested, 
detained, or imprisoned for political reasons; more than 1,800 
political prisoners remained imprisoned at year's end.''
  In addition, Human Rights Watch reported that children from ethnic 
minorities are forced to work under inhumane conditions for the Burmese 
Army, lacking adequate medical care and sometimes dying from beatings. 
The UN Special Rapporteur on Burma puts the number of child soldiers at 
50,000, one of the highest in the world. In addition, a 1998 
International Labor Organization Commission of Inquiry determined that 
forced labor in Burma is practiced in a ``widespread and systematic 
manner, with total disregard for the human dignity, safety, health and 
basic needs of the people.''
  While current sanctions forbid new U.S. investments in Burma, the 
current Burmese imports into the U.S. rapidly grow and include apparel 
articles, fisheries products, gems, and tropical timber. In particular, 
apparel imports into the U.S. grew by 372 percent, rising from $85.6 
million in 1997 to $403.7 million in 2000--a 4.7-fold increase--while 
wide-spread and egregious human rights violations continue.
  These imports into the U.S. provide the SPDC with growing hard 
currency income because they are directly involved in the production 
process as direct or de facto owners of production facilities in the 
apparel and textile sector.
  Mr. Speaker, the United States must stand with the Burmese slave 
laborers, the exploited children, the imprisoned and raped political 
opposition members. Passing this important legislation would not only 
support and strengthen the ILO as a guardian of internationally 
accepted labor standards, but it would also make clear to the world 
that the United States will never trade democracy and the respect for 
human rights for trade benefits and cheap imports.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that the text of H. R. 2211 be placed in the 
Record at this point. I urge my colleagues to cosponsor this important 
bill, and I call on the House to speedily adopt this legislation.

                                H.R. --

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Burma Freedom Act''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) The International Labor Organization (ILO), invoking an 
     extraordinary constitutional procedure for the first time in 
     its 82-year history, adopted in 2000 a resolution calling on 
     the State Peace and Development Council to take concrete 
     actions to end forced labor in Burma.
       (2) In this resolution, the ILO recommended that 
     governments, employers, and workers organizations take 
     appropriate measures to ensure that their relations with the 
     State Peace and Development Council do not abet the system of 
     forced or compulsory labor in that country, and that other 
     international bodies reconsider any cooperation they may be 
     engaged in with Burma and, if appropriate, cease as soon as 
     possible any activity that could abet the practice of forced 
     or compulsory labor.

     SEC. 3. UNITED STATES SUPPORT FOR MULTILATERAL ACTION TO END 
                   FORCED LABOR AND THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR 
                   IN BURMA.

       (a) Trade Ban.--
       (1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
     law, until such time as the President determines and 
     certifies to Congress that Burma has met the conditions 
     described in paragraph (2), no article that is

[[Page 11089]]

     produced, manufactured, or grown in Burma may be imported 
     into the United States.
       (2) Conditions described.--The conditions described in this 
     paragraph are the following:
       (A) The State Peace and Development Council in Burma has 
     made measurable and substantial progress in reversing the 
     persistent pattern of gross violations of internationally-
     recognized human rights and worker rights, including the 
     elimination of forced labor and the worst forms of child 
     labor.
       (B) The State Peace and Development Council in Burma has 
     made measurable and substantial progress toward implementing 
     a democratic government including--
       (i) releasing all political prisoners; and
       (ii) deepening, accelerating, and bringing to a mutually-
     acceptable conclusion the dialogue between the State Peace 
     and Development Council (SPDC) and democratic leadership 
     within Burma (including Aung San Suu Kyi and the National 
     League for Democracy (NLD) and leaders of Burma's ethnic 
     peoples).
       (C) The State Peace and Development Council in Burma has 
     made measurable and substantial progress toward full 
     cooperation with United States counter-narcotics efforts 
     pursuant to the terms of section 570(a)(1)(B) of Public Law 
     104-208, the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and 
     Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1997.
       (b) Effective Date.--The provisions of this section shall 
     apply to any article entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for 
     consumption, on or after the 15th day after the date of 
     enactment of this Act.

     

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