[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Page 21124]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    AUNG SAN SUU KYI'S HUNGER STRIKE

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Madam President, this weekend we heard extremely 
troubling news from the State Department. Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of 
the democratically elected National League for Democracy and Nobel 
Peace Prize laureate, is on a hunger strike to protest her detention by 
the military government in Burma.
  Aung San Suu Kyi has been held in an unknown location without the 
ability to communicate with the outside world since May 30, 2003. Many 
of us in Congress have demanded her release. Sadly, her detention is 
simply the latest installment in the country's 40-year history of 
suffering and oppression. I have consistently criticized the government 
for its political repression and human rights violations. Reports of 
rape, forced labor, human trafficking, suppression of civil liberties, 
and torture of political dissidents have caused me and my constituents 
great concern. I supported the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 
2003, which imposes sanctions on the Burmese military junta, 
strengthens Burma's democratic forces and supports and recognizes the 
National League for Democracy as the legitimate representative of the 
Burmese people. I encourage other countries to join the United States 
in adopting similar measures toward Burma.
  The Burmese Government must release Aung San Suu Kyi and all 
political prisoners from detention. I also urge our administration, the 
United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, and 
the international community to continue to exert pressure on the 
Burmese junta to respect human rights and political freedoms. I ask 
President Bush to make Burma a high priority as he travels to the Asia 
Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Bangkok in early October. As 
recommended by the Council on Foreign Relations, we should press for a 
United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Aung San Suu 
Kyi's detention, the junta's human rights violations and their refusal 
to engage in dialogue with the democratic opposition. We should also 
encourage the Security Council to hold an emergency session on Burma to 
discuss implementing targeted sanctions on the regime.
  Aung San Suu Kyi's hunger strike adds urgency to the dire predicament 
of the Burmese people. The Burmese military junta must realize that 
their egregious offences against their own population can no longer 
stand.

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