Condemns: (1) the violence and displacement inflicted on Burma's (Myanmar's) Rohingya civilians, and (2) the attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army militant group.
Calls for an immediate halt to all hostilities by Burmese authorities.
Urges the government of Burma to: (1) allow access to the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, and (2) resume delivery of field work and humanitarian aid to help those displaced and injured and to monitor events in Rakhine State.
Calls on the government of Burma to implement the August 2017 recommendations of its Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, including to end restrictions on Rohingya movement and to provide the Rohingya with citizenship.
Encourages Aung San Suu Kyi to live up to her inspiring words upon receiving the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize with respect to ethnic reconciliation in Burma.
[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 528 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
115th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 528
Condemning horrific acts of violence against Burma's Rohingya
population and calling on Aung San Suu Kyi to play an active role in
ending this humanitarian tragedy.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 14, 2017
Mr. Levin submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Condemning horrific acts of violence against Burma's Rohingya
population and calling on Aung San Suu Kyi to play an active role in
ending this humanitarian tragedy.
Whereas the Rohingya are one of Burma's many ethnic minorities that have lived
under military dictatorship for most of the last few decades;
Whereas approximately one million Rohingya live predominantly in Burma's Rakhine
State, where they have faced ongoing repression under the Burmese
military, including the revocation of their citizenship, killings, and
mass rape;
Whereas there is historical animosity between the majority Buddhist population
and the minority Rohingya, with many in the Buddhist majority seeing the
Rohingya as illegal immigrants from across the border in Bangladesh
despite generational roots;
Whereas the Department of State has, since 1999, regularly expressed concern
over legal, economic, and social discrimination against Burma's Rohingya
population;
Whereas an outbreak of communal violence in the Rakhine State in 2012 saw more
than 100,000 displaced, and tens of thousands of Rohingya forced into
squalid camps where travel was and continues to be restricted;
Whereas the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma reported
a ``long history of discrimination and persecution against the
Rohingya'';
Whereas the most recent State Department Country Report on Human Rights
Practices for 2016 recognized ``abuses and restrictions on members of
the Rohingya population'' among the leading human rights problems in
Burma;
Whereas Aung San Suu Kyi spent fifteen years under house arrest for her peaceful
advocacy of democracy in Burma, and during those years Aung San Suu Kyi
was awarded the Sakharov human rights prize from the European
Parliament, the Nobel Peace Prize, the U.S. Presidential Medal of
Freedom, and the Congressional Gold Medal for her tireless struggle for
freedom and human rights;
Whereas in her 2012 Nobel lecture, Aung San Suu Kyi made an impassioned appeal
to the world not to forget those who are suffering ``hunger, disease,
displacement, joblessness, poverty, injustice, discrimination,
prejudice, bigotry'' and war . . . continuing that ``wherever suffering
is ignored, there will be the seeds of conflict, for suffering degrades
and embitters and enrages'';
Whereas in a landmark election held in November 2015, Aung San Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in the first
national vote since Burma's nominal transition to civilian authority,
after which Aung San Suu Kyi was named State Counsellor, a role created
for her that made her the country's de facto leader;
Whereas in August 2016, Aung San Suu Kyi helped establish the high-level
Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, headed by former United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan in order to address the mistreatment of the
Rohingya;
Whereas in October 2016, attacks on border police outposts led to reports of
horrific human rights abuses against the Rohingya in a brutal military
crackdown;
Whereas in December 2016, a letter signed by 23 international activists,
including more than a dozen fellow Nobel laureates, to the United
Nations Security Council called out Aung San Suu Kyi for her silence on
the treatment of the Rohingya;
Whereas in February 2017, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights issued a report, finding that crimes against the Rohingya
``seem to have been widespread as well as systematic, indicating the
very likely commission of crimes against humanity'';
Whereas in March 2017, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a
resolution creating a Fact-Finding Mission to Myanmar to investigate
allegations of human rights abuses against the Rohingya and issue a
report by the following year;
Whereas in April 2017, Aung San Suu Kyi denied that ethnic cleansing had taken
place against her country's Rohingya minority despite widespread and
reputable reporting of human rights abuses in Rakhine State;
Whereas, on August 25, 2017, fighters from the small militant group the Arakan
Rohingya Salvation Army conducted surprise raids on 30 police stations
and an army base in Rakhine State, in which more than 100 people died,
including at least ten policemen and many militants;
Whereas the attack resulted in a brutal and methodical reprisal by the Burmese
military on villages, with helicopters firing on civilians, razing
villages with petrol bombs, and front line troops cutting off families'
escape routes;
Whereas the assault caused more than 140,000 Rohingya to flee for Bangladesh and
more than 30,000 Rohingya are estimated to be trapped in conflict zones
in western Burma;
Whereas United Nations field work and the delivery of vital supplies of food,
water, and medicine were suspended by the Government of Burma due to
security concerns, leaving thousands of Rohingya vulnerable amid the
deadly outbreak of violence; and
Whereas, on August 31, 2017, the United Nations Security Council met to discuss
the violence against the Rohingya in Rakhine State: Now, therefore, be
it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) condemns the violence and displacement inflicted on
Burma's Rohingya civilians and calls for an immediate halt to
all hostilities by Burmese authorities;
(2) condemns the attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation
Army militant group;
(3) urges the Government of Burma to allow unrestricted
access to the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar as
well as resume the delivery of field work and aid from critical
humanitarian organizations to help those displaced and injured
and to monitor events in Rakhine State;
(4) calls on the Government of Burma to implement the
August 2017 recommendations of its Advisory Commission on
Rakhine State, including to end restrictions on the movement of
the Rohingya and provide them with citizenship; and
(5) encourages Aung San Suu Kyi to live up to her inspiring
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.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.
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