Allowing for the Safe Return of Rohingyas to Burma Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4392 To direct the President to withdraw the application of the duty-free treatment with respect to Burma under the Generalized System of Preferences program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 18, 2019 Mr. SHERMAN (for himself and Mrs. WAGNER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To direct the President to withdraw the application of the duty-free treatment with respect to Burma under the Generalized System of Preferences program, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Allowing for the Safe 4 Return of Rohingyas to Burma Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Sep 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4392.IH H4392 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 4392 IH (1) Since August 2017, the Burmese military, 1 the Tatmadaw, has engaged in a brutal crackdown 2 on the Rohingya population in the northern Rakhine 3 state of Burma (formerly Myanmar). 4 (2) Before the 2017 crisis, an estimated 5 1,000,000 Rohingya people lived in the Rakhine 6 state. 7 (3) As a result of the brutal crackdown of 8 2017, 740,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh 9 and another 127,000 Rohingya fled to camps for in- 10 ternally displaced persons (IDPs) in the central 11 Rakhine state. 12 (4) Bangladesh was already enduring a humani- 13 tarian crisis as a result of approximately 287,000 14 Rohingya refugees fleeing Burma during earlier 15 crackdowns by the Burmese military in 2012 and 16 2016. 17 (5) In March 2019, the United Nations Office 18 for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs esti- 19 mated there were 909,000 registered Rohingya in 20 Bangladeshi refugee camps. 21 (6) On March 5, 2019, the United States Agen- 22 cy for International Development reported that the 23 United States has contributed more than 24 $494,000,000 to Bangladesh since August 2017 in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Sep 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4392.IH H4392 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 4392 IH order to help Bangladesh cope with the influx of 1 Rohingya refugees. 2 (7) The U.S. Secretary of State has called the 3 Burmese security forces attacks on the Rohingya an 4 ‘‘ethnic cleansing’’ but has yet to recognize them as 5 a crime against humanity or genocide. 6 (8) On December 13, 2018, the United States 7 House of Representatives passed House Resolution 8 1091, which expressed the sense of the House that 9 ‘‘the atrocities committed against the Rohingya by 10 the Burmese military and security forces since Au- 11 gust 2017 constitute crimes against humanity and 12 genocide’’ and called upon the Secretary of State to 13 review the available evidence and make a similar de- 14 termination. 15 (9) The United Nations Human Rights Coun- 16 cil’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission 17 on Myanmar (the Mission) concluded in August 18 2018 and August 2019 reports that ‘‘there is suffi- 19 cient information to warrant the investigation and 20 prosecution’’ of Tatmadaw officials to determine 21 their ‘‘liability for genocide’’ and also found that a 22 ‘‘pervasive culture of impunity at the domestic 23 level,’’ which led the Mission to conclude that ‘‘the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Sep 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4392.IH H4392 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 4392 IH impetus for accountability must come from the inter- 1 national community’’. 2 (10) The ability of Rohingyas to leave Ban- 3 gladesh to return home is impeded by many factors, 4 not least of which: the lack of Burmese citizenship 5 for the Rohingya minority, that the homes of the 6 Rohingya were largely destroyed in the 2017 vio- 7 lence, and that Rohingya still fear the ongoing vio- 8 lence due to the civil war and military officers who 9 act with impunity against the local civilian popu- 10 lation. 11 (11) In 2016, after a 27-year suspension pe- 12 riod, the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) 13 program for Burma was re-instated, and Burma was 14 designated as a least-developed beneficiary devel- 15 oping country under the program. 16 (12) Just one year after having the GSP pro- 17 gram reinstated, Burma’s GSP-eligible exports to 18 the United States were valued at $93,900,000, the 19 second highest value for least-developed beneficiary 20 developing countries after Cambodia. 21 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Sep 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4392.IH H4392 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 4392 IH SEC. 3. WITHDRAWAL OF DESIGNATION OF BURMA UNDER 1 THE GENERALIZED SYSTEM OF PREF- 2 ERENCES PROGRAM. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 4 date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall with- 5 draw the application of the duty-free treatment under title 6 V of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2461 et seq.) with 7 respect to Burma. 8 (b) CERTIFICATION.—The President may reinstate 9 the application of duty-free treatment under title V of the 10 Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2461 et seq.) with respect 11 to Burma after the date on which the authority of sub- 12 section (a) is exercised only if the President submits to 13 the appropriate congressional committees a certification 14 that contains a determination of the President that the 15 Government of Burma— 16 (1) allows for the safe, voluntary, and dignified 17 return of Rohingya refugees; 18 (2) has taken the necessary steps to provide 19 Burmese citizenship to such Rohingya refugees; and 20 (3) has addressed the root causes of the crisis 21 in Rakhine State. 22 SEC. 4. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE- 23 FINED. 24 In this Act, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 25 mittees’’ means— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Sep 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4392.IH H4392 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 4392 IH (1) the congressional defense committees (as 1 such term is defined in section 101 of title 10, 2 United States Code); 3 (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Per- 4 manent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the 5 Committee on Ways and Means of the House of 6 Representatives; and 7 (3) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the 8 Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Com- 9 mittee on Finance of the Senate. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Sep 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4392.IH H4392 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS