Condemning the Burmese military for perpetrating gross violations of human rights as part of its brutal campaign to suppress the democratic aspirations of the people of Burma, two years after the coup d'etat on February 1, 2021.

IV 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. RES. 86 Condemning the Burmese military for perpetrating gross violations of human rights as part of its brutal campaign to suppress the democratic aspira- tions of the people of Burma, two years after the coup d’e´tat on February 1, 2021. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 1, 2023 Ms. ESHOO (for herself, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. BERA, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. COSTA, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. NOR- TON, Ms. TITUS, Mr. SHERMAN, and Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, the Judi- ciary, and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned RESOLUTION Condemning the Burmese military for perpetrating gross vio- lations of human rights as part of its brutal campaign to suppress the democratic aspirations of the people of Burma, two years after the coup d’e´tat on February 1, 2021. Whereas after a decade of promising democratic reforms in Burma, the Burmese military (hereinafter referred to as the ‘‘Tatmadaw’’) launched a coup against the civilian government on February 1, 2021, preventing a democrat- ically elected Parliament from being seated; VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Feb 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR86.IH HR86 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HRES 86 IH Whereas the Tatmadaw seized control of the government, de- clared a national state of emergency, and unlawfully de- tained many democratically elected officials, including State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint, and dozens of Members of Parliament affiliated with the National League for Democracy (NLD); Whereas the House of Representatives adopted H. Res. 134 on March 19, 2021, condemning the coup and calling for the restoration of civilian government and the release of detained officials; Whereas the people of Burma, insistent that their country continue along the path toward democracy, courageously organized a civil disobedience movement and took to the streets to demand that the Tatmadaw relinquish power; Whereas, on April 16, 2021, democratically elected members of Parliament, who had been denied the opportunity to serve by the Tatmadaw, formed a National Unity Gov- ernment that asserts it is the legitimate Government of Burma; Whereas the Tatmadaw has used lethal force, including extrajudicial executions, to violently suppress the pro- democracy movement, killing more than 2,500 civilians since the coup began in February 2021; Whereas the Tatmadaw has relied heavily on mass arrests to stifle dissent and has detained at least 13,600 protesters, activists, and journalists since February 2021; Whereas the Tatmadaw has used brutal and inhumane meth- ods to intimidate, degrade, and torture detainees; Whereas Tatmadaw soldiers have perpetrated rape and other forms of sexual violence with impunity; VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Feb 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR86.IH HR86 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HRES 86 IH Whereas the Tatmadaw has employed digital authoritarian tools and tactics to silence opposition, including internet shutdowns, online censorship, and high-tech surveillance; Whereas the Tatmadaw has eroded the independence of the Burmese judiciary and conducted sham trials to convict political prisoners including State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint; Whereas, on July 23, 2022, the Tatmadaw executed four prominent prodemocracy activists, prompting widespread international condemnation; Whereas the Tatmadaw continues to perpetrate a horrific genocide against the Rohingya population in Burma’s Rakhine State, and has also committed atrocities against other ethnic minority communities in the Kachin, Karen, Mon, Rakhine, Shan, and Chin States; Whereas the House of Representatives adopted H. Res. 1091 on December 13, 2018, expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the atrocities committed against the Rohingya by the Tatmadaw constitute geno- cide; Whereas, on March 21, 2022, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the Department of State’s determina- tion that the Tatmadaw committed genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya population of Burma; Whereas the turmoil caused by the coup and the Tatmadaw’s violence and mismanagement of the economy have re- sulted in a severe economic crisis that, according to the World Bank, has caused poverty in Burma to double since March 2020; VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Feb 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR86.IH HR86 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HRES 86 IH Whereas the deteriorating security situation in Burma fol- lowing the coup has resulted in the internal displacement of nearly 1.3 million people and prompted thousands more to flee the country as refugees; Whereas the Biden administration has frozen more than $1,000,000,000 in Burmese Government funds held in the United States and coordinated with the European Union, Canada, and the United Kingdom to impose tar- geted sanctions against individuals and entities respon- sible for the coup, including Min Aung Hlaing, the com- mander in chief of the Tatmadaw; Whereas Congress recently passed the bipartisan BURMA Act of 2022 as part of the National Defense Authoriza- tion Act for Fiscal Year 2023, granting the President in- creased authority to impose sanctions on individuals and entities affiliated with the Tatmadaw and authorizing in- creased humanitarian aid for the Burmese people; Whereas numerous civil society and human rights groups have recommended additional sanctions targeting the largest sources of the Tatmadaw’s foreign currency rev- enue such as the state-controlled natural gas, mining, and timber entities, including the highly lucrative Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE); Whereas it has been reported that the European Union sanc- tions on MOGE have been effective in blocking revenues from the Shwe gas pipeline being transferred to the Tatmadaw; Whereas aviation fuel shipments imported to Burma by for- eign suppliers enable the Tatmadaw to carry out horrifyingly violent and indiscriminate air strikes on civil- ian targets such as villages, schools, religious buildings, VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Feb 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR86.IH HR86 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HRES 86 IH medical facilities, and camps for the internally displaced and continue wreaking devastating havoc across the country; and Whereas the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, which was established by the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate the Tatmadaw’s crimes against humanity and compile evidence for future prosecutions, is crucial to ensuring accountability for atrocities and bringing justice to the people of Burma: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 1 (1) condemns, in the strongest possible terms, 2 the military coup that took place in Burma on Feb- 3 ruary 1, 2021; 4 (2) denounces the Tatmadaw for perpetrating 5 gross violations of human rights as part of its brutal 6 campaign to suppress the democratic aspirations of 7 the people of Burma; 8 (3) stands in solidarity with the courageous 9 people of Burma as they struggle to wrest political 10 power from the hands of their authoritarian mili- 11 tary; 12 (4) calls on the Tatmadaw to— 13 (A) cease all violence against prodemocracy 14 activists and reach a cease-fire with ethnic 15 armed organizations; 16 (B) release all political prisoners; 17 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Feb 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR86.IH HR86 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HRES 86 IH (C) unconditionally vacate all fraudulent 1 verdicts stemming from politically motivated 2 charges and legal proceedings against elected 3 officials, journalists, civil society leaders, pro- 4 democracy activists, and other unjustly con- 5 victed Burmese people; 6 (D) engage in constructive dialogue with 7 all parties to negotiate a pathway toward a gov- 8 ernment that reflects the will of the Burmese 9 people; 10 (E) grant humanitarian actors unhindered 11 access to all relevant areas of Burma to help al- 12 leviate the immense suffering that has resulted 13 from the Tatmadaw’s violence; and 14 (F) respect the human rights and civil lib- 15 erties of all people of Burma, including ethnic 16 minorities who currently face state-sponsored 17 persecution; 18 (5) rejects any attempts by the Tatmadaw to 19 hold sham general elections in 2023 without first 20 ceasing its violence against prodemocracy forces and 21 releasing all opposition politicians, as any such elec- 22 tion would be far from free or fair; and 23 (6) calls on the President, and the relevant 24 Federal agencies, to take immediate action to— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Feb 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR86.IH HR86 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HRES 86 IH (A) work with international partners and 1 multilateral institutions, including the United 2 Nations Security Council, to enact new targeted 3 sanctions on individuals and entities affiliated 4 with the Tatmadaw, including an international 5 arms embargo and a prohibition on the sale of 6 aviation fuel and other dual use items to the 7 Burmese military; 8 (B) coordinate with like-minded partners 9 and allies to restrict the Tatmadaw’s ability to 10 finance its military operations by imposing new 11 sanctions on Tatmadaw-linked individuals as 12 well as Tatmadaw-controlled entities, including 13 state-owned enterprises; 14 (C) work with Indonesia, the 2023 chair of 15 the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and 16 current country coordinator for the U.S.- 17 ASEAN Partnership, to leverage its position 18 and regional heft to exert greater pressure on 19 the Tatmadaw to fully and meaningfully imple- 20 ment the five-point consensus and bring an end 21 to the crisis; 22 (D) issue public warnings to businesses 23 and individuals outlining the legal liability of 24 doing business with the Tatmadaw, including 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Feb 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR86.IH HR86 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HRES 86 IH potential liability associated with the 1 Tatmadaw’s crimes against humanity; 2 (E) enhance enforcement of existing sanc- 3 tions prohibiting the importation of precious 4 and semiprecious gemstones, jade, timber, and 5 amber from Burma to the United States; 6 (F) implement the BURMA Act fully and 7 expeditiously; 8 (G) provide robust humanitarian assistance 9 in Burma, Bangladesh, Thailand, and the sur- 10 rounding region and ensure that targeted sanc- 11 tions allow all necessary exemptions to permit 12 the delivery of humanitarian assistance to civil- 13 ians in need; 14 (H) ensure that United States-based social 15 media companies, including Facebook, not allow 16 their platforms to be used as vehicles for 17 disinformation campaigns or advocating vio- 18 lence against the Burmese people; 19 (I) build on the Department of State’s 20 March 21, 2022, genocide determination by 21 supporting efforts to end impunity for those 22 committing the crime of genocide and pledging 23 to intervene in the International Court of Jus- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Feb 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR86.IH HR86 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HRES 86 IH tice case in support of The Gambia against 1 Myanmar; 2 (J) direct the United States Permanent 3 Representative to the United Nations to use the 4 voice, vote, and influence of the United States 5 to bring about greater international cooperation 6 to pursue justice and accountability in Burma; 7 and 8 (K) support inclusive international ac- 9 countability efforts, including the Independent 10 Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, with a 11 particular emphasis on Burma’s civil society or- 12 ganizations, to investigate and hold perpetra- 13 tors of atrocities accountable. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Feb 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HR86.IH HR86 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB