Submitted Resolutions
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
SENATE
Sept. 21, 2004
SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS: SENATE RESOLUTION 431-EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL SHOULD IMMEDIATELY CONSIDER AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTIONS TO RESPOND TO THE GROWING THREATS POSED BY CONDITIONS IN BURMA UNDER THE ILLEGITIMATE RULE OF THE STATE PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL
Mr. McCONNELL (for himself, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. FEINGOLD, Mrs. DOLE, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr. BROWNBACK, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. LUGAR, and Mr. CORZINE) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations;
Whereas the National League for Democracy, headed by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, is the legitimately elected political leadership in Burma;
Whereas the ruling State Peace and Development Council, headed by General Than Shwe, and its affiliated organizations continue, through a variety of means, to violate the human rights and dignity of the people of Burma through murder, torture, rape, forced relocation, the employment of child soldiers, the use of forced labor, and the exploitation of child laborers;
Whereas the State Peace and Development Council has detained over 1,300 prisoners of conscience, including National League for Democracy leaders and supporters of democracy;
Whereas, under the repressive rule of the State Peace and Development Council, the situation in Burma poses an immediate and growing threat to the Southeast Asia region, including through the unchecked spread of HIV/AIDS, the illicit production of, and trafficking in, narcotics, trafficking in persons, and alleged efforts to purchase weapons from North Korea, China, and Russia;
Whereas, at the 58th session of the United Nations General Assembly, a resolution was adopted by the General Assembly that expresses grave concern about the ongoing systematic violations of human rights inflicted upon the people of Burma and calls on the State Peace and Development Council to release all political prisoners, respect the results of the national elections in 1990, and restore democracy to Burma; and [Page S9454]
Whereas the National League for Democracy has called upon the United Nations Security Council to intervene on behalf of the people of Burma: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the United Nations Security Council should immediately consider and take appropriate actions to respond to the growing threats posed to the Southeast Asia region by conditions in Burma under the illegitimate rule of the State Peace and Development Council, including the threats posed by widespread human rights violations, the unchecked spread of HIV/AIDS, the illicit production of, and trafficking in, narcotics, trafficking in persons, and alleged efforts by the State Peace and Development Council to purchase weapons from North Korea, China, and Russia.
Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, today I submit, along with some fellow members of the unofficial, bipartisan Senate Burma Caucus, a resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that the United Nations Security Council should immediately consider and take appropriate actions to respond to the growing threats posed by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) in Burma to its immediate neighbors and the entire region.
What are these threats? The unchecked spread of HIV/AIDS that is further aggravated by the SPDC's use of rape as a weapon of war against the people of Burma, particularly ethnic women and girls; the illicit production and trafficking in narcotics, which destroys the lives of Asian youth and families; trafficking in persons and brutal crackdowns on ethnic minorities that create significant populations of internally displaced persons and refugees; alleged efforts to purchase weapons from North Korea, the People's Republic of China and Russia.
For the past decade, we have know that the SPDC poses a clear and present danger to the people of Burma, including democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and other senior members of the National League for Democracy (NLD). Resolutions, statements and reports by the U.S. State Department, the United Nations, the European Nation (E.U.), and human rights organizations have repeatedly documented and condemned brutal human rights violations committed with impunity by the SPDC.
Today, there is no question that Burma's myriad problems are no longer the internal affair of a handful of psychopathic generals in Rangoon.
Last May, the NLD called upon the U.N. Security Council to intervene.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the United Kingdom, and the Administration, who are scheduled to take over chairmanship of the Council in October and November, respectively should heed their call.
In Burma, time now favors the democrats. With the international community's continued vigilance, appropriate pressure can be placed on the SPDC before they assume chairmanship of the ASEAN in 2006 to secure a meaningful path toward reconciliation that includes the full and unfettered participation of the NLD. If the Security Council takes up the matter of Burma, significant strides will be made toward democracy and justice in that country.
It is an understatement to say that I am disappointed with the E.U.'s decision to allow "low level" participation by the SPDC in the upcoming ASEM meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam. Such action serves only to prolong the suffering of the Burmese people, including the hundreds currently languishing in prisons for peacefully championing the principles of freedom and justice, and the three NLD youths recently arrested for the "heinous" crime of gathering signatures on a petition calling for Suu Kyi's release from house arrest.
With France, Spain and Portugal reportedly clamoring to derail the toughening of sanctions against Burma, it is only fair to ask: When will they act to support the democrats of Burma?
It is time the world's democracies make 2006 the "Year of Democracy" in Burma.
I want to recognize Senators FEINSTEIN, MCCAIN, MIKULSKI, FEINGOLD, LEAHY, and DOLE for their support of the resolution, and freedom and justice in Burma.
I ask unanimous consent that an article by William Ashton that appeared in the Irrawaddy on the SPDC's efforts to procure weapons be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows: