Buddhist Humanitarian Project
1933 Russell Street
Berkeley CA 94703
www.buddhisthumanitarianproject.org
Support the Rohingya and Senate Bill 2060
On Wednesday, November 14 at the Asia-Pacific Summit in Singapore, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence spoke with Myanmar’s de-facto leader Daw Aung San Suu about his deep concern for the plight of the Rohingya peoples. He said:
The violence and persecution by military and vigilantes that resulted in driving 700,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh is without excuse…I am anxious to hear the progress that you are making of holding those accountable who are responsible for the violence that displaced so many hundreds of thousands and created such suffering, including the loss of life.
Pence also pressed Suu Kyi about pardoning two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who were arrested in December 2017, and imprisoned for reporting on the massacre of ten Muslim men, during a crackdown on Rohingya peoples in August of 2017.
An extensively-documented August 2018 United Nations report accuses Myanmar’s military of genocide against the Rohingya in Rakhine state, alleging that the army has been responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity against minorities across the country.
Senate Bill 2060, “The Burma Human Rights and Freedom Act of 2018,” recognizing systematic violence, oppression, and expulsion against nearly a million Rohingya in exile and within Myanmar has been languishing in the United States Senate since February of 2018, when it was introduced and passed out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by Senator John McCain and twenty-six bipartisan co-sponsors. The bill would bring targeted sanctions against senior Burmese military officials responsible for the ongoing genocide of the Rohingya people, as well as authorize nearly $104 million in humanitarian assistance to the region. It would also rescind the U.S.’s support for any international financial assistance projects that involve the Burmese military.
This bill is effectively blocked by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. His reasons for opposition remain unexplained, but his personal friendship with Aung San Suu Kyi is well known. Friendship, however sincere, does not outweigh a human responsibility to end the suffering of many thousand Rohingya people. Since February Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Refugees International, and supporters from more than forty nations have urged the U.S. Congress to pass the Burma Senate Bill 2060, the most significant U.S. legislation supporting human rights in Myanmar in years.
—Alan Senauke, for Buddhist Humanitarian Project
The Buddhist Humanitarian Project is an initiative of Clear View Project, a 501(c)(3) organization.
DRAFT LETTER TO THE U.S. SENATE SUPPORTING S. 2060/ THE BURMA HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOM ACT OF 2018
ADDRESSED TO YOUR STATE’S SENATORS
and to: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
317 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-2541
senator@mcconnell.senate.gov
Dear Senator:
I urge you to swiftly pass the Burma Human Rights and Freedom Act of 2018 (S. 2060). This bill was marked up by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on February 7, 2018.
Since late August 2017 the Myanmar military has executed an ethnic cleansing campaign that has resulted in the displacement of more than 700,000 Rohingya – approximately the population of Washington, D.C. An extensively-documented August 2018 United Nations report accuses Myanmar’s military of genocide against the Rohingya in Rakhine state, alleging that the army has been responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity against minorities across Myanmar. The military’s systematic campaign has consisted of mass murder, scorched villages, and mass rape of women and girls – acts that amount to crimes against humanity. At the root of this crisis is the Myanmar military’s absolute grip on power and latitude to operate with impunity.
For over two decades Congress has taken the lead in shaping U.S. policy toward Myanmar, and the U.S. has been a leading donor in humanitarian assistance to Rohingya refugees who have fled to Bangladesh and other countries, as well as those people internally displaced within Myanmar. I urge Congress, the administration, and the international community to respond decisively and hold Myanmar authorities to account for these gross violations of human rights. This is a crisis that demands not only immediate attention to meet the urgent humanitarian need but also requires solutions that tackle the roots causes of the crisis, protect human rights, and establish accountability for those responsible for heinous crimes.
I call on the U.S. to recommit ourselves as international leaders in providing humanitarian assistance to aid the Rohingya. I also urge the U.S., in concert with the international community, to impose a comprehensive arms embargo and targeted financial sanctions against senior Myanmar military officials responsible for crimes against humanity. To this end, I urge the Senate to release S. 2060 for action by the Senate. If enacted, S. 2060 would:
- significantly increase pressure on Myanmar military officials to conduct prompt investigations and prosecutions of those who have committed heinous crimes;
- prohibit any military-to-military engagement between the U.S. and Myanmar including exchanges, training programs, and assistance;
- require Myanmar to cooperate with the U.N. fact-finding mission, including providing unfettered access to northern Rakhine state; and
- require Myanmar to guarantee unfettered access to Rakhine state for all humanitarian aid groups.
Sincerely,