Press Releases

(Wednesday, May 7, 2014)

I thank the gentle____ for yielding me time.

M. Speaker – I am very proud to rise in support of this resolution urging the Government of Burma to end the persecution of the Rohingya people and respect internationally recognized human rights for all ethnic and religious minority groups within Burma.  I especially want to thank my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Congressman Joe Pitts, for his leadership on this issue and for joining me in introducing this bipartisan resolution.

Over 800,000 people of Rohingya ethnicity live in Burma, mostly in the state. Even though many Rohingyas have lived in the Rakhine for generations, the Burma Citizenship Law of 1982 has excluded them from approved ethnic groups, thereby rendering them stateless and vulnerable to exploitation, violence and abuse.

While the Rohingya and other minorities in Burma have historically experienced severe discrimination, there has been a dramatic increase in discrimination and violence against them in the past two years. Attacks in June and July of 2012 resulted in the deaths of at least 57 Muslims and the destruction of 1,336 Rohingya homes; on October 23, 2012, at least 70 Rohingyas were killed and their township was destroyed. Further, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported possessing credible evidence of the deaths of at least 48 Rohingyas in January of this year, and human rights groups reported mass arrests and arbitrary detention of Rohingya in the aftermath of this violence. In addition, other Muslim minorities have also suffered from violent attacks, and many have lost their lives and property in the last year and a half. Such violence against ethnic Muslim populations, including the Rohingya, is part of a larger troubling pattern of violence against ethnic and religious minorities in Burma.

The government of Burma remains apathetic to the plight of the Rohingya population and has failed to properly investigate the major events of anti-Rohingya violence. Instead, both the Rakhine State and Central Government continue to impose explicitly racist policies that seek to control the everyday lives of the Rohingya: authorities require Rohingya to obtain official permission for marriages and have often singled out Rohingya for forced labor and arbitrary arrests; the government of Burma has forcefully relocated Rohingya into relief camps, where they lack decent shelter, access to clean water, food, sanitation, health care, the ability to support themselves, or basic education for their children; the Rohingya are the sole targets of the two-child policy and are the subjects to severe restrictions of movement. Further, as evidenced by the latest census in Burma, the Burmese government continues to deny the Rohingyas their right for self-identification, sending a clear message that the Rohingya are outsiders who have no place in Burma. Today, approximately 140,000 Rohingya are internally displaced and hundreds of thousands have fled to neighboring countries by boats; many have died at sea. Those who remain in the country live in dire poverty and deprivation.

Some relief used to come from humanitarian organizations, like Doctors Without Borders, but even that aid is no longer available. The Government of Burma expelled Doctors Without Borders in March, allegedly after the group cared for the victims of a violent assault on a Rohingya villange, which the government denies ever happened. Increasingly severe restrictions and violent attacks on other humanitarian aid groups have forced the majority of them to flee the Rakhine State, and the Rohingya now remain with no one and nowhere to turn for help and healthcare. Every day, more and more people die of causes that could be preventable or treatable, if humanitarian groups had a chance to help. According to a March 14^th article in The New York Times, nearly 750,0000 people, the majority of them Rohingya, have been deprived of medical services since the Burmese government banned the operations of Doctors Without Borders. According to the article, during the first two weeks of March alone about 150 of those most vulnerable and in need of care died, including 20 pregnant women facing life-threatening deliveries. When Doctors Without Borders were able to work in Rakhine, they sent approximately 400 emergency cases every month to local hospitals, but according to the World Health Organization, less than 20 people received referrals by the government for emergency care in March.  Such a difference suggests that Rohingya in desperate need of emergency care are left to suffer or die.

In light of these disturbing events, it is important that the House speak with one voice today and call on the government of Burma to end all forms of persecution and discrimination of the Rohingya people and ensure respect for internationally recognized human rights for all ethnic and religious minority groups within Burma.  The Burmese government needs to recognize the Rohingya as an ethnic group indigenous to Burma, and work with the Rohingya to resolve their citizenship status. And finally, the U.S. government needs to make the removal of state-sanctioned discriminatory policies a priority in their engagement with the government of Burma.

              Let me be clear: the situation is dire and rapidly deteriorating. Multiple recognized independent human rights NGOs, as well as the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma, have stated that the series of actions directed at the Rohingyas in Burma could amount to crimes against humanity. Further, a recent report by the U.S. NGO United to End Genocide states that nowhere in the world are there more precursors to genocide than in Burma right now. In the past few weeks, we have all taken time to remember and commemorate the victims of the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust, and the genocide in Rwanda. We saw the same disturbing signs in other moments of history and we know what the consequences are of not paying attention. Showing support for this bill is one step you can take today toward fulfilling the solemn pledge of “never again.”

            I urge my colleagues to vote in support of this bill.

I ask unanimous consent to insert materials into the Record – Insert: “Ban on Doctors’ Group Imperils Muslim Minority in Myanmar,” New York Times, March 14, 2014