S744 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 29, 2019 Rhode Island voters approved a general Union of Painters and Allied Trades, Whereas the August 2018 United Nations obligation bond of $250 million dol- National Association of Elementary report of the Independent International lars—the largest statewide bond ever— School Principals, National Associa- Fact-Finding Mission on states in to upgrade our public school facilities. tion of Federally Impacted Schools, paragraph 87 that ‘‘the Mission concluded However, the State had identified over National Association of Secondary . . . that there is sufficient information to warrant the investigation and prosecution of $2.2 billion in needed improvements to School Principals, National Concrete senior officials in the Tatmadaw chain of school infrastructure. Rhode Island is Masonry Association, National Edu- command, so that a competent court can de- not the only State facing a school in- cation Association, National PTA, Na- termine their liability for genocide in rela- frastructure crisis. In fact, the Amer- tional Rural Education Advocacy Con- tion to the situation in ’’; ican Society of Civil Engineers gave sortium, National Rural Education As- Whereas, on August 28, 2018, then-United public school buildings across the sociation, National Urban League, States Ambassador to the United Nations country an overall grade of D+ in their North America’s Building Trades Nikki Haley reported to the United Nations 2017 report card. The scope of the Unions, Organizations Concerned Security Council that the Department of school infrastructure crisis is more About Rural Education, Public Advo- State had conducted interviews with 1,024 cacy for Kids, Rebuild America’s Rohingya refugees in camps throughout than many, States or communities can Cox’s Bazar and that the results of the inter- address on their own. The Federal gov- Schools, Rural School and Community views were consistent with the United Na- ernment can and should be a partner in Trust, Secure Schools Alliance, Teach tions Independent International Fact-Find- upgrading our public school facilities. Plus, Twenty-First Century Schools ing Mission on Myanmar; Addressing this need is not only the Fund, and U.S. Green Building Council. Whereas, on September 24, 2018, the De- right thing to do for our students; it We look forward to expanding this coa- partment of State report titled, ‘‘Docu- will also give a needed boost to our lition in the weeks and months ahead. mentation of Atrocities in Northern Rakhine economy, putting people to work in We have no time to waste in fixing State’’, concluded that the military’s at- family sustaining jobs. According to an our deteriorating school infrastruc- tacks in Burma’s Northern Rakhine State were ‘‘large-scale, widespread and seemingly analysis by the Economic Policy Insti- ture. In the words of a student activist in Providence, ‘‘Students cannot learn geared toward both terrorizing the popu- tute, every $1 billion spent on con- lation and driving out the Rohingya resi- struction generates 17,785 jobs. in a crumbling building, a school that dents’’ and that the ‘‘scope and scale of the The Rebuild America’s Schools Act isn’t fit to uplift our minds.’’ We need military’s operations indicate that they were of 2019 will create Federal-State part- to listen to our students, strengthen well-planned and coordinated’’; nership for school infrastructure. It our communities, and improve our Whereas, on December 3, 2018, the United will provide, over ten years, a total of school buildings. I urge all of our col- States Holocaust Memorial Museum con- $100 billion in direct grants and school leagues to support the Rebuild Amer- cluded that ‘‘there is compelling evidence construction bonds to help fill the an- ica’s Schools Act and press for its pas- that the Burmese military committed ethnic sage. cleansing, crimes against humanity, and nual gap in school facility capital genocide against the Rohingya’’; needs, while creating nearly two mil- f Whereas the Government of Burma has lion jobs. SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS consistently denied access to the United Na- Specifically, the Rebuild America’s tions Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar es- Schools Act will provide $7 billion per tablished to investigate human rights viola- year in formula funds to States for SENATE RESOLUTION 34—EX- tions around the country; local competitive grants for school re- PRESSING THE SENSE OF THE Whereas the fundamental operational prin- pair, renovation, and construction. SENATE THAT THE GOVERN- ciples of voluntary repatriation are safety, States will focus assistance on commu- to include legal and physical safety, and dig- MENTS OF BURMA AND BAN- nity, to include treatment with respect and nities with the greatest financial need, GLADESH ENSURE THE SAFE, full acceptance by their national authorities, encourage green construction prac- DIGNIFIED, VOLUNTARY, AND including the full restoration of refugees’ tices, and expand access to high-speed SUSTAINABLE RETURN OF THE rights; broadband to ensure that all students ROHINGYA REFUGEES WHO HAVE Whereas approximately 236,000 Rohingya have access to digital learning. Our BEEN DISPLACED BY THE CAM- refugees returned to Burma from Bangladesh legislation would also provide $30 bil- PAIGN OF ETHNIC CLEANSING under the terms of a 1992 agreement after a lion for qualified school infrastructure CONDUCTED BY THE BURMESE previous bout of violence against the bonds (QSIBs), $10 billion each year Rohingya forced them to flee, only to con- MILITARY AND TO IMME- tinue to be denied citizenship, face prejudice, from FY 2020 through FY 2022, and re- DIATELY RELEASE UNJUSTLY violence, and persecution, and in many in- store the Qualified Zone Academy IMPRISONED JOURNALISTS, WA stances be forced to live in internally dis- Bonds (QZABS) that were eliminated in LONE AND placed persons (IDP) camps with their free- the Republican Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mr. dom of movement restricted; Whereas Burma’s 1982 citizenship law The legislation also eases the matching RUBIO, Mr. DURBIN, Ms. COLLINS, Mrs. requirements and expands the author- stripped Rohingya of their Burmese citizen- FEINSTEIN, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. ship, rendering them stateless; ity and eligible purposes of QZABS to TILLIS, Ms. WARREN, Mr. KAINE, Mr. allow local education agencies to con- Whereas the Government of Burma con- VAN HOLLEN, Mr. BROWN, Mr. MARKEY, tinues to systematically discriminate struct, rehabilitate, retrofit, or repair Mr. WYDEN, Mr. SANDERS, Mrs. MUR- against the , a long-per- school facilities. The Rebuild Amer- RAY, Mr. COONS, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Ms. secuted Muslim minority within Burma, in- ica’s Schools Act also supports Amer- CORTEZ MASTO, Mr. SCHATZ, Ms. HAR- cluding by continuing to restrict registra- ican workers by ensuring that projects RIS, and Mr. PETERS) submitted the fol- tion of Rohingya births and to deny them use American-made iron, steel, and lowing resolution; which was referred freedom of movement, access to healthcare, manufactured products and meet labor to the Committee on Foreign Rela- land, education, marriage, voting rights, and standards. political participation; tions: Whereas the Government of Burma has re- I would like to thank the broad coali- S. RES. 34 tion of educators, community organiza- peatedly abused land use laws to unjustly Whereas, on August 25, 2017, attacks on se- seize land from Rohingya refugees; tions, unions, civil rights advocates, curity posts in Burma by the Arakan Whereas the United Nations High Commis- and employers that have provided feed- Rohingya Salvation Army militant group re- sion on Refugees (UNHCR) is working closely back and support for this legislation, sulted in a brutal, systematic, and dispropor- with the Government of Bangladesh and including the American Federation of tionate reprisal by the Burmese military and partners to provide protection and assistance Teachers, Association of Educational security forces on Rohingya villages in to the Rohingya refugees and to support the Service Agencies, Association of Rakhine State; host populations affected by the influx; School Building Administrators Inter- Whereas approximately 700,000 Rohingya Whereas, on November 23, 2017, the Govern- national, Brick Industry Association, refugees have fled to Bangladesh since the ment of Burma and the Government of Ban- Burmese military commenced its scorched- gladesh signed an agreement, known as the Californians for School Facilities, earth campaign, with the burning of villages ‘‘Arrangement’’, on the return of displaced Council of Great City Schools, Healthy and local monuments, and reports of wide- persons from Rakhine State, which is mod- Schools Network, International Union spread gang rape, starvation, killing, and eled after the 1992 repatriation agreement of Operating Engineers, International forcible deportation; between Burma and Bangladesh;

VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:06 Jan 30, 2019 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A29JA6.021 S29JAPT1 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with SENATE January 29, 2019 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S745 Whereas the Arrangement includes ref- (3) ‘‘Threats against and arrests of journal- (10) calls on the Government of Burma to erences to restoring normalcy and human ists increased . . . Freedom of expression was address root causes consistent with the rights in Rakhine State, for refugee returns more restricted during the year compared Rakhine Advisory Commission recommenda- to comply with international standards of with 2016. This included a higher number of tions and fully implement all of the rec- safety, dignity, and voluntariness, and to detentions of journalists using various laws, ommendations of the Commission, including commencing a process to address root causes including laws carrying more severe punish- providing equal access to full restoration or in line with the Rakhine Advisory Commis- ments than those used previously.’’; granting of full citizenship for the Rohingya sion recommendations; Whereas, according to PEN America, the population; Whereas the Department of State has as- discontinuation of Radio Free Asia’s broad- (11) calls on the Government of Burma to sessed that Burma has not made progress on casting in Myanmar on a domestic channel acknowledge and address the issue of state- the ‘‘more crucial’’ of the 88 recommenda- constitutes a further shrinking of the space lessness for the Rohingya, the deprivation of tions of the Rakhine Advisory Commission for free expression in the country; and rights, and institutionalized and pervasive that are identified by Rohingya refugees as Whereas, additionally, PEN America re- discrimination of the Rohingya population prerequisites to repatriation including free- ports that— in order to bring about any sustainable solu- dom of movement, civil documentation, and (1) there continues to be increased legal tions; a transparent pathway to citizenship; threats, imprisonment, and physical harass- (12) commends the Government and the Whereas, on June 6, 2018, the Government ment of journalists; people of Bangladesh for their extraordinary of Burma reached a tripartite Memorandum (2) there continues to be restrictions on generosity and efforts to provide shelter and of Understanding (MOU) with the UNHCR the ability to report from and receive infor- relief for nearly 1,000,000 Rohingya refugees and the United Nations Development Agency mation on conflict areas; and forced to flee their homes in Burma; (UNDP) on its role in the safe, dignified, and (3) the lack of reform of media laws and in- (13) calls on the Government of Bangladesh voluntary return of Rakhine State refugees; stitutions is driving a decline in media free- to ensure all refugees have freedom of move- Whereas Rohingya refugees currently dom: Now, therefore, be it ment and under no circumstances are subject hosted in Bangladesh demonstrated in pro- Resolved, That the Senate— to unsafe, involuntary, precipitous, or unin- test against an initial November 2018 repatri- (1) condemns the violence and displace- formed returns to Burma; ation plan between the Governments of Ban- (14) calls for all the convictions against Wa gladesh and Burma, citing concerns for their ment inflicted on Burma’s Rohingya and other ethnic minorities; Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo to be nullified, for security and the lack of meaningful political the similar charges against many other jour- reforms in Burma to include full citizenship; (2) urges the Secretary of State to make a determination whether the actions by the nalists currently awaiting trial to be Whereas UNHCR, on January 4, 2019, re- dropped, and for the immediate and uncondi- ported that conditions in Burma’s Rakhine Myanmar military constitute crimes against humanity or genocide and to work with tional release of these journalists; State remain ‘‘not conducive to return’’ on (15) expresses concern about the Govern- the heels of the Government of India’s re- interagency partners to impose targeted sanctions on Myanmar military officials, to ment of Myanmar’s crackdown on journal- grettable decision to repatriate 16,000 ists and press freedom throughout the coun- Rohingya to Burma without having first include Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, re- sponsible for these heinous acts through ex- try; ascertained the ‘‘voluntariness of their deci- (16) reaffirms the central role that inde- sion to return’’; isting authorities; (3) condemns the attacks by the Arakan pendent and professional journalism plays in Whereas, throughout this process, the Gov- strengthening democratic governance, up- ernment of Burma has restricted media free- Rohingya Salvation Army militant group; (4) calls on the Government of Burma to holding the rule of law, mitigating conflict, dom and jailed journalists; and informing public opinion around the Whereas, on December 12, 2017, allow full access to Rakhine State and en- sure the full participation of UNHCR, the world; and and Kyaw Soe Oo, two journalists reporting (17) calls upon the United States Govern- and documenting atrocities against the internationally endorsed organization tasked with ensuring that refugee returns ment to continue the United States status as Rohingya, were arrested and on January 10, a top global donor nation to the humani- 2018, formally prosecuted with violating the are voluntary, safe, dignified, and meet international refugee and human rights tarian response in Burma and Bangladesh ‘‘Official Secrets Act’’; and for the President’s fiscal year 2020 budg- Whereas Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Soo had standards, and that the voices of refugees are represented in order to ensure the sustain- et request to reflect that longstanding uncovered a massacre of 10 Rohingya men United States commitment. perpetrated by Burma’s security forces and ability of such returns and to prevent fur- aided by local Buddhist villagers in the vil- ther waves of displacement; f lage of Inn Din in Rakhine State; (5) commends the positive role of the Gov- ernment of Bangladesh in receiving AMENDMENTS SUBMITTED AND Whereas, on September 3, 2018, PROPOSED northern district judge Ye Lwin ruled that Rohingya refugees to date and urges the Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo breached the co- Government of Bangladesh to continue al- SA 59. Ms. MCSALLY submitted an amend- lonial-era Official Secrets Act and sentenced lowing the full participation of UNHCR and ment intended to be proposed by her to the them each to seven years in prison with hard human rights organization in accessing ref- bill S. 1, to make improvements to certain labor; ugee camps; defense and security assistance provisions Whereas, on January 11, 2019, Wa Lone and (6) calls on UNHCR and international non- and to authorize the appropriation of funds Kyaw Soe Oo’s appeal of their conviction be- governmental organizations to continue to to Israel, to reauthorize the United States- fore the Yangon Regional High Court was de- play a role in monitoring repatriation efforts Jordan Defense Cooperation Act of 2015, and to halt the wholesale slaughter of the Syrian nied; by the Governments of Bangladesh and people, and for other purposes; which was or- Whereas Time Magazine named Wa Lone Burma to ensure a process that meets inter- dered to lie on the table. and Kyaw Soe Oo as co-recipients of 2018 national norms for voluntary, safe, and dig- SA 60. Ms. MCSALLY submitted an amend- Time Magazine’s ‘‘Person of the Year’’ in nified repatriation; (7) agrees that any return of Rohingya ment intended to be proposed by her to the recognition for their courageous reporting; bill S. 1, supra; which was ordered to lie on Whereas Vice President Mike Pence should include guarantees that any returns of refugees will be voluntary and dignified, the table. tweeted his concern over the sentence SA 61. Mr. KENNEDY submitted an amend- against Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo for that there will be no threats to protection or security upon return, that refugees will be ment intended to be proposed by him to the ‘‘doing their job reporting on the atrocities bill S. 1, supra; which was ordered to lie on being committed on the Rohingya people’’; able to return to their places of origin or other locations as desired, and be able to the table. Whereas United States Ambassador to the SA 62. Mr. KAINE submitted an amend- enjoy equal rights with others in Burma, in- United Nations Nikki Haley described the ment intended to be proposed by him to the cluding the restoration or granting of full conviction as ‘‘another terrible stain on the bill S. 1, supra; which was ordered to lie on Burmese government’’ and called for ‘‘their citizenship, freedom of movement, and ac- the table. immediate and unconditional release’’; cess to basic services; SA 63. Mr. LEE submitted an amendment Whereas the Department of State’s annual (8) recognizes that any forced relocation of intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. Human Rights Report on Burma for the year Rohingya refugees into temporary settle- 1, supra; which was ordered to lie on the 2017 states that— ments, IDP camps, ‘‘model villages’’, or table. (1) ‘‘legal provisions that allow the govern- other areas not of refugees’ choosing is unac- SA 64. Mr. LEE submitted an amendment ment to manipulate the courts for political ceptable; intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. ends, and these provisions were sometimes (9) calls on the Government of Burma to 1, supra; which was ordered to lie on the used to deprive citizens of due process and allow for a flexible and practical approach to table. the right to a fair trial, particularly with re- dealing with evidence of Rohingya residence SA 65. Mr. MCCONNELL (for himself, Mr. gards to the freedom of expression’’; in Burma, recognizing that the Rohingya ref- GRAHAM, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. BURR, Mr. ROMNEY, (2) ‘‘The government continued to detain ugees in Bangladesh possess a wide range of Ms. ERNST, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. and arrest journalists, activists, and critics documents and that some refugees have no SASSE, Mrs. FISCHER, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. of the government and the military during documents and will need to establish their JOHNSON, Mr. SHELBY, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. COR- the year.’’; and residence by other means; NYN, Mr. SULLIVAN, Mr. WICKER, Mr.

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