US CAMPAIGN FOR BURMA PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: July 19th, 2005
Contact: Jeremy Woodrum or Cristina Moon at (202) 223 0300
US Senate Approves Extension of Trade Sanctions on Burma Week Before State
Dept. Travel to Southeast Asia.
(Washington, DC) Days before US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick
heads to Southeast Asia to attend a major regional summit, the US Senate
overwhelmingly approved the extension of economic sanctions against the
military regime that rules the Southeast Asian country of Burma.
In the midst of a busy legislative session, US Senators voted 97-1 in
support of Senate Joint Resolution 18, a renewal of a total ban on imports
from Burma. The Senate action followed a similarly favorable 423-2 vote
by the House of Representatives on June 21st. US President George W. Bush
is expected to sign the renewal into law soon.
"We thank and commend the US Congress for this firm and forward-looking
policy," said Aung Din, a Burmese former political prisoner and torture
survivor who serves as policy director at US Campaign for Burma. "Burma
is not only an embarrassment to the countries of Southeast Asia, it is
increasingly a threat to regional security. It is time for the United
Nations Security Council to act".
The timing of the vote and expected endorsement from President Bush coincides
with a major trip by US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, who
will travel to Southeast Asia next week to participate in the region's
biggest annual summit, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Regional Forum.
The United States and the European Union have threatened to boycott the
summit the following year in 2006 if Burma's military regime assumes the
leadership of the organization as scheduled. Several Southeast Asian Nations,
including Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines have expressed
their discomfort with the possibility of a rogue nation such as Burma
chairing the region's most important body.
The original Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act 2003 was adopted on July
28, 2003 by both chambers of US Congress and signed byPresident Bush after
Burma's military regime refused to participate in talks with Burma's democracy
movement facilitated by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Instead of working
with Annan's office to help bring about change, the regime locked up Nobel
Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and killed dozens of her supporters
in a nightime massacre near in Depayin, Burma. Suu Kyi's political party,
the National League for Democracy, won Burma's last democratic election
in a landslide, but the ruling generals refused to recognize the result.
Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma's democracy movement maintain a policy of support
for international sanctions. One month ago, 14 Nobel Peace Prize recipients,
including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, issued a public call for increased
international sanctions on Burma's military regime.
Burma's regime has recruited up to 70,000 child soldiers (far more than
any other country in the world), instituted a nationwide system of modern-day
slavery, driven out hundreds of thousands of people from their native
lands, used rape as weapon of war against ethnic minorities, and imprisoned
over 1,000 political activists.
After Aung San Suu Kyi's 60th birthday on June 19th of this year, the
United States raised the issue of Burma among members of the UN Security
Council. Six countries spoke in favor of increased international action.
US Campaign for Burma
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Washington, District of Columbia 20006
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