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and country data, BurmaTheWeekInCongress.com
Week Ending July 22, 2005
Senate Joint Resolution 18 a joint resolution approving the renewal of import restrictions contained in the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003.
← Click flag for map
and country data, Burma
BRIEF
The bill extends the year 2003 sanctions by the US on Burma. Sanctions include a ban on imports from Burma, on exports of financial services by US persons and freezing of assets of some Burmese institutions. Visa restrictions are expanded to include managers and of state-owned businesses and their family members. Arms sales and humanitarian assistance were both blocked even before the 2003 act.
More significant is the way in which the US has taken control of Burmese assets within the US. The US maintains leverage over the owners of those accounts (totaling over $900,000) by licensing the release of some blocked or “otherwise prohibited transactions”.
Other governments have not imposed such severe sanctions but the European Union and other countries froze some assets and banned arms sales and limited financial assistance to the country.
Still, the Burmese government continues to refuse the changes required to re-implement US aid. Perhaps because China has continued to play a significant role in providing arms and financial assistance. China, however, has recently called for a reconciliation between the opposing forces in Burma, the cause of the sanctions in the first place.
The Burmese elected by a wide majority Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi to run the country but the ousted military junta controlled government didn’t agree and placed Ms. Aung under house arrest where she has remained, just recently turning age 60, since 1989. Ms Aung was freed for about five years after 1995 but was arrested and returned to house arrest in 2000. Her family lives out of country.
Burma is considered a resource rich country and is also the second largest producer of heroin in the world.
Sponsor: Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Vote: The Resolution was agreed to in the Senate (July 18, 2005)
Cost to the taxpayers: No discernible cost.
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MORE INFORMATION
Burma is governed by a military junta that took power in September 1988. The junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), violently suppressed pro-democracy demonstrators in September 1988. The junta allowed elections to a National Assembly in 1990, but it nullified the results when the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) won most of the seats. Since 1990, reports from human rights organizations and the U.S. State Department have described a pattern of SPDC policies featuring the suppression of political liberties, jailing of thousands of political prisoners (more than 1,000 estimated imprisoned in July 2005), widespread physical abuses against civilians, the impressment of civilians into military service, and the conscription of thousands of civilians for work on economic projects.
On May 30, 2003, a pro-government group of several hundred people assaulted the opposition NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters near Mandalay, Burma's second-largest city. The attackers were members of the United Solidarity Development Association, a pro-government mass organization. Some NLD supporters were killed, and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders were taken into custody. The government closed NLD offices in the country.
In response to the May 30th attack, the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003 was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R. 2330) and the U.S. Senate (S. 1182) on June 4, 2003. A revised version of the legislation was introduced in the Senate (S. 1215) on June 9, 2003. That latter version, S. 1215, passed the Senate with an amendment on June 11, 2003, by a recorded vote of 97-1. In the House, H.R. 2330 passed with an amendment on July 15, 2003, by a recorded vote of 418-2, 1 Present. The Senate then passed the House-passed version of H.R. 2330 without amendment on July 16, 2003, by a recorded vote of 94-1. The legislation was presented to the President on July 22, 2003, and signed into law by the President on July 28, 2003 (Pub. L. 108-61).
As enacted, the Act generally bans imports from Burma, affecting mainly imports of Burmese textiles and garments. U.S. imports of these products from Burma rose from nearly $60 million in 1994 to $408 million in 2001 before falling to $297 million in 2002, according to Department of Commerce statistics. Total imports from Burma in 2002 were $356 million. The ban on imports will remain until the President certifies to Congress that the SPDC has made major progress to end human rights violations, including rapes, forced and child labor, and conscription of child-soldiers, released political prisoners, allowed political, religious, and civil liberties, and reached agreement with the NLD for a civilian government chosen through democratic elections. The Act also freezes Burmese assets in the United States and requires the United States to oppose aid to Burma by international financial institutions.
Pursuant to section 9(b) of the Act, the import ban will expire one year from the date of enactment unless a joint resolution (`renewal resolution') approving a one-year renewal of the import ban is enacted into law prior to the anniversary of the date of enactment. The Act also provides that the import ban may be renewed for a maximum of three years from the date of enactment, i.e. until July 28, 2006. Last year, on June 14, 2004, the House passed H.J. Res. 97, by a recorded vote of 372-2, approving the renewal of the import ban until July 28, 2005. On June 24, 2004, the Senate passed the House-passed version by a recorded vote of 96-1. The legislation was signed into law by the President on July 7, 2004 (Pub. L. 108-272).
The purpose of S.J. Res. 18 is to comply with the Act's requirement in order to renew the import ban for another year, i.e. until July 28, 2006. An identical resolution (H.J. Res. 52) was passed by the House on June 21, 2005 by a recorded vote of 432-2. H.J. Res. 52 was placed on the Senate Calendar on June 22, 2005.
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