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Week Ending June 17, 2005

 

Senate Resolution 174 marking the 60th birthday of Burmese democracy activist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi

 

Click on Flag for map and country data, Burma.

                                                                                         

BRIEF

  Burma, now Myanmar remains in the grip of  a military regime that ignored the interest of a vast majority of Myanmar voters in 1990 who voted Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi  to run the country. Almost immediately Ms Aung was placed under house arrest where she remains today. Her family lives outside Burma.

   The Resolution urges the Secretary of State to address the issue in July 2005 at a Southeast Asian forum.

 

 

Sponsor: Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

Vote: Passed Senate by Unanimous Consent (June 16, 2005)

Cost to the taxpayers: No discernible cost

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MORE INFORMATION

Whereas June 19, 2005 marks the 60th birthday of Burmese democracy activist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi;

   Whereas Burma is misruled by the State Peace and Development Council, an illegitimate, repressive military junta led by General Than Shwe;

   Whereas although the main opposition party in Burma, the National League for Democracy, won a landslide victory in national elections in 1990, the State Peace and Development Council has refused to honor the results of that election and peacefully transfer power in Burma;

   Whereas the State Peace and Development Council as a matter of policy carries out a campaign of violence and intimidation against the people of Burma and ethnic minorities that includes the use of rape, torture, and terror;

   Whereas hundreds of democracy activists, including Aung San Suu Kyi who is the leader of the National League for Democracy, remain imprisoned by the repressive State Peace and Development Council; and

   Whereas the United States and other democratic countries recognize and applaud the dedication and commitment to freedom demonstrated by Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma: Now, therefore, be it

    Resolved, That the Senate--

    (1) recognizes Burmese democracy activist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi as a symbol of the spirit and dedication of the people of Burma who are courageously and nonviolently struggling for freedom, human rights, and justice;

    (2) calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all other prisoners of conscience who are held by the State Peace and Development Council, the illegitimate, repressive military junta in power in Burma; and

    (3) strongly urges Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to initiate a discussion of the repressive practices of the State Peace and Development Council during the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations regional forum and post-ministerial meeting scheduled to take place in Vientiane, Laos on July 29, 2005.

 

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