|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 20, 2008
|
|
|
Contact: Zach Goldberg
202-225-5801 (office) |
|
HOLT, BERMAN, AND ROS-LEHTINEN INTRODUCE RESOLUTION
TO REJECT BURMESE MILITARY JUNTA’S CONSTITUTION
|
|
|
Washington, DC -- Rep. Rush Holt (NJ-12) today announced the introduction of a Congressional Resolution, H. Con. Res 317, that calls for the United Nations Security Council to not accept or recognize the state constitution, unilaterally written by the Burmese military junta, and the outcome of the upcoming constitutional referendum, scheduled for May this year. Reps. Howard Berman (D-CA) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), the Chairman and Senior Republican of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, cosponsored the resolution. On Monday, the U.S. Campaign for Burma, a Washington, DC-based organization mobilizing international support for freedom and democracy in Burma, urged Congress to pass the resolution.
“The Burmese people are determined to enjoy the same rights and freedoms that so many take for granted,” Holt said. “The heroic efforts of opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and others have given hope to victims of terrible oppression, and they deserve our support. Passage of this resolution would send a strong signal to the people of Burma that we stand with them in their struggle for democracy.”
“Burma’s military junta is one of the world’s worst human rights violators, stopping at nothing to retain its grip on power,” Berman said. “This is a country that forcibly jails its democratic opposition, recruits child soldiers and uses rape as a weapon of war. Rush Holt’s resolution signals clearly to the junta that its sham of a constitution is unacceptable, and calls on the United Nations Security Council to affirm that fact. The Foreign Affairs Committee will expeditiously consider this important signal of support for real democracy in Burma.”
“A handpicked cabal of regime insiders cannot legitimately draft a constitution that excludes the Burmese people and their democratic aspirations,” said Ros-Lehtinen. “In the wake of last year’s deadly riots, the regime’s efforts are merely a ploy to prolong their hold on power by seeking to control the forces of freedom. The regime’s refusal to open a dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition leaders illustrates perfectly what a charade this process has become.”
The resolution denounces the one-sided, undemocratic and illegitimate constitution drafting process and referendum by the Burmese military junta, known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), insists the SPDC engage in a tripartite dialogue with democracy forces led by Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic representatives, and demands the immediate and unconditional releases of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners. It also urges President Bush to call for the UN Security Council to not accept and recognize the SPDC’s constitution, pass a binding resolution which will enforce the SPDC to comply with recommendations made by the United Nations, and impose a global arms embargo.
Holt introduced the resolution after the SPDC rejected all recommendations made by the United Nations: establishing an all-party inclusive transparent process of constitution writing; establishing a meaningful and time-bound dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi; releasing all political prisoners; establishing a broad-based poverty alleviation commission, opening an office in Rangoon for the UN Special Envoy; and offering to provide UN assistance to help ensure the referendum is free and fair.
“We appreciate Representatives Holt, Berman and Ros-Lehtinen for this important initiative to not recognize the military junta’s illegitimate constitution, which is designed to perpetuate the military dictatorship in Burma by vesting supreme power in the hands of the Chief of the military, Commander-in-Chief,” says Aung Din, Executive Director of the U.S. Campaign for Burma. “People of Burma are determined to reject this sham constitution at any cost, which will make them slaves of the military for generations.”
The text of the Resolution can be found here.
|
|
|
|
