22 December 2010
One Hundred Tenth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Thursday,
the third day of January, two thousand and eight
_________
An Act
To impose sanctions on officials of the State Peace and Development Council in
Burma, to amend the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003 to exempt
humanitarian assistance from United States sanctions on Burma, to prohibit
the importation of gemstones from Burma, or that originate in Burma, to promote
a coordinated international effort to restore civilian democratic rule to Burma,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Tom Lantos Block Burmese
JADE (Junta’s Anti-Democratic Efforts) Act of 2008’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Beginning on August 19, 2007, hundreds of thousands
of citizens of Burma, including thousands of Buddhist monks
and students, participated in peaceful demonstrations against
rapidly deteriorating living conditions and the violent and
repressive policies of the State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC), the ruling military regime in Burma—
(A) to demand the release of all political prisoners,
including 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu
Kyi; and
(B) to urge the regime to engage in meaningful dialogue
to pursue national reconciliation.
(2) The Burmese regime responded to these peaceful protests
with a violent crackdown leading to the reported killing
of approximately 200 people, including a Japanese photojournalist,
and hundreds of injuries. Human rights groups further
estimate that over 2,000 individuals have been detained,
arrested, imprisoned, beaten, tortured, or otherwise intimidated
as part of this crackdown. Burmese military, police, and their
affiliates in the Union Solidarity Development Association
(USDA) perpetrated almost all of these abuses. The Burmese
regime continues to detain, torture, and otherwise intimidate
those individuals whom it believes participated in or led the
protests and it has closed down or otherwise limited access
to several monasteries and temples that played key roles in
the peaceful protests.
(3) The Department of State’s 2006 Country Reports on
Human Rights Practices found that the SPDC—
(A) routinely restricts freedoms of speech, press,
assembly, association, religion, and movement;
(B) traffics in persons;
(C) discriminates against women and ethnic minorities;
(D) forcibly recruits child soldiers and child labor; and
(E) commits other serious violations of human rights,
including extrajudicial killings, custodial deaths, disappearances,
rape, torture, abuse of prisoners and detainees, and
the imprisonment of citizens arbitrarily for political
motives.
(4) Aung San Suu Kyi has been arbitrarily imprisoned
or held under house arrest for more than 12 years.
(5) In October 2007, President Bush announced a new
Executive Order to tighten economic sanctions against Burma
and block property and travel to the United States by certain
senior leaders of the SPDC, individuals who provide financial
backing for the SPDC, and individuals responsible for human
rights violations and impeding democracy in Burma. Additional
names were added in updates done on October 19, 2007, and
February 5, 2008. However, only 38 discrete individuals and
13 discrete companies have been designated under those sanctions,
once aliases and companies with similar names were
removed. By contrast, the Australian Government identified
more than 400 individuals and entities subject to its sanctions
applied in the wake of the 2007 violence. The European Union’s
regulations to implement sanctions against Burma have identified
more than 400 individuals among the leadership of government,
the military, and the USDA, along with nearly 1300
state and military-run companies potentially subject to its sanctions.
(6) The Burmese regime and its supporters finance their
ongoing violations of human rights, undemocratic policies, and
military activities in part through financial transactions, travel,
and trade involving the United States, including the sale of
petroleum products, gemstones and hardwoods.
(7) In 2006, the Burmese regime earned more than $500
million from oil and gas projects, over $500 million from sale
of hardwoods, and in excess of $300 million from the sale
of rubies and jade. At least $500 million of the $2.16 billion
earned in 2006 from Burma’s two natural gas pipelines, one
of which is 28 percent owned by a United States company,
went to the Burmese regime. The regime has earned smaller
amounts from oil and gas exploration and non-operational pipelines
but United States investors are not involved in those
transactions. Industry sources estimate that over $100 million
annually in Burmese rubies and jade enters the United States.
Burma’s official statistics report that Burma exported $500
million in hardwoods in 2006 but NGOs estimate the true
figure to exceed $900 million. Reliable statistics on the amount
of hardwoods imported into the United States from Burma
in the form of finished products are not available, in part
due to widespread illegal logging and smuggling.
(8) The SPDC seeks to evade the sanctions imposed in
the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003. Millions
of dollars in gemstones that are exported from Burma ultimately
enter the United States, but the Burmese regime
attempts to conceal the origin of the gemstones in an effort
to evade sanctions. For example, according to gem industry
experts, over 90 percent of the world’s ruby supply originates in Burma but only 3 percent of the rubies entering the United
States are claimed to be of Burmese origin. The value of Burmese
gemstones is predominantly based on their original
quality and geological origin, rather than the labor involved
in cutting and polishing the gemstones.
(9) According to hardwood industry experts, Burma is home
to approximately 60 percent of the world’s native teak reserves.
More than 1⁄4 of the world’s internationally traded teak originates
from Burma, and hardwood sales, mainly of teak, represent
more than 11 percent of Burma’s official foreign
exchange earnings.
(10) The SPDC owns a majority stake in virtually all enterprises
responsible for the extraction and trade of Burmese
natural resources, including all mining operations, the
Myanmar Timber Enterprise, the Myanmar Gems Enterprise,
the Myanmar Pearl Enterprise, and the Myanmar Oil and
Gas Enterprise. Virtually all profits from these enterprises
enrich the SPDC.
(11) On October 11, 2007, the United Nations Security
Council, with the consent of the People’s Republic of China,
issued a statement condemning the violence in Burma, urging
the release of all political prisoners, and calling on the SPDC
to enter into a United Nations-mediated dialogue with its political
opposition.
(12) The United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari
traveled to Burma from September 29, 2007, through October
2, 2007, holding meetings with SPDC leader General Than
Shwe and democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi in an effort
to promote dialogue between the SPDC and democracy advocates.
(13) The leaders of the SPDC will have a greater incentive
to cooperate with diplomatic efforts by the United Nations,
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the People’s
Republic of China if they come under targeted economic pressure
that denies them access to personal wealth and sources
of revenue.
(14) On the night of May 2, 2008, through the morning
of May 3, 2008, tropical cyclone Nargis struck the coast of
Burma, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of Burmese.
(15) The response to the cyclone by Burma’s military
leaders illustrates their fundamental lack of concern for the
welfare of the Burmese people. The regime did little to warn
citizens of the cyclone, did not provide adequate humanitarian
assistance to address basic needs and prevent loss of life, and
continues to fail to provide life-protecting and life-sustaining
services to its people.
(16) The international community responded immediately
to the cyclone and attempted to provide humanitarian assistance. More than 30 disaster assessment teams from 18 different
nations and the United Nations arrived in the region, but
the Burmese regime denied them permission to enter the
country. Eventually visas were granted to aid workers, but
the regime continues to severely limit their ability to provide
assistance in the affected areas.
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