Text: Senators Introduce Bill to Ban Imports From Burma
(S. 926 would prohibit all Burmese products from U.S. market)Decrying the Rangoon regime as "the world's most brutal military dictatorship," Senator Tom Harkin (Democrat of Iowa) has introduced a bill that would prohibit the importation of any product from Burma.
Harkin, along with Senators Jesse Helms (Republican of North Carolina), Charles Schurmer (Democrat of New York), Ernest "Fritz" Hollings (Democrat of South Carolina) and Dianne Feinstein (Democrat of California) submitted S. 926 May 22 to the Senate, where it was referred to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
According to the bill, "no article that is produced, manufactured, or grown in Burma may be imported into the United States" until such time as "the President determines and certifies to Congress that Burma" has met a series of conditions regarding issues such as "reversing the persistent pattern of gross violations of internationally-recognized human rights and worker rights."
The Burmese government would also have to show that it has made progress in eliminating forced labor "and the worst forms of child labor."
Harkin, in his speech, called the National League for Democracy's (NLD) leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, "a remarkably courageous leader and very brave woman," comparing her to "a living Statue of Liberty, in her undaunted quest and that of the Burmese people for democracy."
The Iowa Democrat urged his Senate colleagues to remember that Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD "won 392 of 485 seats in a democratic election held in 1990. But they have never been allowed to take office."
Following is the text:
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STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
Senate
May 22, 2001By Mr. HARKIN
(for himself, Mr. HELMS, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. HOLLINGS, and Mrs. FEINSTEIN):S. 926. A bill to prohibit the importation of any article that is produced, manufactured, or grown in Burma; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, the people of Burma continue to suffer at the hands of the world's most brutal military dictatorship which cynically calls itself the State Peace and Development Council, (SPDC). Now more than ever, as a nation committed to internationally-recognized human rights and worker rights, democracy, and freedom, America must heed the call of the International Labor Organization, (ILO), and support stronger, coordinated multilateral actions against Burma's repressive regime. In the face of overwhelming evidence of continued, systematic use of forced labor, including forced child labor in Burma, we must do all we can to deny any material support to the military dictators who rule that country with an iron fist.
Furthermore, there is no clear and tangible evidence that the latest informal, closed-door dialogue between the Burmese generals on one side and Aung San Suu Kyi and the other duly-elected leaders of the pro-democracy movement on the other side is bearing fruit. Therefore, we must demonstrate anew to the Burmese people our recognition of their nightmarish plight as well as our support for their noble struggle to achieve democratic governance.
In 1997, a strong, bipartisan majority of the Congress enacted some sanctions and former President Clinton issued an Executive Order in response to a prolonged pattern of egregious human rights violations in Burma. At the heart of those measures is the existing prohibition on U.S. private companies making new investments in Burma's infrastructure. Many other national governments, as well as scores of city and State governments in the U.S. followed suit and adopted their own sanctions.
Nevertheless, the ruling military junta in Burma has clung to power and continues to blatantly violate internationally-recognized human and worker rights. The 1999 State Department Human Rights Country Report on Burma cited ``credible reports that Burmese Army soldiers have committed rape, forced porterage, and extrajudicial killing.'' It referred to arbitrary arrests and the detention of at least 1300 political prisoners.
The following excerpts from the most recent 2000 State Department Human Rights Country Report paint an even more disturbing reality:
The Burmese Government's extremely poor human rights record and longstanding severe repression of its citizens continued during the year. Citizens continued to live subject at any time and without appeal to the arbitrary and sometimes brutal dictates of the military regime. Citizens did not have the right to change their government. There continued to be credible reports, particularly in ethnic minority areas, that security forces committed serious human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings and rape. Disappearances continued, and members of the security forces tortured, beat, and otherwise abused prisoners and detainees.
The judiciary is not independent and there is no effective rule of law.
The Government continued to restrict worker rights, ban unions, and use forced labor for public works and for the support of military garrisons. Forced labor, including forced child labor, remains a serious problem. The use of forced labor as porters by the army--with attendant mistreatment, illness, and sometimes death--remain a common practice. In November, 2000 the International Labor Organization ILO Governing Body judged that the Government had not taken effective action to deal with `widespread and systematic' use of forced labor in the country and, for the first time in its history, called on all ILO members to apply sanctions to Burma. Child labor is also a problem and varies in severity depending on the country's region. Trafficking in persons, particularly in women and girls to Thailand and China, mostly for the purposes of prostitution, remain widespread.
As of September, 2000, the International Committee of the Red Cross had visited more than 35,000 prisoners in at least 30 prisons, including more than 1,800 political prisoners. The ICRC also has begun tackling the problem of the roughly 36,000 persons in forced labor camps.
The Government continued to infringe on citizens' privacy rights, and security forces continued to monitor citizens' movements and communications systematically, to search homes without warrants, and to relocate persons forcibly without just compensation or due process.
The SPDC continued to restrict severely freedom of speech, press assembly, and association. It has pressured many thousands of members to resign from the National League for Democracy, NLD, and closed party offices nationwide. Since 1990 the junta frequently prevented the NLD and other pro-democracy parties from conducting normal political activities. The junta recognizes the NLD as a legal entity; however, it refuses to accept the legal political status of key NLD party leaders, particularly the party's general secretary and 1991 Nobel Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, and restrict her activities severely through security measures and threats.
Furthermore, Human Rights Watch/Asia reports that children from ethnic minorities are forced to work under inhumane conditions for the Burmese Army, lacking adequate medical care and sometimes dying from beatings.
Last year, the UN Special Rapporteur on Burma, in a chilling and alarming account, puts the number of child soldiers at 50,000, the highest in the world. Sadly, the children most vulnerable to recruitment into the military are orphans, street children, and the children of ethnic minorities.
The same UN report also discusses the dire state of minorities in Burma who continue to be the targets of violence. Specifically, it details that the most frequently observed human rights violations aimed at minorities include extortion, rape, torture and other forms of physical abuse, forced labor, ``portering'', arbitrary arrests, long-term imprisonment, forcible relocation, and in some cases, extrajudicial executions. It also cites reports of massacres in the Shan state in the months of January, February, and May of 2000.
A 1998 International Labor Organization Commission of Inquiry determined that forced labor in Burma is practiced in a ``widespread and systematic manner, with total disregard for the human dignity, safety, health and basic needs of the people.''
Last August, California District Court Judge Ronald Lew found in one high-profile court case ``ample evidence in the record linking the Burmese Government's use of forced labor to human rights abuses.''
In sum, the Burmese military junta continues to commit such horrific and appalling human rights and worker rights violations that we have no choice but to unite with other nations around the world and take stronger action.
Even though the Burmese military junta has been terrorizing the 48 million people of Burma since it came to power in 1988 and has vowed to destroy the National League for Democracy, NLD, Aung San Suu Kyi, a remarkably courageous leader and very brave woman, manages to stand steadfast, like a living Statue of Liberty, in her undaunted quest and that of the Burmese people for democracy. We must never forget that she and her NLD colleagues won 392 of 485 seats in a democratic election held in 1990. But they have never been allowed to take office.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner, and countless others are denied freedom of association, speech and movement on a daily basis. Last summer, she came under renewed threats and intimidation. For example, her vehicle was forced off the road last August by Burmese security forces when she tried to travel outside Rangoon to meet with her NLD colleagues. She sat in her car on the roadside for a week until a midnight raid of 200 riot police forced her back to her home and placed her under house arrest until September 14, 2000. Nevertheless, she tried again on September 21st, but she was prevented from boarding a train. The pathetic excuse from the authorities for abridging her freedom to travel within Burma, on that occasion, was that all tickets had been sold out.
This Congress must answer anew the cry of the Burmese people and their courageous freedom-fighters. That is why I am introducing bipartisan legislation today, along with Senator JESSEE HELMS and several of our colleagues, to ban soaring imports from Burma, most of which are apparel and textiles sold by many brand-name American retailers. I am equally pleased that U.S. Congressman TOM LANTOS from California is introducing the companion bill in the U.S. House of Representatives this week.
Most Americans think that a trade ban with Burma already exists. Nothing could be further from the truth. When I began investigating U.S. trade with Burma last summer in concern with the National Labor Committee, I was chocked and alarmed to discover skyrocketing U.S. apparel and textile imports for example.
Last November I requested cable traffic between the U.S. Embassy in Burma and the U.S. State Department at Foggy Bottom to see exactly what officials in Washington, D.C. knew about soaring imports from Burma. It took nearly four months for me to get this unclassified cable traffic. But now I know why. Its contents are very troubling. It constitutes irrefutable evidence that current U.S. sanctions with Burma are far more apparent than real. They are far more bluster than bite. Consider the fact that the U.S. Government currently provides the Burmese military junta with very easy access to the U.S. apparel market because 95 percent of their exports are under no practical import restrictions at all.
Due to rising imports of apparel and textiles from Burma alone, more than $400 million dollars are now flowing into the coffers of the Burmese military dictatorship. These ruthless military dictators and their drug-trafficking cohorts are spending this hard currency to purchase more guns from China and to buy loyalty among their troops to continue their policy of extreme repression and human cruelty.
In other words, American consumers are unwittingly helping to sustain the repressive military junta's grip on power when buying travel and sports bags, women's underwear, jumpers, shorts, tank tops and towels made in the Burmese gulag. It is outrageous that many brand-name U.S. apparel companies such as FILA, Jordache, and Arrow Golf are making more and more of their clothes in the Burmese gulag where many workers earn as little as 7 cent/hour or $3.23/week and where production is non-stop--24 hours/day and 7 days/week.
Make no mistake about it. U.S. apparel imports from Burma are providing the SPDC with a growing source of critically-needed hard currency because the military dictators directly own or have taken de facto control of production in many apparel and textile factories. They are further enriched by a 5 percent export tax. As I said earlier, this hard currency is used to finance the purchase of new weapons and ammunition from China and elsewhere, thus helping to underwrite the perpetuation of modern-day slavery, forced labor and forced child labor in Burma.
But you don't have to take my work for it. U Maung Maung, the General Secretary of the Federation of Trade Unions in Burma, decried at a recent news conference in Washington, D.C., that ``the practice of purchasing garments made in Burma extends the continued exploitation of my people, including the use of slave labor by the regime, by further delaying the return of democratic government in Burma.'' At grave personal risk, he and other NLD leaders have disclosed the growing importance of exports to America and other foreign markets in helping sustain the Burmese military junta in power.
Some may question whether a ban on Burmese trade, including apparel and textile imports, might not harm American companies and consumers? Nothing could be further from the truth. Currently, U.S. apparel and textile imports from Burma account for less than one-half of one percent of total U.S. apparel and textile imports.
Others may assert that enactment of this legislation would violate WTO rules. Yes, Burma does belong to the WTO. Accordingly, the SPDC would have the standing technically to bring a formal complaint when this legislation is enacted. But our response to such a development should be bring it on. Let the Burmese generals argue before the WTO that they have the right to export products made by forced labor and child slaves and in flagrant violation of other internationally-recognized worker rights. This would clearly bring into focus the folly of writing rules for global trade that don't include enforceable worker rights, thus compelling workers in civilized trading nations to have to compete for their jobs de facto with forced labor in Burma.
America must answer the clarion call of the ILO and take a stronger stand in solidarity with the Burmese people and in defense of universal human rights and worker rights in that besieged nation. A trade ban with Burma will reaffirm the belief of the American people that increased trade with foreign countries must promote respect for human rights and worker rights as well as property rights. It will also signal American readiness to join in a new and stronger course of coordinated, multilateral action that is designed to force the Burmese generals from power once and for all and to satisfy the yearning of the Burmese people for democratic, self-government.
In closing, I also ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD and that four recent editorials from the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Boston Globe calling attention to the profound and prolonged suffering of the Burmese people and the need for stronger action in the U.S. and around the world also be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows: S. 926
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The International Labor Organization (ILO), invoking an extraordinary constitutional procedure for the first time in its 82-year history, adopted in 2000 a resolution calling on the State Peace and Development Council to take concrete actions to end forced labor in Burma.
(2) In this resolution, the ILO recommended that governments, employers, and workers organizations take appropriate measures to ensure that their relations with the State Peace and Development Council do not abet the system of forced or compulsory labor in that country, and that other international bodies reconsider any cooperation they may be engaged in with Burma and, if appropriate, cease as soon as possible any activity that could abet the practice of forced or compulsory labor.
SEC. 2. UNITED STATES SUPPORT FOR MULTILATERAL ACTION TO END FORCED LABOR AND THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR IN BURMA.
(a) TRADE BAN.--
(1) IN GENERAL.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, until such time as the President determines and certifies to Congress that Burma has met the conditions described in paragraph (2), no article that is produced, manufactured, or grown in Burma may be imported into the United States.
(2) CONDITIONS DESCRIBED.--The conditions described in this paragraph are the following:
(A) The State Peace and Development Council in Burma has made measurable and substantial progress in reversing the persistent pattern of gross violations of internationally-recognized human rights and worker rights, including the elimination of forced labor and the worst forms of child labor.
(B) The State Peace and Development Council in Burma has made measurable and
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substantial progress toward implementing a democratic government including--
(i) releasing all political prisoners; and
(ii) deepening, accelerating, and bringing to a mutually-acceptable conclusion the dialogue between the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and democratic leadership within Burma (including Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy (NLD) and leaders of Burma's ethnic peoples).
(C) The State Peace and Development Council in Burma has made measurable and substantial progress toward full cooperation with United States counter-narcotics efforts pursuant to the terms of section 570(a)(1)(B) of Public Law 104-208, the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1997.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.--The provisions of this section shall apply to any article entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after the 15th day after the date of enactment of this Act. ...
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