[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Representative Pelosi on Burma Demo



Subject: Representative Pelosi on Burma Democracy

------------------------------------------------------
C O N G R E S S W O M A N     N A N C Y     P E L O S I
-------------------------------------------------------
2457 Rayburn Building
Washington, D.C. 20515	
202-225-4965

For Immediate Release
24 September 1996

Contact:
Carolyn Bartholomew
(202)225-4965


REPRESENTATIVE PELOSI CALLS FOR DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN BURMA

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), a Member of the House Foreign 
Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, joined members of the 
Congressional Human Rights Caucus and representatives of Burma' s 
government in exile today at a press conference in Washington, D.C., to 
call for democracy and human rights in Burma.

The text of Rep. Pelosi's statement follows:

I am pleased to join with my colleagues in the Congressional Human 
Rights Caucus in calling for democracy and human rights in Burma. We 
are 
honored to have with us Dr. Sein Win, the exiled Prime Minister of 
Burma, who exemplifies the courage of Burma's pro- democracy movement. 
Dr. Sein Win is a leader in exile because Burma's military junta will 
not allow that country's democratically elected leaders to serve.

The most effective action the United States can take to assist the 
people of Burma is to impose sanctions and prohibit new investments in 
Burma. I am pleased to be a cosponsor of H.R. 2892, introduced by 
Representative Dana Rohrabacher, which would implement these necessary 
steps. This legislation sends a message to the tyrants of SLORC that 
their actions are not acceptable to the world community.

No one can speak more eloquently or with more authority on how we can 
help Burma than the brave people struggling for democracy and basic 
human rights there. I call to your attention the words of Aung San Suu 
Kyi, who in a BBC interview in May, 1996, said, "Our policy is that any 
investment made now is not going to bring any long-term profits for 
those who are investing, and certainly it is very much against the 
interests of the people of Burma because most of the investments coming 
in are coming in through the same privileged group which is getting 
richer and richer, and more and more intent upon...clinging to power."

Last week, House and Senate conferees completed work on the fiscal year 
1997 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, which includes the Cohen 
amendment on Burma. This amendment is only a first step in the right 
direction. As a conferee, I supported stronger language and I will 
continue to fight for stronger measures until the Burmese people are 
free. SLORC must be held accountable for its human rights abuses and 
for its annulment of a democratic election.

We cannot ignore SLORC's stranglehold on the people of Burma. We cannot 
have business as usual with an illegitimate government that overthrew 
an election which gave its country's democrats 60% of the votes and 82% of 
the seats. We must not turn a blind eye to the 2 million Burmese people 
who have been forced into slave labor by the Burmese regime.

I am proud and honored to stand here today on the grounds of the United 
States Capitol -- an institution which represents freedom and democracy 
to people around the world -- and to speak out for and with those 
people whose governments seek to silence their voices. We will stand by the 
freedom-seeking people of Burma and their just cause will be won.


                             oo0oo