The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“ROHINGYA CRISIS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S6335-S6336 on Sept. 26, 2018.
The State Department is responsibly for international relations with a budget of more than $50 billion. Tenure at the State Dept. is increasingly tenuous and it's seen as an extension of the President's will, ambitions and flaws.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
ROHINGYA CRISIS
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, Saturday, August 25, 2018, marked 1 year since the brutal attacks in Burma that sent more than 700,000 Rohingya fleeing for their lives to Bangladesh.
Horrific stories were reported, including mass murder, rape, babies being thrown into fires, and entire villages razed to the ground at the hands of Burmese military officials. In Bangladesh, these desperate refugees joined hundreds of thousands of others who fled in waves of previous violence.
The Rohingya sadly have a long history of being discriminated against and even violently attacked in Burma. In fact, UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres said recently of the Rohingya, ``there is no population in the world that I have seen more discrimination against.'' While we have seen changes in Burma recently, the horrible treatment of ethnic minorities such as the Rohingya has continued.
Saturday, August 25, 2018, is also the day we lost our Senate colleague, the great patriot, John McCain.
John McCain and I historically partnered with Senators Feinstein and McConnell to renew sanctions against Burma until it released Aung San Suu Kyi and moved toward democracy. More recently, John McCain was the sponsor of bipartisan Senate legislation that would narrowly sanction those Burmese military officials response for the violence against the Rohingya. I was proud to join him in that effort. The bill has nearly two dozen cosponsors, Members from across the country and the political spectrum. We all recognize as John McCain did that, despite the historic changes in Burma, we must not allow the Burmese military to continue to act with impunity.
We appreciate the efforts of our administration--humanitarian aid, sanctions on a few security officials and units, interviewing refugees and documenting crimes--but it is not enough, especially as Burmese officials continue to deny that any crimes took place and ignore calls of safe and voluntary repatriation and accountability. There are even reports that the Burmese military continues to bulldoze and overtake former Rohingya villages, as well as engage in attacks in Shan and Kachin State against other ethnic minorities.
It is no wonder that the UN's Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar reported recently that the Burmese military acted with ``genocidal intent''--genocide, not a term taken lightly and not a term applied often. This comes on the heels of reports by others, such as Fortify Rights, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch. Presented by the UN's Human Rights Council, the latest report is the result of interviews with nearly 900 witnesses, and it calls for the international community to act.
Our State Department has similarly reported that the Burmese military's operations against the Rohingya were ``well-planned and coordinated,'' although I am disappointed that the Department stopped short of making a legal determination on the crimes.
Senator McConnell continues to block any action on the late John McCain's bipartisan legislation.
A year after the latest wave of violence, report after damning report documents the Burmese military's scorched-earth tactics. The international community calls for immediate action: accountability, humanitarian relief, conducive conditions in Burma for safe and voluntary repatriation.
Congress has its hands tied by the majority leader.
Like Senator McConnell, I have also been a big fan of Aung San Suu Kyi and had high hopes for her, and I recognize the near impossible position she is in with the Burmese military, but her blindness to the suffering of her own people, not to mention her defense of the absurd jailing of the two Reuters reporters, troubles me deeply. That is not the Aung San Suu Kyi that John McCain called his ``personal hero.''
John McCain's bill is about ensuring that we hold the Burmese military accountable for its operations. I hope the majority leader will finally recognize that and allow this bipartisan bill to move.
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