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R E S O L U T I O N
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WHEREAS, Myanmar state forces killed almost 24,000 members of |
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the country's Rohingya Muslim minority between 2017 and 2020, |
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according to a report compiled by the Ontario International |
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Development Agency; and |
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WHEREAS, Rohingya Muslims have lived in Myanmar for |
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centuries, alongside a Buddhist majority and other, smaller ethnic |
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minorities, but following a military coup in 1962, the Rohingya |
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were demonized by a regime seeking scapegoats for its failures; |
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enacting a series of harsh laws, the military stripped them of |
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citizenship and practiced systematic oppression, claiming they |
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were illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, intent upon destroying |
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Buddhist heritage; and |
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WHEREAS, Isolated politically and economically, military |
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leaders began to adopt some trappings of representative government; |
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a new constitution was adopted in 2008, but the persecution of the |
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Rohingya escalated, and authorities launched an ethnic cleansing |
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campaign, interning them in squalid open-air detention camps; and |
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WHEREAS, In a 2015 election, the party led by Nobel |
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Prize-winning champion of democracy Aung San Suu Kyi won a |
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landslide victory; she became the de facto civilian leader, but |
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deferred to the military as the state continued to persecute the |
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Rohingya; after an attack by a rebel group in 2017, the military |
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descended upon Rohingya villages with helicopter gunships; |
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soldiers burned houses to the ground and committed murder and gang |
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rapes in a brutal campaign with "genocidal intent," according to a |
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United Nations human rights report; more than 750,000 desperate |
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Rohingya, mostly women and children, were driven over the border |
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into Bangladesh, according to Amnesty International; and |
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WHEREAS, Before being ousted by a military coup in February |
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2021, Aung San Suu Kyi ignored pleas from the international |
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community to speak out or intervene, dismissing evidence of |
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atrocities as "fake news" and claiming the military was simply |
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fighting terrorism; and |
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WHEREAS, The Rohingya have suffered immensely for decades, |
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and while hundreds of thousands languish in crowded refugee camps |
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in Bangladesh, the fate of those remaining in Myanmar is more |
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precarious than ever under an emboldened military determined to |
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crush all opposition; now, therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 87th Texas |
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Legislature hereby condemn the genocide perpetrated against the |
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Rohingya people by the military government of Myanmar. |