Political Quotes

“I now yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), the author of the resolution. Mr. McGOVERN. I want to thank my colleague, Mr. Engel, for yielding me the time and for his leadership on this and on so many other issues of human rights. I also want to thank Chairman Royce for his support and Chairman Chabot. I appreciate all that you do for human rights. I admire all of these gentlemen who are here on the floor. They have been outspoken for human rights, not only in Burma, but all around the world. Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to rise in support of this resolution urging the Government of Burma to end the persecution of the Rohingya people and to respect internationally recognized human rights for all ethnic and religious minority groups within Burma. I especially want to thank my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Congressman Joe Pitts, for his leadership on this issue and for joining me in introducing this bipartisan resolution. Over 800,000 people of the Rohingya ethnicity live in Burma, mostly in the Rakhine State. Even though many Rohingyas have lived in the Rakhine for generations, the Burma citizenship law of 1982 has excluded them from approved ethnic groups, thereby rendering them stateless and vulnerable to exploitation, violence, and abuse.…”