Farm Bill

Floor Speech

FARM BILL -- (Senate - May 14, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, it has now been 10 days since the devastating tropical cyclone hit the country of Burma. The cyclone, which brought sustained winds of 130 miles an hour, with gusts as high as 160 miles an hour, really caused widespread destruction across this Asian nation.

As you can see from the before and after satellite photographs that are on this chart, the devastation was particularly severe in the country's low-lying delta area. A 12-foot wall of water swept away entire villages, leaving thousands dead and homeless. Bodies floated in floodwaters, and survivors tried to reach dry ground on boats, using blankets as sails. Fights broke out around the few shops that were able to provide any kind of food to the hungry people.

The United Nations has estimated that between 1.2 million and 1.9 million people have been severely affected and that cyclone-related deaths could reach over 100,000. Already, more than 200,000 people are reported missing.

Immediately after the cyclone, countries around the world, including the United States, offered emergency supplies and assistance. We offered help in transporting badly needed food, water, and medicine. In fact, U.S. Navy ships that by coincidence were in the region for training exercises have remained in the vicinity to offer help. Yet almost 2 weeks after the cyclone, this natural disaster has been made worse by the reluctance of the

Burmese military government to even accept international aid on the scale that is necessary. Instead, they have ignored the plight of their own people, as the entire world watches. Not only have they refused most outside assistance, they broadcast shameless propaganda showing the military handing out aid to the people. Yet reports from the ground indicate the government has done little or nothing to really help. In fact, there are reports that the government's military has confiscated some of the limited aid that has been allowed to enter into the country.

Not only has the military ignored the suffering of its own people, but it tried to push through a sham referendum at the same time. Can you imagine a national election in the midst of this devastation? Critical time and resources were used to intimidate people to the polls--time and resources that should have been spent for helpless and suffering victims.

U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon summed up the situation when he said:

This is not about politics; it is about saving people's lives. There is absolutely no more time to lose.

He continued:

Unless more aid gets into the country very quickly, we face an outbreak of infectious diseases that could dwarf today's crisis.

In a country that already has one of the worst health care systems of the world, it is even harder for people who need medical attention to find it. The environment is a rich breeding ground for infection and contagious disease. We are hearing disturbing reports of badly injured people trying to dress their own wounds. The government has repeatedly forced humanitarian organizations such as Doctors Without Borders to leave the hardest hit areas. Bodies are decomposing. The contamination is spreading. The immediate risk of waterborne disease is acute. The risk of other diseases, such as malaria and dengue fever, is growing as mosquitoes rapidly reproduce in the flooded areas.

Existing malnutrition among children, which affects up to half the population in Burma, is even worse because of the flooding and cyclone.

Mr. President, perhaps the world should not be so surprised with this military's outrageous reaction to this disaster. This is, after all, a government with a long, well-documented history of brutality to its own people.

In eastern Burma, the military has destroyed 3,000 villages over the past 10 years. It has widely used forced labor and has recruited up to 70,000 child soldiers--far more than any other country in the world. Today, Burma has an estimated 1.5 million internal and external refugees.

It is a country with a well-documented history of political repression and torture. Two years after the Burmese people protested conditions in 1988, the government held an election. Aung San Suu Kyi, a leader in human rights around the world, was placed under house arrest before the election and has suffered mightily since. Despite her party's victory she was subjugated and imprisoned in her own home for most of the last 18 years. Suu Kyi has been awarded the Congressional Gold Medal--recognition by this Congress of her singular efforts in Burma to bring a new day and a new government. Last September, thousands of monks peacefully protested for change in Burma. Many of them were hunted down, imprisoned, and killed. This military junta has ignored global calls for dialog and an end to the violence.

Earlier this week, ADM Timothy Keating, who leads the U.S. Pacific Command, and USAID Administrator Henrietta Fore landed with an American relief flight in Rangoon. They met directly with the Burmese military officials to offer help. I hope this visit does help.

Last week, I spoke of the world taking definitive action to halt the genocide in Darfur. Today, we face a mounting humanitarian crisis in Burma.

Some, including French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, have said the United Nations should invoke the responsibility to protect--a provision that allows the world community to help those left unprotected by their governments. Others argue that China, which also has suffered a horrible natural disaster this week, should use its friendship with Burma to help open the country to outside assistance.

At a minimum, Burma should view China's response to its earthquake, in which it immediately and proactively stated its willingness to accept emergency aid, as an important way to work with the global community. Whatever the route, the world community, with American leadership and generosity, must do more to address this humanitarian crisis.

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