Peace conference in Burma/ Myanmar

On occasion of the first day of a peace conference focusing on Burma’s minority areas, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) demands that the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Burmes army must be processed. “The victims of violence must have their say! After 68 years of civil war, there will be no real and sustainable peace in Burma without truth and justice,” said Ulrich Delius, the STP’s Asia-consultant, in Göttingen on Tuesday. “Millions of members of the minority groups are deeply traumatized due to the forced displacements, rape, expulsion, forced labor, and executions. There must be an end to the ongoing impunity of the armed forces.”

The four-day conference in Burma’s capital Naypyidaw will be opened on August 31, 2016. There will be about 1,800 participants – representatives of the government, of the political parties, 18 liberation movements of the ethnic minorities, as well as the army.

“However, it is absurd and extremely aggravating that women, young people, and non-governmental organizations will not be adequately represented at the peace conference – or not at all,” criticized Delius. It is especially the very active civil society with hundreds of NGOs that advocates on behalf of the members of the minority groups. The human rights activist emphasized that a credible peace agreement could only be found by including the civil society as well as the women, who suffered especially during the civil war, which has been going on since 1948. 

The conference is also to be seen as a reference to the historically important Panglong Conference in February 1947, which was also about the future structure of the British colony of Burma as an independent state. Back then, the minorities were promised more self-determination – but the promises were not kept. Thus, a civil war broke out in the minority areas in 1948. Currently, there are still armed clashes between the army and armed rebel groups of the minorities, despite a comprehensive ceasefire.

The Shan, the Karen, Karenni, Chin, Mon, and other minority groups make up about 30 percent of the population of Burma/Myanmar. As their settlement areas are rich in mineral and energy resources, they are also very interesting from an economic point of view.

Header Photo: Steve Gumaer/ Flickr