Civil society expectations from the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference

Today the Government will host the second session of the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference in Naypyidaw. As civil society organizations (CSOs) have been barred from the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC)-led political discussions between the Government, Tatmadaw and ethnic armed organizations (EAOs), ND-Burma has put together a summary of its 14 member organizations’ hopes, expectations and criticisms of the peace process. Our members’ key recommendations are as follows:

● Include all ethnic armed organizations in the political dialogue in order to make Panglong all-inclusive.

● Include civil society organizations in the political dialogue to benefit from their local expertise and community trust.

● Ensure any final peace deal commits to remove the Tatmadaw’s immunity clause from the 2008 Constitution in order to end impunity.

● Ensure any peace deal includes language acknowledging that human rights violations have been committed by all sides and that the Government will need to provide redress for victims.

“We welcome the efforts for peace. But as long as Panglong is not inclusive, peace is very far” 

Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
Download full briefing paper in English HERE.