The Second Congress of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) was held from June 20 to 29 in Chiangmai, Thailand.

1. In holding the first part of the Congress from June 20 to 26, 2017, 62 delegates attended the meetings and in addition to reading activity reports of the UNFC Second Term, covering the period from August 2014 to June 2017, reports on domestic and international situations related to the UNFC were read, analyzed and approved, new leaders were elected, and the matter concerning applications of membership withdrawal and applications for membership were discussed and decisions were made. For the Third Term of the UNFC, 24 Council Members were elected, including the 9 Central Executive Committee members. (List of the Council Members is attached.)

2. In holding the second part of the Congress, from June 27 to 29, in addition to the UNFC members, 103 delegates and individuals from the fraternal ethnic armed resistance organizations, fraternal ethnic political parties, fraternal civil society based organizations, observers and technical assistants attended the meetings.

3. In the second part of the UNFC Congress, reviews were carried out on the results of the national level political dialogues and, the results and arrangement of the Second Union Peace Conference – 21st Century Panglong, in addition to the Panglong Handbook, the Basic Federal Principles, the Principles and Policies on Security and Defense and activities relating to the Framework for Political Dialogue, laid down at the Plenary Meetings of EAOs held in Maijayan in July 2016.

4. In the review of results and arrangements of the Second Union Peace Conference – 21st Century Panglong, it was seen that there were weakness and failure to abide by positions and guarantees contained in the Framework for Political Dialogue and NCA, in the conduct of different stages of meetings of the national level political dialogues, work committees, the secretariat of the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee, the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC), the Union Peace Conference – 21st Century Panglong, the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) and the NCA Joint Implementing Committee Meeting (JICM).

5. Moreover, there are weaknesses due to the inability to hold national level political dialogues widely, the inability to discuss thoroughly on matters relating to policy in the meetings of the sectoral work committees due to lack of time, lack of clarity regarding the powers of the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC), the existence of weaknesses in meeting programs and arrangement of the Second Meeting of the Union Peace Conference – 21st Century Panglong, the conference results obtained did not get approval of all the organizations attending the conference, in the different stages of discussions, there was lack of equal footing for the participating groups and, as the Framework for Political Dialogue has not been able to be finalized, there was no clarity with regard to the convening of the Conference and the ways the decisions were made.

6. It is found that the weaknesses shown above agree with the statements, issued by the KNU and the RCSS, evaluating the Second Meeting of the Union Peace Conference – 21st Century Pinlong.

7. In fact, in the effort to end conflict and build long-lasting peace, only if the stake holders meet and consult for answers to the weaknesses mentioned above, peace with guarantee will be gained. We urge for the signing of the Union Accord and the realization of it, only after the questions of participation of all the groups in the peace process, the review and amendment of the Framework for Political Dialogue and through discussions of issues in all the stages of political dialogue are settled to the satisfaction of all the stakeholders.

9. Accordingly, this statement is issued to affirm the position that the ethnic armed resistance organizations, the ethnic political parties and the civil society based ethnic organizations will make the effort collectively for the achievement of democracy, national equality, the establishment of a genuine federal democratic union with full self-determination and the gaining of peace in the union.

Second Congress
The United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC)

Contacts:
1. Khu Oo Reh (UNFC) Phone: +66 (0) 9 327 120 09
2. Sai Kyaw Nyunt (UNA) Phone: +95 (0) 9 516 972 3
3. Mai Chin Chin (NBF) Phone: +95 (0) 9 245 058 3
4. Daw Tin Tin Nyo (WLB) Phone: +66 (0) 9 106 797 06
5. Salai Rankul Cung (NCA-S EAOs) Phone: +66 (0) 9 879 421 37

Download the statement HERE.