The situation in Burma calls for an international responsibility to protect: Burma’s people have suffered more than four decades of brutal military rule and civil conflict. Economic mismanagement has turned a country that once was the rice bowl of Asia into one of the world’s poorest and least developed. Eastern Burma in particular is the location of an armed conflict that has been ongoing since Burma’s independence and is considered the world’s longest-running civil war. Civilians are being targeted and humanitarian assistance to civilians is being deliberately obstructed in the course of military operations. Since 1994, successive resolutions in the UN General Assembly have called for a tripartite dialogue between the Burmese junta, the democracy movement led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the country’s ethnic nationalities as the path to national reconciliation in Burma. A new constitution adopted in 2008 is set to entrench military dominance in the political system despite fresh elections scheduled for 2010.

The conference will examine i.a. the following questions:

  •  What are the facts on the ground in Eastern Burma?

  •  Do violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Burma amount to crimes against humanity?

  •  What are local experiences of living daily life in the shadow of repression?

  •  Reaching a tripartite dialogue and beyond: What are the political challenges  facing Burma’s ethnic nationality leaders?

  •  How can the international community exercise its responsibility to protect in Burma and what should Norway do?

Time: 23 April 2009, 08:30-16:00, please include sufficient time for security modalities.

Venue: Parliament building (entrance by Halvorsens Konditori)

Register: by 17 April 2009, to nina.hansen@nca.no No registration fee

Language: English

Refreshments will be served at lunch break.

Contact Camilla Buzzi, +47-932-42-435, camilla.buzzi@nca.no