The Australian National University (ANU) and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) recently held their biannual Burma Update conference in Canberra.
The conferences tend to attract heated debate with a good mix of academics, practitioners, Burmese nationals and activists. Nevertheless it is an insular gathering really geared towards how the western international community can respond to Burma’s predicament. Representation of ethnic issues was seriously lacking. The only input from locals working on the ground was Mahn Mahn’s paper on the Back Pack Health Worker Teams.
One of the key outcomes of the conference was the need to address poverty, in particular to use the economy as leverage for dialogue with the Burmese military and subsequently assistance that can bring about change. Those familiar with Burma will know that poverty underpins almost every aspect of the lives of those living in Burma. Charles Petrie, who until recently was the resident UN Coordinator in Burma, called the uprising in August/September an “articulation of suffering”. He used his presentation to point out that the Burmese military’s economic policy encourages dependency and is therefore a disincentive for a functioning economy. And that while investment in infrastructure has increased, investment in social services hasn’t and this is creating major problems both now and for Burma’s future.
Some interesting points raised across the presentations:
- A recent UN survey found that 90% of Burma’s population spend less than US$240 a year, of that 75% is spent on food
- The Burmese military do not respond kindly to criticism of their ability to manage the economy
- Order 596 makes it illegal to talk about the constitution, yet delegates were charged with going into their communities and letting the population know what the constitution was about
- 80% of Burma’s import trade happens cross-border and 60% of export trade happens cross-border (this type of trade is not affected by the trade sanctions imposed by the US and EU)
- Private education in Burma is proliferating at an alarming rate
- Displacement causes a 2.4 increase in child death; 3.1 increase in child malnutrition; 4.5 increase in landmine injury
- 2% of the Burmese population has HIV/AIDS, however it is currently controlled and not the epidemic it is often talked of
- Commercial sex workers have followed the HIV/AIDS trend rather than led it; injecting drug users are a significant contributor
Summings up by Ashley South and Morten Pedersen really tried to focus on the idea of practical and durable action. I paraphrase but these are some of the suggestions:
- Greater focus needs to go towards the process rather than the outcomes
- There needs to be a durable negotiation process – inclusive of the opposition and the ethnic nationality groups
- Build capacities – both at the community and individual level
- Encourage the development of a more inclusive opposition
- Maintain diplomatic pressure including incentives for the Burmese military to adopt change
- More assistance is needed – both humanitarian and beyond
- Pressure at the governmental level needs to be complimented by development of the grassroots level
- Identify entry points for further dialogue, for eg health, poverty reduction or global issues such as drugs and trafficking
Most of these suggestions are not necessarily new, however they do emphasize the need to address Burma’s devastating decline from a multi-approach level. The overall message from the conference was the need to conduct a unified approach – that means those working inside Burma, those in the border regions and the international and exiled communities. A strong, unified message will be Burma’s greatest ally. The conference’s silence on ethnic issues is a worrying weakness in attaining this unity.
As usual there should be a book of the various papers, published some time in the new year. Keep an eye out on the website for publication dates.
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