(Interview ) – Khin Ohn Mar, one of the exiled- based Burmese democracy leaders, will take part in a “Community of Democracies” meeting in Lithuania on Thursday. Civil society representatives were invited under a special programme sponsored by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Mizzimainterviewed Khin Ohn Mar on the Burmese issues she will discuss at the conference.
Question: How did this international meeting come about?
Answer: This meeting has been held for 11 years. They call the meeting “Community of Democracies.” Governments of developed democratic countries organized the meeting. The foreign ministers and ministers meet annually to promote democracies around the world and to consolidate and uplift democracies.
At the same time, the representatives of civil societies come here and hold their meetings back to back with the main meeting. Starting last year, some ministers, especially Hillary Clinton, organized meetings with civil society groups to seek advice from them for enhancing and developing democracy.
Ten representatives from civil societies will meet with Hillary Clinton and the foreign minister of the host country for about an hour. Other representatives from various civil societies and the media will also attend the meeting.
Q: What is this ‘Community of Democracies’ organization?
A: ‘Community of Democracies’ consists of real democratic countries. In the UN, there are despotic countries. The despotic countries in the UN become a hurdle and create obstacles in some cases for developing democracy in the world. So this democratic community was formed with developed democratic countries like the US and many other democratic Western countries plus some democratic countries from Asia such as Hong Kong, South Korea and Mongolia. We can say this organization is an exclusive group of democratic governments working for democracy.
Q: Which Asian countries are included in the meeting this year?
A: The civil society groups here are from countries that are still struggling for democracy and from underdeveloped democracies, especially countries run by military dictators such as Burma, Congo, Somalia and Uganda. The people trying to restore democracy in these undemocratic despotic countries are invited to allow them to present their country’s issues at the meeting. There are representatives from Cambodia, Burma, Malaysia, India and some other Asian countries here.
Q: What will you present here?
A: There will be two parts. I will focus on the post-election situation in our country. I will say that generally speaking the situation in the country has worsened in the post-election period. They broke the cease-fire agreement reached with ethnic armed groups and they launched military offensives against them. And then I will focus on the growing human rights violations and the current situation in Kachin State after the outbreak of war recently. During this war, 18 young Kachin girls were raped and four of them were killed.
On the other hand, I will mention the warning issued by the newly elected government to the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, challenging its status and its activities. Finally, I will talk about the more than 2,000 political prisoners who are still languishing in prisons across the country.
Q: What do you expect will result from this meeting?
A: We will get direct exposure with foreign leaders. These leaders might be familiar with our countries but they might not know every issue. I expect concrete action from them as the situation in our country has worsened and deteriorated day by day. I will urge them to support a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on gross human right violations in Burma. This action should be led by the US and undertaken as soon as possible. We can urge prompt action from these leaders at this face-to-face meeting.
Q: Hillary Clinton is a world leader who encourages women and speaks up on women’s issues. Will you present women's issues at this meeting?
A: The army commits these crimes of violence against women. Only if the UN can intervene and take action against these human rights abuses, can we stop the violations. Recently, Aung San Suu Kyi replied in a letter to the home ministry, responding to their warning letter. Daw Suu is going on a tour in the country. We have to worry about her security. I want the US secretary of state to do as much as she can to protect pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi and to try to prevent her from being attacked. I hope to see the US put a priority on Burma issues in its foreign policy.
