BURMA/WOMEN'S CONFERENCE 1 DEC

[darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx]

         WORKING GROUP ON HUMAN RIGHTS, WORKING GROUP ON PEACE,
                 WORKING GROUP ON WOMEN AND ENVIRONMENT
                  WORKING GROUP ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, 
        WORKING GROUP ON REFUGEES AND INTERNALLY DISPLACED WOMEN
                                 of the 
                  NGO COMMITTEE ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN
                                   
                         in association with the
               BURMA WOMEN UNION, BURMA PEACE FOUNDATION,
           NATIONAL COALITION GOVERNMENT OF THE UNION OF BURMA*
                                                                  
            B U R M A  A N D  T H E  M I L I T A R Y  M I N D
                                                                  
             A BRIEFING ON BURMA ADDRESSED TO THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT
                                    
            Church Center for the United Nations, 2nd Floor, 
              777, UN Plaza, New York, New York 10017, USA
                 (entry, 44th St, South corner with 1st Avenue)
                                                       
                 Friday 1 December, 1995, from 2 till 6pm. 
 
 
SPEAKERS: 
 
BETTY WILLIAMS (Nobel Peace Laureate)
 
EDITH MIRANTE (Director of Project Maje, author of "Burmese
Looking Glass" and numerous other studies on non-Burman ethnic
Groups) 
 
ZUNETTA LIDDELL (Anthropologist, Burma expert of Human Rights
Watch/Asia, and the author of a number of reports on Burma)
 
HNIN HNIN PYNE (Representative of the Burmese Women Union; doing
research in public health)
 
HSENG NOUNG LINTNER (Expert on the trafficking of Burmese women) 
 
 
CHAIRED BY 
 
ANNE S. WALKER (Executive Director, International Women's Tribune
Center)
 
WE WILL ALSO SHOW AUNG SAN SUU KYI'S BEIJING VIDEO
 
 
Many of the participants in the Beijing Women's Conference were
moved by Aung San Suu Kyi's video speech, as well as by other
presentations on the situation in Burma.
 
We therefore, as five of the New York working groups of the
Committee on the Status of Women, in association with the Burma
Women Union, The Burma Peace Foundation and the National
Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, would like to take
this interest several steps further, and develop ways of working
on Burma within the Women's movement. We propose as a first move
a conference in New York (entitled "Burma and the military mind")
to bring together the members of our organizations to discuss
possible strategies. 
 
This conference will take the form of a four-hour meeting, the
first part of which will consist of presentations by experts on
different aspects of the situation in Burma, with an emhasis on
the situation of women. The remaining time will be devoted to
working groups and reporting back. The presenters will act as
resource people for these groups. Background papers and a
conference draft document will be sent out in advance which will
analyse the situation in Burma, and make a number of
recommendations. Discussion and amendment of this document will
be part of the discussions. We hope that the meeting will be able
to adopt this document, which then can be used within the women's
movement as well as in such forums as the UN Commission on Human
Rights. 
 
The papers  will also be placed on the internet
 
 
THE PRESENTATIONS AND WORKING GROUPS WILL COVER:
 
Human Rights, including trafficking of women; Refugees and
internally displaced women; Indigenous peoples; The civil war;
Ecological damage.
 
 
There is no charge for the conference. Those wanting background
papers and for further information, contact:
 
Burma Peace Foundation 
Tel (+1-212) 338 0048; Fax 692 9748; Email darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx
_________________________________________________________________
 
*The NCGUB is the provisional government established by the
parties which won the 1990 elections when it became clear that
the military would not hand over power. It is based outside Burma
and is led by Dr Sein Win, a cousin of Aung San Suu Kyi.
 
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