Activists mark peace day in Yangon

Activists mark peace day in Yangon

By Wa Lone   |   Monday, 30 September 2013

International Day of Peace was marked in Myanmar for the second consecutive year on September 21 with meetings, marches and calls for reconciliation between different ethnic and religious groups.

A peace activist yells through a megaphone during a march through Yangon on September 21. (Lwin Ko Taik/The Myanmar Times)

While a protest march during last year's event led to a number of charges being laid against organisers, with the cases still before the courts, this year the event went much more smoothly – and even had official support.

Minister for the President's Office U Aung Min – the government's senior peace negotiator – and three other ministers joined in celebrations in Yangon.

"I'd like to invite more young people to get involved in our country's peace process in future," U Aung Min said.

In Yangon, almost 500 people representing 60 civil society organisations marched from Sule Pagoda to the People's Square as part of a day-long celebration that focused on artistic output on the theme of peace, from poems and paintings to performances and a music concert. Unlike in 2012, they were granted permission by local officials to conduct the march, a move that attracted praise from activists.

The celebrations, however, did not detract from the serious concerns over the future of Myanmar's conflicts, particularly in Kachin State, where the war is now well into its third year. Participants observed two minutes' silence to show their desire for nationwide peace.

Daw Khon Ja of the Kachin Peace Network said more than 120,000 people in Kachin State are living in IDP camps as a result of the conflict. She said one-third of the refugees are children, many of whom have missed more than two years of school.

"They [children] are being in the war, suffering starvation, so it's very difficult to get a good environment to learn even though they've gone to school in the IDP camps," Daw Khon Ja said. "Especially the babies born in the camps: They don't know how to live [normally]. If they go back to their home it will take a long time to return to normal."

Ko Htay Kywe, an 88 Generation leader, also used the occasion to draw attention to long-running conflicts.

"Our ancestors, our relationships and our generations are still suffering serious injuries after over six decades of the long civil war," he said.

"We are proving to the whole world how much our country really needs peace today. We are thirsty for it."

Other attendees at the Yangon celebrations said the event was an important means of teaching others about peace and drawing attention to conflicts.

"I didn't learn about peace when I was a student at school," said Ko Thant Zin Soe from the Yangon Youth Volunteers Network. "I only know about it as an adult. The government and civil society groups should educate young students about peace."

Coinciding with International Day of Peace, the government signed state- and union-level ceasefire agreements with a number of armed ethnic groups, and moved closer to another round of talks with the Kachin Independence Organisation.

International Day of Peace was established by the United Nations in 1981 and first observed in 1982.

Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2013/10/01/activists-mark-peace-day-in-yangon/