For me, we are very small and new. It is very local and very small. But there are some nationwide organizations. There are many NGOs [non-governmental organizations], international NGOs, and also U.N. [United Nations] agencies. And there are some women’s organizations who work since a long time ago, but they mainly focus on development, and health issues, and like that. But that’s why women are not really connected with the health issues and the education issues. We also relate it to all issues, like politics is our issue.
Economy is our issue. And all the issues are related to women. So we try to give knowledge to the women. But some are only focused on health, education, parenting, childcare, like that. So there are many organizations who have very long experience for their organization. But one of the problems in our country for the civil society is registration. You know, we don’t have a proper NGO law to protect civil society. In 1988, there was a law, NGO law passed, but the NGO law is to restrict and oppress the civil society, not to threaten to the authorities, the regime. So the NGO law is very unfair, not updated.
That’s why now some of the NGOs and civil society are trying to draft the new NGO law. So, you know, one of the rules in the NGO law is that civil society people must be apolitical. So – and this is very ridiculous at that moment, at that situation. So I came from politics and so most people were interested in politics but it shouldn’t be like that, divided [into] apolitical and political. So we believe that it is not fair. That’s why we try to change this NGO law. And also, again, registration fee is one of the constraints for our – like our – like small civil society.
The registration fee is a little bit higher. I don’t know how to say that in our terms, 50,000 kyats – 500,000 kyats [The kyat is the Burmese currency. 50,000 – 500,000 kyats is roughly equal to 50 – 500 U.S. dollars.] for the registration fee. So it’s unaffordable for the small ones because, you know, normally, we are paying from our own pocket. So we are self-funded by ourselves. So it’s not proper way, I believe that. And about the international assistance is that I have been to the United States last year [2012] to attend the National Endowment for Democracy [a nonpartisan democracy promotion organization] annual donors meeting.
At that meeting there many donors came. And we requested to the donors that – at that moment, social assistance especially for education and health is very effective for our country. But if you want to help us [do] not go through the U.N. [United Nations] agency or the big NGOs [non-governmental organizations], you should go through the local NGOs, the very basis of a society so it will be more effective to support our people.
As you know, all the grants and assistance go to the very big NGOs. But in practice, the active actors are on the ground, but they don’t know how to write a proposal, how to write a financial report, and they have a language barrier, and they are not registered. That’s why our people, young people and our active civil society [organizations] are very far away from the international assistance. That’s why now, some of the international donors understand very well about the situation and they try to help and to reach the ground. And, now, some of the NGOs like IRI [International Republican Institute], NDI [National Democratic Institute], and other big NGOs came in and they tried to set up an office, and also they’re trying to give the capacity building to the – to our activists and civil society.
Now, they have already started their projects. Yet, for the financial assistance for the civil society is still challenging for the real grassroots civil society, because, you know, there are many constraints to get them. And they don’t have access to information, where the grant is, how to apply, and where’s the grant application they can get or – they don’t know anything about it. So that’s why we are thinking to help the civil society on the ground, how we can help and bridge to the international donors and civil society. We are thinking to such kind of – how can I say – the bridge, if we can make, is very beneficial for our people.
Khin Lay is a Burmese civil society and political activist. She was born in Yangon in 1971.
She pursued a career in education, hoping to be a university professor. That ambition changed after Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Burma’s democracy movement, inspired Khin Lay to take an active role in freeing her country. In 1995, Khin Lay joined Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD).
As a member of NLD, Khin Lay endured constant surveillance by the regime. In 2000, she was arrested by authorities for her involvement with the party. After five days of interrogation in which she was blindfolded and deprived of sleep, Khin Lay spent four months in Insein Prison, a facility notorious for its deplorable conditions and use of torture. She was released in 2001.
More recently, Khin Lay has focused on strengthening women’s rights and building a more robust civil society. She founded the Triangle Women Support Group, an organization dedicated to empowering Burmese women, developing their political and professional skills, as well as encouraging greater participation in public life. She believes that fostering a new generation of strong, female leaders is a key component to Burma’s democratization.
Burma, a Southeast Asian country with about 57 million people, is ruled by a military regime that seized power in 1962. Although the reformist National League for Democracy (NLD) won overwhelmingly in a 1990 election, the country’s military rulers ignored the results and arrested NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 “for her nonviolent struggle for democracy and human rights.” The military government held a referendum on a new constitution in 2008 and a parliamentary election in 2010, neither of which was regarded by international observers as free or fair, and both of which resulted in overwhelming majorities for pro-government positions and candidates. The military regime has committed widespread and systematic human rights violations, including extrajudicial killing, torture, rape, and denial of freedom of expression, association, assembly, and religion.
Throughout its existence, the regime has been at war with a number of Burma’s ethnic minority groups. Ethnic minority voters overwhelmingly supported the NLD in the 1990 election, and after the suppression of the democracy movement several of these groups continued or resumed armed resistance to the de facto government. Although the government signed cease-fire agreements with several of these groups ostensibly granting them autonomy within their respective regions, the Burmese military has used a range of brutal techniques, including the killing of civilians, forced labor, rape, and the destruction of homes, crops, and villages, in cease-fire zones as well as in areas where there is still armed resistance.
In 2007, as on several previous occasions, there were mass demonstrations throughout the country demanding freedom and democracy. The 2007 demonstrations were led by Buddhist monks and eventually became known as the “Saffron Revolution” after the color of the monks’ robes. The armed forces brutally suppressed these demonstrations—estimates of the number of protestors killed range from 31 to several thousand—and intensified popular dissatisfaction with the government by the killing, beating, and public humiliation of monks.
The nominally civilian government resulting from the 2010 election has been widely regarded as a façade for continuing military rule. However, in October 2011, the government released 206 of Burma’s estimated 2,000 prisoners of conscience. The next month, the government announced that it would soon release all remaining political prisoners. The NLD, which had declined to participate in the 2010 election, registered to participate in the next election and announced that Aung San Suu Kyi would be among the NLD candidates.
Although the military regime announced in 1989 that it had changed the English name of the country from Burma to “Myanmar,” the United States government and other international supporters of democracy in Burma have generally continued to call the country Burma because this is the name preferred by Aung San Suu Kyi and other democracy advocates who won the 1990 election.
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