PROJECT DESCRIPTION OF OUR BURMA SEMINAR DURING THE HUMAN
RIGHTS DAYS IN STOCKHOLM / KULTURHUSET
BURMA – A CONFLICT RIDDEN BUDDHIST NATION
Seminar Saturday 16 Nov 14:30-15:30 and we are also available on the Project Arena from 11:00 BURMA – ETHNIC MINORITIES ON THE VERGE OF EXTINCTION
Burma – a Buddhist country with many ethnic minorities of Christian, Islamic or other
religion. The seminar will take up Burma’s ethnic and religious questions in a wider
perspective, amongst them ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people. Human rights views
must be a guiding star in the development of democracy in Burma.
Participants: Mr. Abul Kalam, The Swedish Rohingya Association, Mr. Khair-ul-Amin,
Chairman of the European Rohingya Council, Mr. Benedict Rogers, Mr.
Maung Hla Aung, President of the National Democratic Party for Human Rights and
others.
Arrangement by: The European Rohingya Council and The Swedish Rohingya Association
The seminar will be moderated by Ms Shantana Shahid, Project Manager of The Swedish
Burma Committee.
Before our seminar we will also be available at the ‘Project Arena’ from 11 o’clock where we will ‘prepresent’ ourselves and perspectives on Burma. This participation also to be moderated by Ms. Shantana Shahid.
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We are up to a scenario in Burma which could be called ‘genocide’ of the Rohingya people, or at least close to genocide, a fact that so far does not seem to have been taken notice of sufficiently by neither international nor Swedish media, and may be neither by governments around the world. It is to be hoped that declarations by the Government of Burma that the country is striving for democracy and human rights is a reality. This seems may be not be the case? It is urgent that this be discussed and paid attention to.
Also other Muslim groups are being continuously persecuted, as are also Christian groups. Furthermore there exist many ethnic conflicts of older date which are so far unsolved. Is the ultimate goal for the Government of Burma ‘one nation, one people, one religion, one army’ – or will Burma / Myanmar remain a multicultural / multiethnic society?
It is thus important that the situation in Burma be elucidated from many angles.
As regards speakers at our seminars we have already got positive response for the participation by <strong>Dr. Maung Zarni, and by Mr. Benedict Rogers</strong>, East Asia Team Leader of the Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
His has written: Burma – a nation at the crossroads – an important document. Also Mr. Maung Hla Aung, President of the National Democratic Party for Human Rights will attend.
To get a wider view on the Burma issue we are also working hard to get participation in our seminar by other Swedish NGO:s , Swedish politicians, businessmen and others.
We have also agreed with the organization Swedish Muslims for Peace and Justice to cooperate during the HR-days in their seminar on 14th and ours on 16th November. They are inviting two Swedish politicians to their panel discussion and they will also be invited to our seminars as well.
We realize however that just one hour during the HR-days is a very short time to inform about and discuss the situation. Therefore we intend to arrange a separate seminar of on Sunday 17th November. We are working with the arrangements of this seminar. We intend to arrange this at 15:30-18:30 on Sunday 17th November (preliminary) at the premises of the Katarina Church in Stockholm – not in the church building itself but in a separate building – which is also close to the Stockholm big mosque.
We, organizers of these seminars, look for ‘co-partners – supporting partners’ to get a wider and thereby a more neutral base from where to express our message. We believe that we thereby also will get bigger attention / more response by both media and by the visitors to these Human Rights days so that the seriousness of the ‘Burma’ issue will be properly paid attention to.
Finally, we kindly invite any donations – small or big – to help us finance our arrangement.
Stockholm 23 September 2013 Abul Kalam/ Johan Wihlborg / Jan Wihlborg
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We who are organizing these seminars are:
Abul Kalam – Founder of the Swedish Rohingya Association and Secretary for Development and Welfare and Council Member of the European Rohingya Council – ERC
– tel: +46 -73 -7718573
Johan Wihlborg – Working within the frame of the Swedish Church with asylum issues
– tel. +46 – 73 – 5297959
Jan Wihlborg – Retired. Experience from Swedish industry in leading roles and international relations in Sweden and abroad. Lived and worked in Thailand and Italy 1973-1982. tel: +46 – 73 – 639 57 50
Our e-mail address is: burmadagen@gmail.com
Bank account: SEB 5255 – 01 300 14 – MR-dagen / Jan Wihlborg
IBAN: SE2250000000052550130014 / ESSESESS
