• Home
• about
• Activities
• Contact
• Programs
• Manual

• Analysis
• Commentary
• Feature
• General Election
• Monthly Report
• News
• PDF Format
• Special Report
• Video Clips

Fifth SYCB Regional Conference for Student and Youth Exchange Held in Moulmein

The Student and Youth Congress of Burma (SYCB) held a two-day conference for regional students and youth in Mon State focusing on human rights and democratic reform in Burma. The conference aimed to utilize Burma’s emerging political space to create strategies for human rights-based action and common regional advocacy campaigns to improve and bolster human rights and democratic reforms in targeted areas of Burma.

The conference was held on May 27-28, 2014 at the 2500 Sarsanar Monastery in Moulmein, Mon State, and included participation from ten ethnic nationalities. Attendance included 50 representatives from 30 regional organizations, 15 representatives from the Mon region, as well as an expert in the Mega project from Shan State, a member from the All Burma Federation of Student Unions with vast experience in education, and a member of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) with expertise in Burma’s Constitution.

The workshop focused on four key objectives which highlighted the exchange of experiences from all organizations including activities updates and future plans; lessons learned from peace processes, constitutional reform, education, and development reform; the Mawlamyine agreement of common ground and common position; and common joint campaigns and local rights-based actions.

According to the SYCB vice-chairman of the Mon Youth Progressive Organization (MYPO) Mi Marea More, the strength of cooperation and participation has increased among ethnic nationalities, but participation of ethnic women is still low.

“Few numbers of women participated [in the workshop], so gender was not balanced in this conference”, explains Mi Marea More, “but [the women that did attend] were very active and able to [participate in] good discussion. Some youth women were also able to lead group discussions. Next time, if we can get more women for this kind of conference, women will be better [able to] represent for all women. Due to the active participation of women [in this conference], I feel happy and more confident [that the] participation of women will increase in this kind of work in the future. I really appreciate women’s participation this time.”

This conference was the fifth of its kind that SYCB has held in Burma. Previous SYCB conferences include one on the Thai-Burma border, two in Rangoon, one in Taung Kyi, and this most recent conference in Moulmein.

According to its website, SYCB is an umbrella organization consisting of 15 students and youth organizations of various ethnic backgrounds. The SYCB is based on the Thai-Burma border and on the Burma-India border. It was founded on January 8th 1996 in New Delhi, India. The SYCB aims to promote and increase the growth in understanding and cooperation among various ethnic nationalities of Burma, and among its member organizations. It strives towards the achievement of democracy, the restoration of human rights and the establishment of a federal union of Burma.

http://sycbcongress.blogspot.com/2010/04/about-sycb.html

Comments