SHAN STATE: TRAINING TRAINERS ON HUMAN RIGHTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 000595

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP AND IO;

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/24/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM BM
SUBJECT: SHAN STATE: TRAINING TRAINERS ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Classified By: Pol Officer Chelsia Wheeler for Reasons 1.4 (b) & (d)


1. (C) Summary. The Hsai Pen Media Group (HPMG) spent nearly
two weeks in June training Shan youth leaders on raising
awareness of human rights and democracy using Embassy small
grants funds. The hands-on training targeted 12 youth who
have already taken leadership roles in their communities. One
of the participants will use this training to plan a human
rights awareness project for his own community in July. HPMG
also plans to seek funds to conduct a conference in Shan
State in advance of Burma's 2010 elections. End Summary.


2. (C) From June 8-19 the Hsai Pen Media Group (HPMG) trained
trainers in a village near Lashio in Shan State on human
rights and democracy awareness. The training, funded through
Embassy Rangoon's small grants program, provided participants
with a practical understanding of democracy and human rights.
Sai Aung Thein, the project director, explained further that
parts of the program covered the principles and documentation
of human rights, and a discussion on how to get information
on human rights violations to the outside world. The
training also covered practical journalism skills such as
interviewing and writing news articles and community building
activities.


3. (C) Sai Aung Thein told us that by the end of the
training, students had an understanding not just of the
mechanics of elections, but of the individual responsibility
each citizen has in a democracy. Most people in Shan State
have a sense of hopelessness in their political and economic
situations, he said. As a result, they take very little
ownership of the development of their communities, but Sai
Aung Thein hopes that this will start to change as a result
of the project.


4. (C) Twelve youth from across Shan State participated in
the course. Sai Aung Thein, himself in his late twenties,
received his training at the American Center. He explained
that HPMG selected participants based on leadership they had
already demonstrated in their communities and in previous
Embassy-funded human rights trainings. At the beginning of
the training, they were shy, he said, but throughout the
course, they gained confidence in their training skills and
in discussions in the group. One participant followed up by
already organizing a human rights and democracy training in
his home village according to Sai Aung Thein. HPMG had also
encouraged participants to discuss the issues raised in their
trainings within the privacy of their homes, raising
awareness one family at a time in an area that has little
exposure to the principles of democracy.


5. (C) In preparation for the scheduled 2010 parliamentary
elections in Burma, and to further raise democracy awareness
among Shan youth, Sai Aung Thein would like to obtain funding
for a conference on the election. The sooner he starts the
work, he explained, the greater impact he will have and the
greater the number of youth who understand the basics of how
a free and fair election should look. One of the major
downfalls of the May 10 referendum, he said, was that aside
from the government's cheating, most voters did not even know
how they were being cheated.


6. (C) Comment: Once again Embassy Rangoon's small grants
program has produced tangible results in our top priority in
Burma: promoting human rights and democracy. The Hsai Pen
Media Group's grassroots level promotion of these topics
allows them to spread the message of democracy widely to
areas we would not otherwise have access to. For very modest
sums, we assist Burmese to develop a greater understanding of
democracy and their role in it. End Comment.
VILLAROSA