Women/Media/Peace: Myanmar, Sri Lanka, The Philippines Hold Regional Roundtable

The regional roundtable for women, media and peace process was conducted in Yangon on Thursday.

Organized by Internews Myanmar, the regional countries-Myanmar, Sri Lanka and the Philippines participated in the roundtable to discuss issues and exchange the diversity of experiences relating to women’s participation in peace process in specific ways through media and civil society organizations.

General Secretary 1, Women’s League of Burma, Nang Moet Moet said “We’d exchange and discuss how the role of the media is important when figuring the women’s participation in peace processes, how women’s participation is important, how we will cooperate between the entities in the future and experiences.”

Technical Lead, Internews Myanmar, Chan Lon said “Female population is higher than male population in Myanmar. If women could participate in peace processes, I think there will be more rights for the women. Also, if women could participate in decision making process, there will be more laws to protect women and women welfare.”

The roundtable discussion ran under the specific relevant topics as Myanmar, Sri Lanka and the Philippines have the same issues. The senior researcher and lawyer from Sri Lanka shared her expectation through the discussion.

Senior Researcher & Lawyer, Centre for Policy Alternatives, Bhavani Fonseka said “It is to actually learn from other colleagues because we have two other countries from Philippines and Myanmar but also to see in future, what is the base strategy, how to use media and greater transparency in these processes to ensure there is sustainable peace.”

Both the local and international participants including senior researchers, senior editors and senior reporters discussed and shared the numerous ideas based on the evidence.