The Human Security Division’s (HSD) program in Myanmar is part of the 2019–2023 Swiss Cooperation Strategy and concentrates on the promotion of peace, human rights, and democracy. The aim of the HSD commitment is to strengthen trust among parties involved in the peace process (government, army, and ethnic groups) and to establish a culture of inclusive and structured dialogue as a means of overcoming conflicts.
In 2012, Switzerland became the first country to send a Human Security Advisor (HSA) who committed herself fully to the peace process. Today, Switzerland is in direct contact with the most important negotiating parties and, where desired, offers advice via the HSA as well as additional experts in areas such as federalism, ceasefire, or negotiation techniques. This consulting work concerns questions regarding the implementation of the national ceasefire agreement and helps the various parties to prepare for holding political negotiations as part of the Panglong process. The HSD focuses on improving the knowledge and techniques of the negotiating partners to enable constructive and structured negotiations. Mutual trust should also be strengthened.
The new distribution of power particularly affects the relationship between the central state and the regions inhabited by ethnic minorities. Many parties believe that a federal state structure is the obvious solution to the country’s problems. To date, however, hardly any substantial discussions have taken place regarding what federalism means in concrete terms and which challenges it could resolve. Over the last few years, the HSD has therefore organized several study trips on federalism and dealing with diversity. For example, local and religious leaders from Rakhine have already visited Switzerland twice. This gave Buddhists and Muslims the opportunity to become familiar with diversity management tools. Scope was also created to exchange experiences and create cross-community contacts.
In early October 2019, the 15 chief negotiators in the Myanmar peace process – who are members of the Secretariat of the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC) – as well as 10 additional people from government, the peace commission, and other conflict parties, spent a week in Switzerland. The UPDJC is the most important committee for peace negotiations in Myanmar. Within this, the 10 rebel groups that have signed the national ceasefire agreement are negotiating with the government, military, and political parties. Admittedly, the UPDJC Secretariat hardly met at all in the past two years. One of the trip’s aims was therefore to help unblock the process. The participants also received input on issues like decentralization, federalism, dealing with diversity, mediation and intercultural sensitivity. Ultimately, the HSD hopes to help bring about a further Union Peace Conference at the start of 2020.
