The release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, after 15 years of house arrest, is a thrilling moment for the people of Burma and welcomed by Refugees International as long overdue. She remains wildly popular both at home and abroad despite her long isolation. However, her popularity will not automatically allow her to catalyze political change, as that will be determined by the repressive regime.

Last week, Refugees International worked with the Netherlands-based Transnational Institute (TNI)  to raise awareness around issues of ethnic minorities among Washington policy makers. Both TNI and RI have long believed that in order to truly address conflict and displacement in Burma, the state must come to permanent peace arrangements with the wide range of ethnic minorities in the country.  Though it is still premature to discuss substantive negotiations between the various parties at this stage, the likelihood of elections in Burma in 2010 could open some possibility for progress on this issue.  TNI has an excellent report on the future of cease-fire agreements in Burma that provides a good look at this issue.  

The dialogue is changing. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and his deputy Scot Marceil visited Burma and held talks with Burmese officials and Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi. It is the highest-level visit to Burma in more than a decade, and follows the State Department’s September announcement of its Burma Policy Review, which began shortly after President Obama took office. 

When will it end?

Senseless cycles of human suffering go unchecked in many parts of the world.  And we all are, I believe, accountable to break them by becoming aware and taking meaningful action.

This summer RI colleague Sean Garcia and I conducted a field visit to Thailand, where for decades the largest numbers of refugees from Burma have sought safety. Because the country remains entrenched in political and armed conflict, forced displacement continues unabated.  Large numbers of refugees have grown up in camps and some of them are now being resettled to third countries, because there is exceedingly little hope of them returning to Burma in the foreseeable future and durable solutions in Thailand continue to be elusive. But moving people, however voluntarily, is a very expensive band-aid. The root of the problem has not been solved, not even diminished.  In fact, it’s getting worse.