Key Principles and Characteristics for a Federal Union of Burma
(Draft)
Background
Since it’s founding, the Ethnic Nationalities Affairs Center (ENAC) has supported efforts to establish a federal union in Burma. Papers and recommendations to establish a federal constitution are produced through workshops and consultations with ethnic armed organizations, ethnic political parties, community-based organizations, and civil society organizations together with domestic experts and international scholars. Two workshops on issues of federalism were conducted in October 2014, one in Yangon with ethnic political parties (EPPs) and one in Chiang Mai with ethnic armed organizations (EAOs), community-based organizations (CBOs), and civil society organizations (CSOs). At those workshops, the constitutions of the United States of America, Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland were analyzed for comparative lessons on federal systems and constitutions. In March 2015, two workshops were conducted to review the 2008 Constitution and train leaders on federalism issues, one in Yangon with EPPs and one in Chiang Mai with EAOs, EPPs, CBOs, and CSOs.
The constitutional recommendations (draft) below were first produced at the “Drafting Key Principles and Characteristics of Federal Constitution Workshop,” held from March 21-26, 2016 in Chiang Mai with domestic experts, ethnic armed organization leaders, and an international scholar. An additional workshop was conducted in Yangon from June 30 – July 2, 2016 with United Nationalities Alliance (UNA) members to include the views of ethnic political party stakeholders. The modified draft, prepared by UNFC’s research department, enshrines the common ethnic understanding of key principles and characteristics for a federal union. These key principles were presented at the EAO’s Mai Ja Yang Summit held from July 26-30, 2017.
To read the draft paper please download pdf file below.
Download pdf file here : Federal Key Principles_eng