News
Press Release
28/09/2007
Global Consortium demands accountability and action from the Burmese
Government
We, members of the “Global Consortium on Security Transformation” express our solidarity with
the citizens of Burma who have marched onto the streets to demonstrate their outrage and express
their collective courage. We condemn the brutal and violent attack by the Burmese government of the
unarmed peaceful protesters led by their spiritual leaders, the country’s Buddhist monks. The state’s
unprovoked retaliation underlines the oppressiveness of the State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC) rule in Burma. We demand an immediate restoration of the democratic rights of the people of
Burma, their security and safety of their communities.
As scholars, peace workers, women activists, and policy advocates working in wartorn
countries
– including Congo, Nepal, Philippines, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka – we strongly denounce this latest
act of repression. From our direct experience of peacebuilding around the world, we affirm that
collective civic action is the surest path to peaceful transformation, and we reiterate the responsibility
of the Burmese State to provide security to all of its citizens and be accountable to them.
The Colloquium that launched the Global Consortium on Security Transformation was hosted by
the International Centre for Ethnic StudiesColombo
and jointly organized with the Institute for
Development Studies, Sussex in Sri Lanka from the 24
th to the 27 th of September 2007. We, 75participants from over 30 countries were brought together by our shared objective: “Transforming
Security and Development in an Unequal World”. They sought to challenge exclusive and oppressive
security paradigms and practices and replace these with inclusive, just and equitable security for all
people especially the most marginalized.
The Consortium is a unique joint initiative of seven organizations from the global south International
Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES)Colombo;
African Security Sector Network (ASSN);
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI); Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO), Chile;
Institute for Strategic and Development Studies (ISDS), Philippines; Instituto de Ensenanza para el
Desorollo Sostenibile (IEPADES), Guatemala; Southern African Defence and Security Management
network (SADSEM) together with Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Sussex. It seeks to provide
a standing southern platform for collaborative research, policy and advocacy on critical issues of
peace, security affecting the developing world.
Signed by the participants of the inaugural colloquium gathered at Kandalama, Sri Lanka, 27
th of September2007
· Uju Agomoh, Executive Director, Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA)
· Funmi Olonisakin, Director, Conflict Security and Development Group, Kings College London
· Frank Muhereza, Senior Research Fellow, Center for Basic Research, Kampala, Uganda
· Kristiana Powell, Researcher, North‐South Institute, Canada
· Prof. Gavin Cawthra, Graduate School of Public and Development Management (P&DM), University of the
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, SA
· Syed Rifaat Hussain, Executive Director, Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS), Sri Lanka
· Bonnie Jenkins, Program Officer, US Foreign and Security Policy, Ford Foundation, New York
· Eboe Hutchful, Executive Director of African Security Dialogue and Research (ASDR);
· Karam Karam, Research Director, Lebanese Center for Policy Studies;
· Claudio Fuentes, Director, Latin American Faculty for Social Sciences (FLACSO) Chile
· Shivit Bakrania, Research Officer, Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform (GFN‐SSR)
· Gabriel Edgardo Aguilera Peralta, Project Coordinator, International Peacebuilding Alliance (INTERPEACE),
Guatemala
· Stephen McGurk, Regional Director for South Asia and China, International, Development Research Center
(IDRC) Regional Office
· Neloufer De Mel, Professor, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
· Sunil Bastian, Senior Research Fellow, International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES), Sri Lanka
· Dylan Hendrickson, Senior Research Fellow, Conflict, Security and Development Group (CSDG), King’s College
London
· Gastón Chillier, Executive Director, Center of Legal and Social Studies (CELS)
· Fiona Wilson, Institute of Development Studies (IDS) UK
· Gerd Schönwälder, Team Leader, International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada
· Ed Garcia, Senior Policy Advisor, International Alert
· Steven Schoofs, Belgium
· Rita Abrahamsen, Reader, Department of International Politics, University of Wales
· Shalmali Guttal, Coordinator, Focus on the Global South, India
· Farzana Haniffa, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Colombo
· Carmen de Leon Escribano, Executive Director, Institute for Teaching on Sustainable Development (IEPADES),
Guatemala
· Visakha Dharmadasa, Sri Lanka
· Robin Luckham, Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex, UK
· Rama Mani, International Centre for Ethnic Studies‐Colombo
Global Consortium on Security Transformation Partners
We welcome your feedback to help us move from the Colloquium towards
establishing and developing the work programme of the Consortium and
also to help us plan for future events. Kindly hand this form in before
you leave as it will help us as we plan for the Consortium.