Myanmar: Failure of Democracy

The government of Myanmar officially recognises 135 ethnic groups. These groups are then amalgamated into eight “major national ethnic races.” They are the Bamar or Burmans, who comprise 66% of the population, the Chin, the Kachin, the Kayin, or Karen, the Kayar or Karenni, the Mon, the Rakhine and the Shan.

by Radhika Coomaraswamy

( May 8, 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) In a recent lecture on “Myanmar: The Rohingya Refugee Crisis, Roots of the Conflict and Possibilities for the Future” at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKI), Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy discussed her role as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar. Highlighting Myanmar specifically, she observed the failures of South Asian democracy in general to accommodate ethnic pluralism.

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