Elon Law Professor Enrique Armijo will travel to Myanmar (Burma), beginning December 15, as part of a State Department-funded team of experts that will be working with the Myanmar government and civil society there to draft a new press law and other communications-related legislation.
The work will support a number of pro-democracy reforms currently taking place in Myanmar, and will be undertaken pursuant to the U.S.’s diplomatic re-engagement with the country as well as President Obama’s visit there earlier this year.
The goal of the media reform project in Myanmar sponsored by the U.S. Department of State is to demonstrate and provide U.S. support for the government and civil society of Myanmar and their efforts to create a more open media environment for the country, including progress toward a well-crafted and supported media law. The project takes place within the larger context of significant democracy reforms currently taking place in Myanmar. After decades of isolation, the government has signaled its intent to create a more open society by committing to greater press freedom in the country. President Obama visited the country in late November in recognition of these reforms. During that visit, the President announced $170 million in U.S. aid for Myanmar to support the country’s efforts.
In the first phase of the project, Armijo and a small group of other experts will investigate the media environment in Myanmar, interviewing key stakeholders in the Myanmar government and media, including the Minister of Information and members of the independent media. The team will also discuss the process of drafting and promulgating new law as part of an experts’ roundtable on December 20, and will be identifying individuals in the Myanmar media space for a visit to the U.S. in early 2013.
Armijo has provided advice on media and internet law reform to governments, stakeholders and NGOs located around the world, including in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. His commentaries on these and other topics have appeared on NPR’s On the Media and WUNC-FM. His scholarly work has appeared in the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law, the Administrative Law Review, the Journal of International Media and Entertainment Law, the Federal Communications Bar Journal, the International Journal of Communications Law and Policy, and other journals.
More information about Elon Law Professor Enrique Armijo is available here.