Terrell Oung

Terrell Oung is a National Coordinator for Australia Burma Council and participated in DTP’s 4^th Annual Regional Human Rights and Peoples’ Diplomacy Training Program in Australia in 1993. While Burma was under military rule, Terrell and his organisation lobbied the Australian government in relation to sanctions and other measures to pressure for democratic change and human rights. They also successfully lobbied for the creation of visas (Special Assistance Category 213) and scholarships for Burmese students on the Thai-Burma border to come to Australia. Terrell and others set up a Burma NGO Forum where they met once every three months with various NGOs to exchange viewpoints and plans.

“I could organize these because DTP gave a lot of understanding in lobbying and dealing with Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Immigration and various Unions in Australia.”

Terrell found the DTP program to be very useful as he learnt more about various advocacy and lobbying strategies and enhanced his skills in advocacy, diplomacy and communicating confidently with authorities, and networking. This helped him tremendously in his work at the Australia Burma Council, and his advocacy for the Burmese people.

“The training taught us the sound knowledge of internationally agreed human rights standards and inter-governmental systems, the operation and procedure of the United Nations General Assembly, The Security Council, the Human Rights Commission and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights… especially as a Human Rights Defender, I can identify the human rights abuses committed by the then Burmese Military Regime in Burma and on the border. It made me understand when other people talked about human rights.”

Today he is a skillful journalist and broadcaster. The program gave him confidence when interviewing activists, NGOs, refugees, government officials and much more.

The most interesting part of the program that Terrell has found was a role play of the UN Security Council. And the most useful part of the training was meeting and building contacts with the people from Burma who lived on the Thai-Burma border and in Bangladesh, and people from East Timor, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Papua New Guinea.