Burma and the International Criminal Court
Patrick Cook-Deegan, fundraiser and volunteer for US Campaign for Burma


"Over the last ten years, the Burmese military has burned down over 3,300 ethnic villages in eastern Burma in a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing. While the conflicts in Darfur, eastern Congo, and Uganda have received widespread international attention, the ongoing conflict in eastern Burma has gone largely unnoticed. Meanwhile, the Burmese military continues to burn villages, recruit child soldiers, and use rape as a weapon of war on a daily basis.

Recently, a coalition of international organizations--including the US Campaign for Burma-- have come together in an effort to bring the situation in Burma to the International Criminal Court. This movement seeks to end the culture of impunity in Burma and shed light on the junta's campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Cook-Deegan will draw upon his own experiences in speaking about the current situation in central and eastern Burma. Through personal narratives and historical references, Cook-Deegan will make the case for why the Burmese junta needs to be brought to the International Criminal Court. Finally, drawing on his experiences advocating for Burma at the national level, Cook-Deegan will explain how US citizens and students can play a role in this historic effort."


Patrick Cook-Deegan: In the summer of 2006, Patrick Cook-Deegan bicycled 2,800 miles through Burma, Laos, and Cambodia, raising over $22,500 to build schools and provide scholarships in the region (www.cycleforschools.com). While traveling through many towns and villages isolated from foreign contact, Cook-Deegan heard dozens of first-hand accounts of life inside Burma's brutal military dictatorship.

Following the trip, Cook-Deegan began volunteering with the US Campaign for Burma, a DC-based advocacy group that promotes freedom, democracy, and human rights in Burma. Over the past three years he has raised $135,000 for the organization and has spoken at over 75 schools and universities about the situation in Burma, including Duke University and the Clinton School of Public Service.

During the Saffron Revolution, Cook-Deegan organized demonstrations at college campuses throughout the country. At Brown University, he spearheaded one of the largest political demonstrations in recent campus history, attended by 300 students and Fernando Cardoso, the former President of Brazil.

In January 2008, Cook-Deegan traveled into eastern Burma to interview victims of the junta's campaign of ethnic cleansing. He spent ten days along the Thai-Burma border speaking with the leaders of various advocacy and humanitarian organizations.

Cook-Deegan graduated from Brown University in May 2008 and is the winner of a Fulbright scholarship. A board member of the US Campaign for Burma, Cook-Deegan has been featured in the Washington Post, Providence Journal, and the Sunday Boston Globe. He has appeared on NPR and Radio Free Asia and ABC NewsNow. In November 2009, Cook-Deegan will be moving to the Thai-Burma border to begin his Fulbright scholarship where he will study the Burmese democracy movement in exile.

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