This year’s ACSC/APF, the largest gathering since its inception in 2005, and its theme “Advancing ASEAN People’s Solidarity Toward Sustainable Peace, Development, Justice and Democratization” have a special meaning not just for the peoples of ASEAN, but more importantly to the people of Burma/Myanmar. After years and decades of struggle for genuine peace and democracy, the ACSC/APF being held in Burma is a concrete expression of the mounting calls for and the deepening accomplishments of the struggle for more and wider spaces for freedom of expression and people’s participation, and ultimately, for sustainable peace, development, justice and democratization.