Challenges and Prospects for Resolving Ethnic Conflict New York, October 24, 2000 Speaker: David Tharckabaw, Karen National Union "According to the dictionary, the word ?civil” means ?of human society or of people living together.” Another relevant meaning is ?politely helpful.” Ethnic means ?of race or the races of mankind” which is a wide subject. Ethnic can mean different things to different people. For our discussion, it would be suitable to keep to the idea that by ?ethnic” we mean ?of a people with more or less the same language, customs, culture, tradition, historical background and living in a separate area of land for centuries.” This would apply to the Irish, Scottish, Welsh and English peoples in Britain-the Romance, Italian, French and German peoples in Switzerland and the Montenegrin, Albanian, Croat and Slavic peoples of former Yugoslavia..."