Articles

Burma Army offensives in Kachin State are undermining the peace process, an ethnic women’s organisation has claimed. The Kachin Women’s Association Thailand (KWAT) expressed concern of the recent escalation in Burma Army attacks in Kachin and Shan States, which had led to “fresh displacement and suffering” of local civilians in a statement released today. “These systematic operations to seize control…

Burma’s military is engaging in systemic torture against civilians in its ongoing war in Kachin State, now in its third year, and committing “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity,” a leading human rights watchdog has claimed in a report released today. The 71-page report entitled, Ending Wartime Torture in Northern Myanmar, by Fortify Rights, documents the torture and abuse of…

Naw Bway Paw looks out of her windowless thatched bamboo home in Hlaing Bwe Township, Karen State, and remembers the day in 1996 when the Burma Army came and took her land. Naw Bway Paw in a video interview with Karen News describes how she lost her ancestral home and lands. “One day a soldier arrived at my home in…

President U Thein Sein decision to sign the Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence a week before the global summit in London on sexual violence in conflict has been labeled a “PR Exercise” by a British based human rights advocacy organisation. Burma Campaign UK called on the Burma government to “immediately publish concrete actions it will take,” having signed…

Alarm is mounting over a suit of newly proposed laws regarding marriage and religion, proposed by a group allegedly connected to the extremist Buddhist nationalist ‘969’ movement, with international rights watchdogs and community groups alike warning that they discriminate against minorities and could further inflame inter-communal violence. Burma’s government is currently considering four laws related to marriage, religion, polygamy and…

Burma’s election body, the Union Electoral Commission (UEC), has been accused of intimidating the opposition party, the National League for Democracy, after warning the NLD Chairwoman, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, of violating the country’s constitution at a political rally earlier this month. In a letter to the NLD, the UEC claimed that Chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi had made…

The parents of students at Taungkalay High School, in Hpa-an, have expressed concerns that they have to pay fees for their children despite the government promising that state schools – from primary to secondary level – would provide free registration and textbooks for study. Taungkalay High School opened on June 2, but before school started, on May 25, students about…

Residents and monks from 30 Karen villages have called for all Karen armed groups to join under a single banner to stop drug running and to help restore law and order. Karen civilians from northern Kawkareik Township in Karen State delivered a petition calling on the various Karen armed groups to unify into one single armed force. The villagers submitted…

Padoh Mahn Nyein Maung, a Central Executive Committee member of the Karen National Union said in his speech at a peace process consultation meeting that lasting and genuine peace could only be reached when there is mutual respect between the government, ethnic groups and citizens. Padoh Mahn Nyein Maung made the statement while attending a peace building process consultation meeting…

Mahn Robert Zan, an advisor to the Karen Communities of Minnesota and a former Karen freedom fighter urged the Karen National Union (KNU) to set a limited timeframe for their ceasefire negotiations with Burma’s government. Mahn Robert Zan, a son of former KNU chairperson Mahn Ba Zan, made the statement during an interview with Karen News while attending the 10th…