Over 11,000 rural households in Karen State are set to newly receive electricity thanks to a long-awaited solar panel program. Under the National Electrification Project (NEP), the World Bank and the Department of Rural Development are installing heavily subsidized solar pan... Read more ►

Cynthia Maung, a doctor who has spent nearly three decades working with migrants and refugees along the Thai-Myanmar border, was honored with the 2017 Baptist World Alliance Denton and Janice Lotz Human Rights Award. “I’m proud to receive this award for the civic-based o... Read more ►

Over 200 children at the Myaing Gyi Ngu internally displaced persons camp have received their first ever inoculations this week, amid a joint vaccination drive by the Karen Department of Health and Welfare and the state health department. Between July 4-6 children under five... Read more ►

On Karen armed forced day last week, one ethnic armed group leader sounded a cautionary note, instructing soldiers to recall that a ceasefire is not the same as peace, while urging them to remain “alert”. “The ceasefire is a political game,” said Lieutenant General S... Read more ►

With peace still looking elusive and negotiations as fractured as ever, a steering committee established by the ceasefire signatories has agreed to conduct a broad review of the peace process. The Peace Process Steering Team (PPST) announced on July 2 that it would undertake... Read more ►

The Karen National Union (KNU) will celebrate its police force, inaugurating the first annual ‘Police Day’ on September 9, according to an official from the KNU’s Interior and Religious Affairs Department. “The KNPF has been active for 20 years, but the public does n... Read more ►

A recent crackdown by Thai authorities against illegal foreign workers has resulted in the temporary closure of several Burma migrant schools in Tak Province, according to the Burmese Migrant Teachers’ Association (BMTA). BMTA secretary U Naing Naing Tun told Karen New... Read more ►

Participants of the Fifth Ethnic Media Conference have submitted an open letter to the President, the State Counsellor and the Tatmadaw’s Commander-in-Chief calling for the release of three journalists who have been detained in Shan State. After holding an emergency sessio... Read more ►

The Fifth Ethnic Media Conference got underway in Loikaw, Kayah (Karenni) State on June 26. Led by Burma News International (BNI) and Kayah State-based Kantarawaddy Times, the three-day conference aims to raise the profile of ethnic media, according to BNI’s director Nai K... Read more ►

The Karen Women’s Empowerment Group (KWEG) went on its first excursion to the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw in Naypyidaw on June 20. A total of 47 village leaders from Hpa-an, Kawkareik, Kyain Seik Gyi and Hlaingbwe Townships in Karen State studied the activities carried out by the P... Read more ►