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Today is the 63rd anniversary of Karen Martyrs’ Day that commemorates Karen leaders and civilians who sacrificed their lives for the cause of the Karen people under successive Burma military regimes. In a letter addressing all Karen people, General Mutu Say Po, chairman of the Karen National Union, said that the sacrifice of their lives by its martyrs had help…

More than 5,000 Burmese people turned up at the Myanmar Convention Centre to show their support for the 1988 democracy protest anniversary. The silver jubilee anniversary commemorating the 8.8.88 uprising that swept through Burma 25 years ago finished today with democracy leaders calling for the struggle for political freedom to continue. Keynote speakers, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and…

Burma Campaign UK, a prominent rights advocacy group, has accused the President of Burma, U Thein Sein, of keeping hundreds of political prisoners in jail despite his claims of democratic reform and liberalising the country’s political system. The group has highlighted the case of two leading rights activists as symbolic of the tenuous human rights situation in Burma despite the…

Driving through the rural roads of the Tenasserim (Tanintharyi) region in Southern Burma, vast plantation of palm oil and rubber trees stretch on either side of the roads. Signboards along the roads and in the town proclaim that, ‘Tanintharyi Division is the Oil Bowl of Myanmar’. Government policy to use vast tracts of farmland and forests for rubber and palm…

The Karen National Union (KNU) has agreed to sign two ‘Deed of Commitment‘, on the protection of children and women, with the Switzerland based Geneva Call in Hpa-an on July 21. Geneva Call is a humanitarian organization dedicated to engaging armed non-State actors (NSAs) towards compliance with the norms of international humanitarian law (IHL) and human rights law (IHRL). Padoh…

The United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) in its latest meeting held with its member organizations, ethnic armed groups and political groups have reached a common position to push for a national convention. The UNFC said that its aim is to include everyone in the drafting of a new federal democratic constitution. During a three-day workshop held from July 5th to…

The Karen National Union’s armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army’s 7th Brigade based in Hpa-an District, has entered a commercial venture – a trading and tour company. for the first time in its history earlier this month. The legally registered company is named as the Moe Ko San Travel and Tour Company Limited and Trading Company Limited and it…

The Border Consortium plans to cut its food rations to the 128,000 refugees living in the nine refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border. TBC is a group of nine international NGOs that delivers food, shelter and non-food items to the refugees on the Thai Burma border. The TBC in a letter to refugee committees, camp committees and community-based-organizations, stated that…

Naw Day Wah Htoo lives in Mae Ra Ma Luang refugee camp on the Thai Burma border and talks to Karen News about her life living on the margins. Karen News reports. “Living in a refugee camp we are not allowed to go outside to find work. When I hear talk about refugee repatriation, I have doubts about it as…

As the world commemorates refugee week, in Thailand’s largest refugee camp ethnic Karen refugees who fled conflict in Burma struggle with homesickness, discrimination and apprehension of what they’ll find when they return over the border. Ma Tway considers the uncertainty of her future, takes a long stare into nothing, before answering, “living in a Mae La refugee camp has been…