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Refugee camp residents said the rising price of food items and shortages of food supplies in the camps because of COVID-19 restrictions is causing problems. Refugees told Karen News their situation will get more difficult the longer the epidemic continues and if travel restrictions remain. Naw Keh Paw, a resident of Umphiem Refugee camp said that since the delay of…

By Naw Eh Eh/Karen News Teachers at Htee Ther Leh High School in Maw Kee Village Tract of Kawkareik Township, Doo Pla Ya District in Karen State told Karen News these new challenges have placed enormous strain on school resources needed for the academic year 2021-2022. Htee Ther Leh School is located in the Eastern Dawna Range area and operates…

The Karen Department of Health and Welfare, a KNU department providing primary healthcare to Karen communities, has recently stepped up its responses to try to stop the spread of COVID-19 by setting up screening points and enforcing temporary lockdowns in at-risk areas in Karen State. The KDHW public health initiative was met with objections from the Karen State military administrative…

The reality behind the statistics is brutal. A health system that has been under-resourced and driven into the ground for decades by the military and who now lists doctors, nurses and health workers as targets for arrest. Humanitarian groups have reported there have been at least 200 attacks on health workers and facilities that have left at least 17 people…

By Naw Eh Eh/Karen News Officially known as Migrant Learning Centers (MLCs), the Burmese migrant schools in the Thai border province of Tak, are making preparation in the hope classes can be held in the academic year 2021-2022. In 2020-2021, the pandemic kept all migrant schools in the area closed during the academic year. Migrant education leaders are closely coordinating…

A Karen National Liberation Army spokesperson from its 5th Brigade said its records showed fighting since May had been on the increase. Lieutenant Colonel Saw Kler Doh said that with the increased number of clashes were higher death and wounded rates. Lieutenant Colonel Saw Kler Doh told Karen News since May until the end of June the KNLA had killed…

By Conor Phelan* KPSN filmed footage of villages destroyed by airstrikes – schools, buildings and houses have been flattened, with many homes riddled with bullet holes, caused by Burma military helicopters. The Burma Army released statements stating the airstrikes were a response to the Karen National Liberation Army’s (KNLA) seizure of a military outpost in the Mutraw district. According to…

By Conor Phelan* A health worker, Saw Doe Doh, told Karen News the wet season is adding to the already serious health risks displaced villagers are facing, especially with an increase in malaria, dengue fever and diarrhoea cases. The wet season also adds to the difficulties displaced villagers have to face flooded rivers are dangerous to cross and travelling by…

Karen Civil Society Organizations, delivering and providing assistance to people fleeing the Burma Army have confirmed about 7,000 Karen villagers from Papun district, northern Karen State are hiding in the Thai-Burma border area. The villages were destroyed by the Burma’s air force in retaliation for seizure of a military base on the 27th of April by the Karen National Liberation…

The political situation in Burma had offered some hope for the more than 90,000 refugees living in refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border to return to their homeland. Beginning in 2013, some refugees made the decision to return to Burma on their own, while others decided to go back through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) sponsored ‘Voluntary…