Burma

Thelma Gyi, the daughter of the charismatic Karen political leader, Saw Ba U Gyi, has called for the country’s ethnic people to stand up for their rights. “Unite, demand the legal recognition of your state borders. Demand an end to corruption, war crimes, land grabbing, selling and exploiting the land rights for personal gain.” Speaking just before Burma’s national elections…

Burma’s government is under pressure to establish an independent inquiry into the treatment of ethnic Rohingya with a new report highlighting widespread human rights abuses that, “could constitute genocide.” A report conducted by the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School on behalf of the human rights organisation Fortify Rights called for a United Nations inquiry…

Despite its concerns about continuing fighting between the Burma Army and Shan and Kachin armed groups the United States released a statement praising the signing of a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement between the government and eight armed groups. The United States in a statement released on 15 October by its spokesperson, John Kirby said that the “signing of the text of…

Human Rights organisations have expressed growing alarm over the Burma Government continuing to use draconian legislation to imprison political opponents. A report by Fortify Rights and the Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic found that police used unwarranted and excessive force in cracking down on civilians protesting against development projects in Letpadan on March 10. Police “brutally punched, kicked,…

Burma’s Government is engaged in the illegal displacement of thousands of its own citizens, a leading human rights organization has concluded. The New York based Physicians for Human Rights collected evidence of 8,000 people being relocated against their will to make way for dam projects in Shan State. One example cited in the report was the Upper Paunglaung dam, which…

The people of Burma will go the polls on November 8, 2015. Karen News talked to a wide range of people to get their views on the election and what they hoped it would deliver. Many voters In Burma remain skeptical that the elections will be free and fair. With the 25% reserved for the military in the Parliament, people…

As Burma’s national elections loom closer, voters in Karen State fear ‘dirty tricks’ on finding their names have been removed from electoral rolls. Thousands of voters in Kawkareik Town were upset when they found their names not included in the second round announcement of voters listed as eligible to vote in the November 8, national elections. Kawkareik Town residents said…

Villagers are worried for their health after 134 students were rushed to hospital after bird hunters may have poisoned community drinking water. Villagers fear that their drinking water was poisoned after 134 school students in Tha Yet Taw village in Kyondoe, Kawkareik Township became sick and had to be hospitalized after drinking water from a school pond on Wednesday, September…

Seventy years after World War II ended, withered and mostly impoverished veterans will gather at the graveside of a British officer who almost no one in England remembers. Maj. Hugh Paul Seagrim — or “Grandfather Longlegs” — remains a legend up in the hills of Myanmar, among a beleaguered ethnic minority for whom peace never came. Karen fought courageously behind…

The Burma government’s announced on August 25 that its National Minimum Wage Committee had approved a minimum daily wage of K3,600 (US$2.80) for a standard eight-hour work day across all industries. From 1st September the national minimum wage will apply and workers’ minimum monthly pay would be about $67 based on a six-day week. The state-owned media reported that he…