human rights

Britain’s Foreign Office Minister says investigation into ethnic conflict in Burma is needed. Britain’s Foreign Office Minister Baroness Warsi noted in parliament that “independent investigative work” is required for “an informed assessment as to whether ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity have been committed” in Burma. The statement came on Wednesday, 5 June, in which Baroness Warsi was speaking in…

A Burma Army officer physically assaulted four villagers from Wa Daw last week for refusing his orders to do forced labor for him. Lt.Colonel Aung Win Htun, from Column 1 is accused of beating the four villagers from Wa Daw village, located in the Myitta sub-township, Dawei District of Tenasserim Division. Eyewitnesses said the four villagers refused to be porters…

Captain Gyi No, a Karen National Union (KNU) leader from the Tenasserim Division in southern Burma confirmed with Karen News that a Burma Army officer attacked three villagers without reason on June 5. Eyewitnesses said that the three villagers were so badly beaten that they needed hospital treatment. The KNU’s Captain Gyi No claimed the attacked was unprovoked. “The Battalion…

A new report by the Kachin Women’s Association Thailand (KWAT) raises concerns over how the Burma government’s war against the Kachin has greatly increased the risk of human trafficking along the China-Burma border, with young girls or women targeted. The report, titled ‘Pushed to the Brink’, states that the displacement of over 100,000 people over the past two years, lack…

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should make improving human rights in Burma a key priority during his visit to the country , the New York based Human Rights Watch said in a statement released to coincide with Mr Abe’s visit. Mr Abe’s three-day visit to Burma, started on May 24th and will be the first by a Japanese leader in…

Saw Albert, the field director of the Karen Human Rights Group, in an exclusive interview with Karen News, said that since Burma’s 2010 election, changes in the government’s administration has allowed a lot of business and development projects to come into the country that are stealing land from ethnic villagers’. “Many people think that Burma has opened up and the…

Saw Hlaing Myo, a chairman of the Karen Youth Organization’s (Korea) based in South Korea has been accused of working illegally and arrested by the Korean government. Local sources confirmed Saw Hlaing Myo is been detained at Incheon’s Immigration Department, Incheon State. The secretary of KYO [Sth Korea], Saket Netmoe, said Saw Hlaing Myo Thein was seeking for political asylum…

Despite a ceasefire in place, a Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) report criticizes a government-controlled militia, the Border Guard Force (BGF), for committing human right violations against villagers in Papun Township, Karen State. The KHRG’s report released on 23rd of April, documented that BGF battalions based in Papun Township – the 1013th and the 1014th – forced villagers from Meh…

Burma’s military accused of mass human rights abuses in Shan State as President Thein Sien is awarded peace prize and the EU economic sanctions. The Shan Human Rights Foundation has expressed grave concern over new widespread abuses being committed by the Burma Army in recent weeks. Despite ongoing peace talks with the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N), Burma’s military has launched…

The Myanmar central government has consistently denied its soldiers have systematically used rape as a weapon of war against ethnic minorities. But according to numerous reports, despite recent political reforms, Myanmar’s army has continued to rape, torture and kill civilians of the ethnic minorities. In 2011, pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said: ”Rape is used in my country as…