Karen State

Articles

Suu Kyi, Gen. Mutu Celebrate Karen New Year With Call For Ethnic Rights To Be Recognized In Constitution

Karen people spread all over the world celebrated Karen New Year Day on January 10, 2016. Karen in Burma, on the border gathered at a wide variety of places to welcome the New Year. Celebration took place in Shwe Kokko, Rangoon and Hpa-an, where the former, President U Thein Sein attended. Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League…

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Articles

*Medicine monk

Deprived of vital health services and ravaged by years of civil war, one devoted abbot is providing forgotten rural communities with much-needed relief By Phil Thornton The muscular arm of a saffron-clad monk, propped against the wall of a bamboo hut, draws air pictures to illustrate why his community is in desperate need of an ambulance. The arm belongs to…

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Articles

Land Right Activists Jailed Under Illegal Organization Act

Two Hpa-an based land right activists have been jailed for two years in jail, under Article 17/1 for association with an illegal organization. The two men, Saw Maung Maung Gyi and Saw Eh Say were sentenced on November 25, at Hpa-an Township’s Court. Saw Maung Maung Gyi, an 88 Generation Karen Student Group’s chairperson who had been helping local villagers…

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Opinion

Karen Voters Put Their Trust In Suu Kyi But Voice Concerns over Future

Hpa An – election day. The queues had built up well before the 6am start to vote. There was a quiet buzz around the schools being used as polling stations with families and friends emerging smiling and photographing inked fingers. Everyone said they were voting for the National League for Democracy (NLD) and they were quietly optimistic that the NLD…

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Articles

NLD Win Karen State As Karen Political Parties Fail

Burma’s Union Election Commission now have announced all the results of the November 8 polls and Aung San Su Kyi’s National League for Democracy have a massive landslide. A total of five Karen political parties competed in the 2015 election in Karen State. The five Karen parties could only secure a State Parliamentary seat at Thandaunggyi Constituency no. 2 where…

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Articles

Despite ‘Dirty Tricks’ Allegations, Election Optimism Sweeps Burma

Despite many ethnic communities being excluded from the vote, dodgy voter lists that omitted thousands of voters’ names and others that had thousands of ‘extra’ names people across the country turned out to show their support for political parties. A media statement released in the name of US Secretary of State, John Kerry, congratulated “the people of Burma on the…

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Articles

Community Groups And Opposition Candidates Estimate Only 20% of Voters Will Cast Their Vote Correctly in Karen State

Civil Society Organizations responsible for organizing voter education activities and some political parties’ candidates have said that they expect only 20% of Karen voters in today’s election to vote correctly in the seven townships in Karen State. Saw Kyaw Swar from the Karen State Community Network who worked on the voter education activities in Karen State told Karen News that,…

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Articles

Cholera Outbreak Kills 12 Karen Villagers

As of October, twelve villagers had died and 61 villages suffered from cholera outbreak in Kawkareik and Kyain Seikgyi Townships near the Thai-Burma border – health workers from both countries are trying to stop the spread of the deadly disease. Statistics from the Karen Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW) show that most of the villages affected are in areas…

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Articles

Karen Groups Call NCA Signing A Nonsense As It Fails to Include All Ethnic Armed Groups

More than forty Karen organizations issued a statement critical of the Karen National Union after it had decided to sign a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement with the government that excluded the majority of ethnic armed groups. Seven ethnic armed organizations, including the Karen National Union, decided to go ahead and sign the NCA with the government without the full support of…

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Articles

Burma – Free and Fair Elections?

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…

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