Karen

Two leading Karen Women’s groups, the Karen Women’s Organisation and the Karen Women’s Empowerment Group (KWEG) have urged Burma’s reformist government to improve women’s rights in the country as the world marks international women’s day, arguing that peace could not be reached without respect for women’s rights. ”Lasting peace in Burma cannot be achieved without justice for the women of…

The Karen National Union (KNU) has just finished a training program for a Karen police force in KNU controlled areas, aimed at improving the law enforcement capabilities of the Karen national police force. The two-week long training course held at Lay Wah in Hlaing Bwe township of Karen State ended on the 21st of February. The KNU’s Department of the…

Karen National Union officials have proposed the government use local based teachers as data collectors when the planned census is conducted in KNU control areas. KNU officials in Dooplaya district told Karen News that they have proposed to the Karen State Census Committee to use local teachers in Dooplaya district for the census. The proposal was made during a meeting…

A Karen environmental group has voiced its concern over a Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) report detailing development plans for southeast Myanmar. The Thailand based Karen Environmental and Social Action Network Group (KESAN) raised the concerns in a document released to the press, saying that the 593-page document ‘Preparatory Survey for the Integrated Regional Development for Ethnic Minorities in the…

Kayin People’s Party’s youth chairperson Saw Win Kyaw traveled to Norway this week to meet with Karen community groups living overseas. Saw Win Kyaw told Karen News that he is using the opportunity to share the KPP’s plans and to keep overseas community members up to date on developments within Burma. “I plan to go there to lay down the…

The Geba ethnic group currently incorrectly classified as a Karenni ethnic sub-group by the government has called on the government and relevant officials to correct their identity in the coming 2014 census, as the group recognized itself as Karen. The call was made in a statement released by representatives of the Geba ethnic group after a conference held on February…

Karen leaders have met to discuss the classification of the Karen people in the upcoming national census. Padoh Saw Maw Htoo, chairperson of KNU in Kawkareik Township said in an interview with Karen News, that the KNU held a forum on February 10th to discuss the forthcoming census. “We called on the village heads and urged them at the meeting…

The Karen National Union’s (KNU) Vice-Chairperson, Padoh Naw Zipporah Sein, urged Karen people to recall the four founding objectives of their struggle. Padoh Naw Zipporah Sein was speaking at a ceremony marking the 66-years since the Karen held a massive march in Rangoon to demand equal rights from Burma’s government, then newly independent from the British. “Today is one of…

The General Secretary of the Karen National Union, P’Doh Saw Kwe Htoo Win, called for Karen unity at a ceremony marking the 65th Karen Revolution Day, at Hpa-an district, 7th Brigade headquarters. “We need to rebuild the unity of the Karen people. The Burma’s [Army’s] Border Guard Force (BGF) and the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) were once a part…

Burma’s National ID Cards grant relative freedom of travel, allow voting in national elections, access to official schools. Denied for decades basic government services, villagers in Karen State view Burma’s National ID Card scheme with a mix of confusion, indifference, and even fear. Some of the Karen interviewed for this story, referred to the government issued cards as ‘Burma ID…