Karen

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…

Naw K’nyaw Paw Nimrod, General Secretary of the Karen Women Organization (KWO) has been selected as the winner of the 2013 Padoh Mahn Sha Young Leader Award, on 31st January 2014, Karen Revolution Day. The award ceremony was held on the evening of the Karen 65th Revolutionary Day at Day-Pu-Noh village in the Karen National Union’s 5th Brigade in Karen…

In a move to be prepared for the national election in 2015, the Hpa-an based Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party (PSDP) held a plenary conference to spell out the party’s policies. The PSDP is one of the four of Karen parties taking part in the 2010 election. The PSDP told the meeting held on Jan 18 in Hpa-an, Karen State, that its…

The Karen community’s in the Yangon and Irrawaddy divisions are to form a new political party, known as the Karen National Party (KNP). Initial plans to establish the party were put in place in 2013. Karen representatives met this week at Ta-Kwun-Dine village, Kyauk-Kone Township in the Irrawaddy division. The meeting was to form an executive committee of 14 members…

General Mutu Say Poe, chairperson of the Karen National Union (KNU) in a speech addressed to all Karen people to mark the 65th Karen Revolution Day, called for a peaceful solution to the civil war that it has fought for the last six decades. Thousands of Karen people made their way from Thailand, from overseas and within Burma to sites…