Karen

Refugees from Burma are finding it difficult to stay, difficult to go home. In Thailand, funding cuts to refugee camps have left over 100,000 displaced people from Burma to choose between trying to survive in deteriorating conditions and returning to a country not ready to receive them. The refugees are spread throughout 9 camps perched on Thailand’s southwest border with…

This month another forgotten anniversary is passing by without official acknowledgement. The 8th of August 1988 is remembered for the nationwide protests and crackdown which followed. Troops opened fire on civilians, estimates put the number of people killed at more than three thousand, some as high as ten thousand. Thousands more were arrested. In summaries of the history of Burma,…

An effort to compile Myanmar’s first dictionary for English, Myanmar, Sgaw Karen, Western Pwo Karen, and Eastern Pwo Karen languages is underway, the project’s organising committee said. The dictionary is intended to keep an up-to-date register of the languages, as well as to make a usable resources for vocational training schools, ethnic language and literature education, and for web searches…

Hoping to bring relief displaced Karen people whose camp no longer has a source of funding, the Karen diaspora across the border in Thailand staged an emergency fundraising benefit over the weekend. Over 100 people attended the September 30 fundraiser in Mae Sot, which brought together artists, musicians, and Karen culture organizations. International donor funding for the Ei Tu Hta…

Despite appeals for emergency funding, a displaced persons camp in the northern Karen State has received no additional cash and anticipates its finances have dried up by the end of September, officials said. At the beginning of September, the Ei Tu Hta IDP Camp Supporting Committee submitted letters to international donors requesting that financial support be extended. The committee told…

In effort to bolster Karen traditions, the Mon State government has donated dance costumes and instruments to five universities, an official said. The Karen literature and culture committees at Mawlamyine University, Mon State’s Technological University, the University of Computer Studies, the Government Technical Institute and the Agriculture Institute each received K1.5million-worth of Karen costumes and traditional musical instruments, according to…

The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRCT) met on 11 September to hear a complaint against the Ben Chaung Coal Mine. The coalmine is located in the Thanintharyi Region of Burma and three Thai companies are involved. The complaint, filed by representatives of indigenous Karen communities with the support of local and international NGOs, alleges the open-pit mine has…

A group of Karen residents in Minnesota are trying to keep their traditions alive among the diaspora by teaching the Karen language and literature. Every weekend from January 28 to September 4, a group that calls itself the Putermine Gontar Temple taught 16 adults and kids in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Mahn Lone Paung, who organized the training, said he hopes…

The Karen diaspora is showing increasing irritation at the Karen National Union’s ceasefire stance. The International Karen Organization (IKO) issued a statement on September 9 calling for a review of the current peace process in order to achieve a genuine political settlement. The statement was issued following IKO’s first conference in Melbourne, Australia from September 6 to 8. The IKO,…

Nineteen new auxiliary midwives have completed their training and will bolster rural health teams in an aim to reduce maternal mortality in Karen State. The 19 trainees were presented certificates at an inaugural ceremony on September 6. These auxiliary midwives are the sixth batch to complete the seven-month training held by the Backpack Health Worker Team (BPHWT), the Phalon Education…