Dr. Heyzer’s comments were made during an interview with Channel News Asia (CNA) on 31st January 2022, a day before the anniversary of the February 1st military coup. Dr. Heyzer’s comments were later claimed by the UN Special envoy office as a ‘misunderstanding’. On February 1st, The European Karen Network (EKN) issued a statement rejecting Dr. Heyzer’s proposal for “power…
Read More »UN
Padoh Taw Nee, Head of the KNU Foreign Affairs Department explained in an earlier interview with Karen News the Burma military’s strategy against civilians in ethnic areas is to first use ground troops to bomb villages and force the people to leave. Then when KNU defends the displaced villagers, drones and or spy planes are used to locate where people…
Read More »
Mr Sidoti, a former UN investigator into crimes against humanity in Burma was speaking to Karen News. Mr Sidoti, an Australian human rights lawyer, is one of three authors of the 2018 UN report, which called for senior members of Burma’s armed forces, including coup leader, General Min Aung Hlaing, to be prosecuted for genocide against the country’s Rohingya Muslim…
Read More »
International human rights groups support the UN report call for the Burma military to be investigated by the International Criminal Court. The UN report accuses the Burma military of genocide against the Rohingya living in Rakhine state and said the military were “killing indiscriminately, gang-raping women, assaulting children and burning entire villages.” The report also concluded the Burma military had…
Read More »
The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a recent released report to the UN Security Council said that there is, ‘a high level of impunity for conflict-related sexual violence perpetrated by State actors’. In his report the UN’s Security Council, the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the government of Burma “…to ensure that security personnel accused of such crimes are prosecuted.”…
Read More »
Mr. Iain Hall, the senior field coordinator for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees based in the Thai border town of Mae Sot gave an exclusive interview to Karen News. In the exclusive interview, Mr Hall covers a wide range of issues affecting refugees including repatriation, international humanitarian guidelines, the Burmese government’s responsibilities to protect its citizens and the…
Read More »
A United Nations working group warns that the detention of an ethnic Kachin activist is illegal. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an official ruling that the 21-year prison sentence of the ethnic Kachin activist, Brang Yung, is illegal and demanded his immediate release from Myitkina prison where he is incarcerated. Brang Yung was charged under Article…
Read More »
A team of UN experts has added their weight to growing calls for Burma’s government to scrap proposed contentious legislation that would restrict religious freedoms. In a joint statement released Friday, 20th June, the UN experts – on freedom of religion, minority issues and human rights in Burma – maintained that the draft bill made religious conversion more difficult and…
Read More »
UN Secretary General states that impunity by Burma’s authorities regarding human rights violations could risk serious international consequences. In an April 25 speech to the Partnership Group on Burma in New York, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, said that if Burma’s authorities tolerated impunity for human rights violations it risked “negative pressures within the international community and among different…
Read More »
International pressure for an investigation into sexual violence in Burma is mounting, with the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling for the Burma government to co-operate with the UN on the issue. Ban Ki-moon called on the Burma Government to investigate human rights abuses, including sexual violence. “I call on the Government of Myanmar to fully investigate and respond…
Read More »