Karen News

The Karen Youth Organization (KYO) has kicked off its summer youth camp on April 23 after changing the venue in response to the objection from the Mon State Minister of Security and Border Affairs. The KYO originally planned to hold the summer youth camp at Kwi Lay Village in the KNU Brigade 1 area in Bilin Township, Mon State but…

Burmese migrant workers and labor rights activists have urged both Burma and Thai governments to assist migrant workers who are having difficulties in buying bus tickets to return back to Thailand after the Thingyan Festival. Many Burmese migrant workers are currently spending the night near Myawaddy-Mae Sot border checkpoint at the Thai-Myanmar border due to soaring bus ticket prices and…

Seven Burmese migrant workers were killed and many have been injured after a bus carrying 50 Burmese migrant workers crashed in Tak Province in Thailand on Monday night (April 9). Under the arrangement of Gold Royal Mandalay Agency, a busload of 50 Burmese migrant workers were travelling from Mae Sot to Bangkok to work officially under the memorandum of understanding…

Some schools in the Karen refugee camps are facing difficulties to continue teaching in upcoming years due to lack of funding, according to education officials from the refugee camps. The Karen Refugee Committee Education Entity’s chair Naw Daborah Htoo said these schools are facing difficulties since some donor organizations have cut funding for the refugee camps and some will stop…

Karen Students attending government schools in the Pago (Pegu) region will be taught Karen language subject up to Grade 4 in 2018-19 academic year. In the previous academic year, the Karen language, as a subject was taught only up to grade 3 students. Saw Augustine Khu, Communication Officer of the Pago Karen Literacy and Culture Committee, told Karen News, that…

Local Karen community based groups confirmed that an aid worker who was helping displaced villagers in the area was shot and killed by a Burma Army soldier on April 5th. The aid worker was named as Saw O Moo, a villager from Ler Mu Plaw and he is survived by his wife Naw Paw Tha and seven young children. The…

The Western Pwo Karen Literature Support Youth Group has provided textbooks and teaching aids to 1,765 Western Pwo Karen (Phalon) teachers from eight townships in the Ayeyarwaddy Region. The group’s campaign officer Sa Khwar Khwar said the group has started providing the aids since March with the aim to promote Western Pwo Karen literature, which has become weakened. “The literature…

The meeting between the Tatmadaw and the Karen National Union (KNU) in Kyaukkyi Township, Bago Region has been postponed although it was slated for March 29-30, according to the Union-level Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC-U)’s secretary (2) Col Wunna Aung. “We will only know the date after making negotiations. The important thing is for [the KNU] Brigade 5 to attend the…

Rangoon-based Karen National Thahaya (Friendship) Association issued a statement on March 28 to urge the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Tatmadaw to keep their troops in line with the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) after armed clashes broke out in the KNU-controlled area in Hpapun District, Karen State on March 5. “We don’t want any skirmishes in this area. By…

The Karen Women’s Organization (KWO) has received this year’s ‘Women of Change Award’ from the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar on March 22 evening. On behalf of their organization, Naw Wah Khu Shee and Naw Say Say from the KWO’s central standing committee attended the reward ceremony at the U.S. Ambassador’s home on Pyay Road in Yangon. Over 50 guests including…