Karen News

Over 100 Karen youth leaders from Karen and Mon states, as well as Bago, Tanintharyi and Yangon regions gathered in the past week at a networking event to discuss how ethnic youth can get involved in the peace process and work together more closely. In the hopes of rallying young leaders and future negotiators, the Karen Youth Organization (KYO) and…

Karen organizations are accusing the government of abusing the ceasefire process to take advantage of investment opportunities with little regard for potential consequences to the environment or the local population. The latest iteration of the long-standing complaint was lodged by handful of groups after the Kawthoolei Land Seminar on November 2-4. Over 370 participants representing 53 Karen organizations attended the…

The Karen Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW) is prepared to assist the Ministry of Health and Sports (MoHS) in a nationwide drive to vaccinate children against Japanese encephalitis, and even lead efforts in areas controlled by armed ethnic organizations. The ministry’s nationwide Japanese encephalitis vaccination drive, which aims to immunize 14 million children in Burma against the potentially deadly…

A Norwegian and a Thai company have joined with the Karen State Rubber Production Association to build a rubber refinery in the Hpa-an industrial zone. U Wing Hlaing Oo, head of the Karen State Agricultural Department said that the Norwegian’s Nyor Company, the Thai Southland Company, and the Karen State Rubber Production Association plan to invest in and build the…

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,…

Amid increasing quarrying projects that threaten to destroy the natural environment, residents have banded together to form a conservation network protecting mountains in Karen and Mon states. The Natural Mountain Conservation Network will work to conserve four mountains: Mi Kayin, Taung Kalay (Taung Kone) and Lun Nya mountains in Karen State and Min Lwin Mountain in Mon State, members said.…

Seventeen people have been arrested for drug offences and over 200,000 pills were seized in Karen State’s Kya-in Seikgyi Township so far this year, according to the local police chief. Major Win Naing said ten men and seven women were arrested in connection with 13 drug cases in Kya-in Seikkyi township alone between January and October this year, while 204,224…

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…

After inspecting a controversial rocky quarrying site in Karen State, a delegation of state-level officials plans to recommend the government suspend the deleterious activity and terminate existing licenses. Karen State’s Pa-O Affairs Minister Khun Myo Tint and state Hluttaw MP U Min Ko Khaing conducted a field visit to Taung Kalay Mountain in Hpa-an township at the end of last…

Karen State Chief Minister Nan Khin Htwe Myint met for the first time with local residents opposing a coal-fired power plant at a public consultation on October 14. Around 1,500 people attended the discussion, which was held in Hpa An township’s Sasana Rama Wut Gyi monastery, including state government officials, experts, and residents from Ta Dar U, Kyauk Ta Lone,…