Karen News

Burma Army soldiers are perpetrating sexual violence against women in conflict areas inside Shan State, according to a local human rights organisation. The Shan Human Rights Foundation documented at least eight cases of sexual violence committed by Burma Army soldiers in ceasefire areas since April of this year. The latest incident allegedly occurred on November 5th, where a 32 year-old…

Two Hpa-an based land right activists have been jailed for two years in jail, under Article 17/1 for association with an illegal organization. The two men, Saw Maung Maung Gyi and Saw Eh Say were sentenced on November 25, at Hpa-an Township’s Court. Saw Maung Maung Gyi, an 88 Generation Karen Student Group’s chairperson who had been helping local villagers…

David Tharckabaw, head of the Karen National Unions Alliance Affairs, in an exclusive interview with Karen News, congratulates Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD for their election win, but warns that military should not be trusted. The people have spoken up against a bad government. I hope there are no more dirty tricks, no more profits for the cronies…

Hpa An – election day. The queues had built up well before the 6am start to vote. There was a quiet buzz around the schools being used as polling stations with families and friends emerging smiling and photographing inked fingers. Everyone said they were voting for the National League for Democracy (NLD) and they were quietly optimistic that the NLD…

Burma’s Union Election Commission now have announced all the results of the November 8 polls and Aung San Su Kyi’s National League for Democracy have a massive landslide. A total of five Karen political parties competed in the 2015 election in Karen State. The five Karen parties could only secure a State Parliamentary seat at Thandaunggyi Constituency no. 2 where…

Major General Nerdah Bo Mya, head of the Karen National Defence Organisation, congratulated the National League for Democracy for its winning performance in the national elections on November 8th, 2015. “We welcome a victory that wins Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD government. Under a democratic government it will be easier for ethnic people to achieve our goals.” General…

Health workers in Thailand said 2015 was a bad year for dengue fever and resulted in more than a hundred deaths and tens of thousands of cases. Ms Aya Tabata, the coordinator of the Stop Dengue, Protect Your Family campaign, said that 2015 was the worst year for Thailand since 2010. “From January to November this year there were 102…

Although the official results of the November 8th election have not been announced, the National League for Democracy candidates running for seats in Myawaddy District are confident they have won. U Sein Bo, the NLD, Myawaddy district chairperson, and a House of Representative or Pyithu Hluttaw candidate spoke to Karen News of his confidence that had only to wait on…

Despite many ethnic communities being excluded from the vote, dodgy voter lists that omitted thousands of voters’ names and others that had thousands of ‘extra’ names people across the country turned out to show their support for political parties. A media statement released in the name of US Secretary of State, John Kerry, congratulated “the people of Burma on the…

Civil Society Organizations responsible for organizing voter education activities and some political parties’ candidates have said that they expect only 20% of Karen voters in today’s election to vote correctly in the seven townships in Karen State. Saw Kyaw Swar from the Karen State Community Network who worked on the voter education activities in Karen State told Karen News that,…