Karen News

In an exclusive Karen News interview a senior commander in the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) has added his voice to the growing calls for Burma’s military-backed government to amend the country’s undemocratic constitution before the 2015 national elections, as it ensures effective military veto in parliament and blocks prominent pro-democracy politician Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from the Presidency.…

Hundreds of young Karen people dressed in their traditional clothing file into a large open-air building in Karen State, a booming series of “hello… hello… hello…” tests a sound system stacked on the edge of a stage. The traditional dress sound system and stage are signs that the Karen Youth Organisation’s celebrated its 25th year in May, more than one…

Giving the opening address at the 10th Karen Unity Seminar, the Karen National Union’s chairperson, Saw Mutu Sae Po called all the attending Karen representatives to work towards what he called ‘unity in diversity’. General Mutu Sae Po welcome the wide variety of Karen groups attending the event before saying. “We are divided in many ways and means…this disunity is…

Despite the much-lauded government reforms by the international community and President U Thein Sein’s 2013 promise to release all political prisoners, Burma’s military backed government is still clamping down on voices critical of the government, including political activists and journalists. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma stated that dozens of political prisoners were currently detained in Burma, with…

In an exclusive interview with Karen News, the Secretary of the Karen Women’s Organisation, which represents women refugees, has slammed cuts in aid to refugees, joining a growing host of human rights advocacy groups and community based organisations condemning the funding cuts by international donors. “Our refugee community feels it is under pressure to return to Burma. If there is…

A six-year-old girl was killed and five villagers wounded by a landmine in U Mu Ta village, Hlaingbwe Township, two kilometers away from the Thai Burma border on Sunday May 25. The injured villagers are now in a Thai Hospital. According to sources from the Karen Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW), an organization that provides primary healthcare in the…

A host of international based Burma human rights advocacy organisations have voiced grave concern that refugees on the Thai-Burma border are being forced to return to Burma prematurely because of deep cuts in international aid. In a joint statement the European Burma Network expressed concern that refugees from Burma residing in Thailand, were being “pressured” to return to Burma prematurely…

Thousands of Karen students from as many as 370 schools in Pago [Pegu] Division can now officially learn their mother tongue. Saw Jubilee San Hla, the Minister of Karen Ethnic Affairs in Pago Division told Karen News that the teaching of the ethnic S’gaw Karen language would be taught in all government’s primary schools in the Pago Division in the…

A number of regional human rights organisations have hit out at land confiscation in Burma by companies and individuals with links to the government. The Asian Human Rights Commission has slammed a “frenzy” of land grabs in Burma by the government or government-linked companies, stating that abuses of power continue in spite of the country’s much heralded reforms. AHRC, which…

A human rights advocacy group based in Britain has launched a campaign demanding the British Government intervene to secure the release of a jailed journalist in Burma. Burma Campaign UK has demanded that Britain’s Foreign Secretary, William Hague, “personally intervene” to secure the release of the Democratic Voice of Burma journalist, Zaw Pe, who was sentenced to one year imprisonment…