Karen News

Kayah civil society organizations plan to run a landmine education awareness campaign in Kayah (Karenni) State using grants awarded by the US Embassy in Rangoon. A total of six Kayah civil society organizations plan to carry out the mine risk education according Khu K’law Reh, joint coordinator of the Kayah Phu Christian Social Welfare Department. Speaking to Karen News, Khu…

The Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) selected its nine-member delegation team to draft a nationwide ceasefire agreement together with a government team. The NCCT, a technical team working on the nationwide ceasefire agreement on behalf of the ethnic armed resistance organizations previously agreed in its last meeting with the government’s Union Peacemaking Work Committee in Rangoon, to form a joint…

Last night’s fire at Mae La Refugee Camp destroyed 19 houses and another 31 were dismantled to stop the flames spreading. Thai ambulances and fire trucks from surrounding villages attended the fire at the Mae La Refugee Camp that is located on the Thai Burma Border in Thailand’s Tak Province. Saw Honest, the Mae La camp leader spoke to Karen…

Tonight at around 9.30pm a fire broke out in Zone B Section 4 and 5 at Mae La Refugee Camp on the Thai Burma Border in Thailand’s Tak Province. A Karen News reporter, at the camp spoke to a camp resident, Saw Hla Win, who was close to the fire when it broke out. “We were asleep. Most people were…

More than 2,000 civilians have fled a Burma Army offensive in Shan State, with shelling in village areas and reports of government soldiers engaging in looting, forced labour and torture, a human rights group has said. The Burma Army attack, which allegedly involved more than 1,000 government troops, led to the attacks of village areas in Nawng Khio Township over…

A report by a political prisoner advocacy group has condemned the government’s ongoing arrest of political opponents. The Association Assisting Political Prisoners (AAPP) point out that Burma’s President, U Thein Sein has failed to deliver on his promise to the international community to release all political prisoners by the end of 2013. “Regardless of the government statements that no more…

Villagers from Myaung Byo, located in Dawei District, have filed a court case over damages allegedly caused by the Heinda mining project operated by Myanmar Pongpipat Company Ltd. “It has had many negative social and economic impacts on our community,” Myaung Byo’s villagers said in a joint statement. Myaung Byo village has around 100 households, with over 500 people, locals…

The European Burma Network has added its voice to a large and growing coalition of political, humanitarian and community organisations calling on Burma’s government to postpone the country’s national census that is set to start on March 30. “We believe that carrying out the census at the current time will exacerbate ethnic and religious tensions in the country,” the European…

An international organisation representing journalists worldwide said it welcomed the passing of Burma’s first press laws, but raised concerns over elements of the legislation as being “unnecessarily controlling.” The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), called on President Thein Sein’s government to “continue its dialogue with journalists” in order to “develop a free and robust media” in Burma. The statement comes…

Burma’s transformation from international pariah to political success story is being called into question by widespread and ongoing human rights abuses that Western interests increasingly refuse to acknowledge, humanitarian advocates claim. Burma Campaign UK director Mark Farmaner said that a recent British Foreign Office quarterly report on the human rights situation in the country willfully neglects the severity of such…