Articles

The Shan Human Rights Foundation alleged that recent Burma Army offensives have targeted civilians that resulted in disappearances, arrests and human rights abuses, including torture. The Shan Human Rights Foundation said the targeting of villagers followed a clash between Burma Army soldiers from its IB 249 the ethnic armed group, the “RCSS/SSA near Hai Khai village, Nam Pha Khee tract.”…

A new network of activists and civil society groups has been warning Karen State residents of the dangers of coal through environmental awareness trainings held from July 20 to August 5. The Karen State government greenlit a 1280-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Hpa-An township to be built by joint Thai-Japanese company Toyo-Thai Corporation. The power plant would sit between Wut…

Around 2,000 people participated in a traditional Karen wrist tying ceremony in Kawkareik township on August 7. “This white thread tying ceremony [wrist tying ceremony] is as much a part of the Karen national character as our language, literature, customs and culture. We are holding [the ceremony] this year as a way of preserving the tradition. We will continue to…

Amid efforts to entice more ethnic armed groups into the fold of the nationwide ceasefire agreement, the Karen National Union shared its peace process experiences with the Karenni National Progressive Party at a meeting in Thailand last week. The KNU is one of the eight initial signatories to the nationwide ceasefire agreement and has promoted the pact at peace meetings.…

Education reform activist and champion of migrant education U Naing Naing Tun passed away on August 2 in Thailand, according to his colleagues. He suffered a heart attack and died in the Mae Sot Hospital. He was 47. “His death is a big loss. I’m very saddened,” said Mahn Shwe Hnin, headmaster of the Children’s Development Center and a close…

As more cases of influenza (H1N1) are confirmed in several different locations in Burma including the former capital, Rangoon, Karen State Health Department officials have informed residents not to be overly frightened by the deadly flu. Doctor Kyaw Swar Myint, the Deputy Chief of the State Department of Public Health, made the call in a speech delivered at the World…

The Karen Teacher Working Group (KTWG) ran a short training for parents of schoolchildren in its effort to raise awareness to get them involved in their children’s education. On the 31st of July, two teachers from the KTWG’s Mobile Teacher Training provided a short training course to parents of school children in Chaw Tho Khee (Kyout Hpyar) village, Kyaik Hto…

Local Karen National Union officials and aid workers are trying to drum up last-minute support for a shelter of internally displaced persons, before it runs out of funding in September. Over 70 representatives from 10 border-based Karen State civil society groups attended a meeting on July 30 to discuss how to keep the Ei Tu Hta shelter open. “We agreed…

Burma’s clampdown on the country’s journalists continues with the arrest of Myanmar Now’s editor, Ko Swe Win by police at Rangoon Airport on Sunday. Ko Swe Win was taken into custody by police while waiting to board a flight to Bangkok, Thailand. It is reported by Frontier Magazine that Swe Win’s arrest is linked to a “defamation complaint filed by…

General Saw Ka Sel Doh, a Karen resistance fighter who joined the Karen Nation Union’s armed wing in the first months of its existence in 1947, has passed away. Gen. Saw Ka Sel Doh, 92, died in Mae Sot Hospital, this morning, on July 31, after months of declining health and hospitalization on July 24, according to his grandson Saw…