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The international media watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists has demanded that authorities in Burma should “immediately drop all criminal proceedings against three journalists charged with defamation and should strike all criminal defamation laws from the books” In a statement released on June 19 the CPJ’s, senior Southeast Asia representative, Shawn Crispin, said that “Authorities in Myanmar should throw out…

Villagers along the Kawkareik – Aindu road which is now being upgraded to Asia Highway funded by the Asia Development Bank said that they want transparency and more understandable information on the project. The Village Development Committee formed with representatives from the 24 villages affected by the project made the statement during a meeting on 15 June, 2017. The meeting…

As Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s State Counsellor, concluded her Canadian tour in Toronto, members of the Karen community claimed she failed to discuss the countries armed conflict, displacement, refugees or the ongoing militarization of the country. Members of the local Burmese community said that official event held at the Toronto City Hall and attended by the Mayor of…

The National Karen School has re-opened under a new name, the Karen Affairs School by the Karen Literature and Cultural Committee. The school is located in Yetakalay village in Rangoon Region. With aim of reviving Karen national schools, the Taigyi Township Karen Literature and Cultural Committee reopened the school with support from local villagers. Naw Hser Hser Htoo, the director…

Nearly 1,000 Mon State residents signed a petition asking the Karen National Union to cancel a quarry and a cement factory slated for construction in an environmentally sensitive mountain pass. The residents of Thaton township said the Min Lwin Mountain is sacred to the locals, and the planned projects could led to deforestation, extinction of wildlife, land disputes and pollution.…

The Democratic Karen Benevolent Army announced any of its soldier or any member of the public in its territory who is caught involved in drug trafficking, arms selling, human trafficking or peddling counterfeit money will face serious consequences. The warning from DKBA’s Klo Htoo Baw headquarters was issued this month to all battalions and units, an officer said. “We had…

The Karen National Union’s Mutraw District office released a statement supporting the demands of the displaced villagers living on the banks of the Salween River. The KNU statement said that its standing committee supported the displaced villagers “we view their demands as reasonable and fully support them, as these are necessary conditions for genuine and sustainable peace. Major Saw Kler…

Peace negotiators are anxious to see long-promised mine clearance activities get underway so that refugee resettlement and development can move forward. The head of the Union-level Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee called on the public to urge their local officials to make good on pledges to clear the unexploded ordinance. “In my opinion, they [the state-level Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committees] need…

Four villagers found sowing seeds on disputed land were arrested on May 23. Officers from the Border Guard Force caught the four villagers as they were planting trees in Mon State’s Kyaikmaraw township. Locals say the plot was made into a protected forest reserve in 2015, but the BGF insists that an overlapping parcel of 600 acres was set aside…

The Union Peace Conference second session started yesterday with the surprise inclusion of eight armed ethnic organizations who had not signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement. In addition, some of the ethnic armed organizations are currently in armed conflict with government forces in both Shan and Kachin States that international humanitarian groups have estimated to have forced as many as 150,000…