Articles

Local villagers living near the Taungalay Mountain quarry plants to stop the quarry as they claimed it has harmed their villages and environment. The Taungalay quarry plant is located between Upper Kawtyin village tract and Naung Kyan village tract in Hpa-an Township. Saw Zar Li, a villager from Taungone village near the quarry plant said most villagers do not want…

Trucks delivering food assistance to the displaced people at the temporary camps in Myaing Gyi Ngu are now a rare sight. Camp warehouses are almost empty as the more than 3,000 displaced villagers from the Mae Tha Waw area are still unable to return to their homes. The fighting that broke out in September 2016 between the breakaway Democratic Karen…

With the government’s gender quota in peace process events continuing to fall far short, the Karen Women Organization has announced plans to help bolster women’s participation at all levels of peace events. “All women who take part in township, district and central level political movements should be participating in every phase of the peace process. Women should actively join the…

Sa Thu Hlaing Win, a Western Pwo Karen literacy advocate from the Irrawaddy delta region is the winner of the 2016 Padoh Mahn Sha Young Leader Award. Sa Thu Hlaing Win (also known as Sa Khant Thu Hlaing), was presented with the award at the 9th memorial service of Padoh Mahn Sha Lah Phan that was held at Taw Gyaung…

In the weeks before he was murdered in February 2008, the Karen leader, Padoh Mahn Sha Lah Phan, in an interview with Phil Thornton, spoke about the importance of unity and why the ethnic struggle would survive the opportunistic greed of those prepared to “sell out the Karen revolution.” Today marks the day nine years ago that the highly respected…

Conflicts have increased in ethnic areas after the new Burmese government held the Union Peace Conference (21st Century Panglong Conference) last August, claimed Nai Kasauk Mon, executive director of the Burma News International (BNI). He was speaking at the launching ceremony of the 2016 Peace Process Reference Guide, which was compiled by BNI. The book launching ceremony was held at…

A displaced villager from the Mae Tha Wor area of Hlaingbwe Township, Karen State stepped on a landmine as he and other villagers returned to their village to check their plantations on January 31. Saw Ophar Ngah, a villager from Htee Noh Hta village in Mae Tha Wor area had to have his right leg amputated below knee. Saw Ophar…

The Karen people have finalized the draft policy papers on the four sectors that will be proposed at the upcoming 21st Century Panglong Conference or the Union Peace Conference scheduled to be held in February, 2017. Karen nationals held their last round of National-Level Political Dialogue at the Karen National Union controlled territory at Lay Wah from January 28 to…

Challenges lie ahead in submitting the policies from the Karen National-Level Political Dialogue to the 21st Century Panglong Conference, also known as the Union Peace Conference, as they need to pass through three stages, the Karen National Union (KNU)’s joint secretary Pado Mann Mann Mann said on 20 January. “The policies we have set down at the [national-level political] dialogue…

Human Rights activists, Burma Campaign UK delivered a petition to the British government to do more to help stop the rape of ethnic women in conflict divided Burma. Burma Campaign UK released a statement to mark the two years since the rape and murder of two Kachin teachers in Northern Burma. Burma Campaign UK said that the two “Kachin teachers,…