Articles

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,…

A coalition of more than 40 human rights and civil society organisations have called for an international investigation into the situation in Rakhine State – where reports of violence against the Muslim Rohingya minority continue to emerge. Fortify Rights, a South East Asia based human rights organisation, said that the evidence pointed towards State-sponsored attacks of the Rohingya and that,…

The installation of cable cars on Karen State’s famous and symbolic, Zwekabin Mountain is to start in February after investing companies have signed agreement on January 12, 2017. The two companies who will run the projects are the Zwekabin Myay Development Company that was founded and managed by followers of the Zwekabin Temple monk, U Kawi Daza and Chit Lin…

Human Rights Watch and Fortify Rights called for the Burma government to release information on two ethnic Kachin Baptist leaders missing since late December. The HRW and Fortify Rights statement said the two men, Langjaw Gam Seng, 35, and Dumdaw Nawng Lat, 65, “were apparently forcibly disappeared in Northern Shan State.” Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch…

A path has opened for environmental conservationists and rights advocates to strengthen their fight against gold mining and other socially and environmentally destructive projects in the rich forests of Karen State in eastern Myanmar: the Salween Peace Park. The 5,200-sq-km Peace Park is a radical initiative to create an indigenous-led sanctuary to protect indigenous cultural heritage and endangered wildlife. Located…

The Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party (PSDP), which is based in the Karen State’s capital Hpa-an, will run for a seat in the Pyithu Hluttaw (Lower House) in Kawhmu Township, Rangoon Region in the upcoming by-election in April, the party’s vice-chairman Mann Aung Pyae Soe told KIC on 17 January. “The Phalon-Sawaw [Democratic] Party is trying to cover the whole country. It…