Articles

A Hla Ka Myin village leader is determined that the population of voting aged people in his area are verified and ready to vote in the 2015 Election in Karen State. The village elder, Saw Htay Kyaw Myo, told Karen News that he began the verification process on November 13, 2014. “In gathering data, the first and most crucial thing…

An artillery attack against the Kachin Independence Army’s Military Academy, that left at least 23 officer cadets dead and a further 20 injured, was unprovoked and endangers the push for a nationwide peace agreement, a Kachin advocacy organisation has asserted. A statement by the Kachin Alliance, a network of Kachin community organisations based in the United States, condemned the attack…

Families moved by the Burmese government to make way for a special economic zone in Thilawa have been living in deplorable conditions, leaving them hungry and sick, a report by a human rights organisation has found. The report, by the New York based, Physicians for Human Rights, said that the Burma government had violated international standards when it moved the…

A coalition of Shan community-based-organisations released a statement calling on the President of the United States, Barack Obama, to raise the issue of ongoing military offensives by the Burmese government in ethnic areas during his visit to the country. The statement, issued on behalf of 12 community-based-organisations, including the Shan Human Rights Foundation and the Shan Women’s Action Network, said…

A report by Fortify Rights, an international human rights organization based in Southeast Asia, has accused members of Burma’s authorities of being involved in human trafficking. Burma’s security forces are part of a transnational crime syndicate collecting payments from ethnic Rohingya asylum seekers fleeing persecution in Burma by boats – with authorities going as far as to even escort the…

An international aid agency has warned that ongoing instability in Burma is blocking prospects for a sustainable peace and the repatriation of communities displaced by conflict. The Border Consortium (TBC), which delivers aid to Burmese refugees in Thailand and internally displaced people in Burma, said that peace efforts were “stumbling,” leaving conflict-affected communities in the dark. There has been a…

The Rangoon based Kayin People’s Party (KPP) is focused on winning five ethnic Karen nationalities affair seats in the upcoming 2015 national election. The five constituencies are in the State and Regions outside of the designated Karen State, but where large populations of Karen people live. The Burma 2008 Constitution reserved one ethnic based minister’s seat for ethnic nationalities that…

An international human rights organisation claims in a statement released 6th November that the Burma Army is committing human rights abuses with impunity in conflict areas. The statement, released by South East Asia based Fortify Rights, stated that the Burma Army was deliberately attacking and killing civilians. Matthew Smith, executive director of Fortify Rights, said that the government claims of…

Aung Kyaw Naing’s death in military custody has triggered fears the government is sending a message that no journalist in the country is safe. The Committee to Protect Journalists estimates that up to Sept 10 this year, 40 journalists had been killed while reporting. The name of Myanmar journalist Aung Kyaw Naing, also known as Par Gyi, who was killed…

The Plone-Sawow Democratic Party (PSDP), a Karen State based political party said that their request to lift a voting decree in 147 polling areas of Karen State for the 2015 national election had been refused by Burma’s Union Election Commission (UEC). The 147 areas were deemed by the UEC to be ‘unsafe’ as they were in areas affected by armed…