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Fighting occurred between the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army and Burma Army on October 10, forcing Karen villagers to flee. The latest armed clashes broke out at around 10am between the DKBA and the government’s army at Kaung Mu village in Kawkareik Township. Sources from the DKBA’s liaison office in Kawkareik said that the fighting lasted about an hour. The fighting…

The Kachin Women’s Association Thailand, a community based human rights organisation, has claimed that the Burma Army and government backed militias are enabling a drug crisis in Kachin State. “Where the Burma Army has seized former Kachin Independence Army territories, it has allowed its allies to expand control over these areas. Overturning KIA anti-drug policies which had limited poppy cultivation,…

An international human rights organisation has warned that a draft plan by the Burma government to tackle violence in Rakhine State would entrench discrimination and be counterproductive to peace. Human Rights Watch said in a statement that the government’s draft plan failed to recognise the term ‘Rohingya,’ instead referring to ‘Bengalis.’ HRW said that this was “an inaccurate and derogatory…

Human Rights Watch has called on the World Bank Group to pressure Burma’s government to stop ongoing human rights abuses. The New York based human rights organisation acknowledged that Burma had undergone significant reforms since a flawed 2011 election propelled a nominally civilian government into power, led by President and ex-general U Thein Sein. Yet HRW also warned that despite…

Access to education in Karen State has been compromised by lack of accessible schools, poverty, war, displacement, and low wages for teachers – conditions made worse by a decades-long lack of government funding. Fighting to survive against successive brutal military dictatorships in Burma since 1949, the Karen people formed their own education system, completely separate from the central government. Burma’s…

The Karen Women’s Organisation has criticized the decision by the Karen National Union to suspend its membership from the United Nationalities Federal Council last month, claiming the decision was made without proper consultation with the Karen community. Speaking exclusively to Karen News, Naw K’nyaw Paw, Secretary of the KWO, said that the decision came as a surprise to many Karen…

Aung Naing was six years old when he moved to Nu Poe refugee camp in Thailand, leaving conflict-wracked Karen State, in Eastern Burma. Sitting down in the small compound on the outskirts of Chiang Mai that has been his home for the last 15 months, Aung Naing recalls those first years in the camp. “My mother and father had gone…

A soldier has been killed during fighting between the Karen National Defense Organisation (that operates under the control of the Karen National Union) and the Burma Army. The fighting took place on September 27 near Mu The’ village in Kyaukgyi Township, Pago division, where the Burma Army Light Infantry Battalion #361 was patrolling areas under the control of the KNU.…

Residents of the Burma border town of Myawaddy told Karen News that fighting broke out at Aung Shwe Bo section between government soldiers and Karen armed groups. A woman resident said, “fighting took place at Aung Shwe Bo section where both the Burma Army and BGF [Border Guard Force] are based. [Burma] army had now shut down all road access…

Following suspension of its membership with the United Nationalities Federal Council, the ethnic alliance bloc, the Karen National Union have said that they will make a decision on whether to stop or continue their membership with the UNFC. Earlier reports from the KNU indicated that the issue would be discussed during its Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting scheduled in September,…