Articles

A team of UN experts has added their weight to growing calls for Burma’s government to scrap proposed contentious legislation that would restrict religious freedoms. In a joint statement released Friday, 20th June, the UN experts – on freedom of religion, minority issues and human rights in Burma – maintained that the draft bill made religious conversion more difficult and…

The Karen political party, the Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party (PSDP), has stated its opposition to the proportional representation (PR) voting system, which was endorsed by Burma’s parliament on June 11 this year. The PSDP claimed that the new voting process would needlessly complicate the political system for the upcoming 2015 national elections. The PSDP’s chairperson Mahn Aung Pyi Soe spoke to…

Human rights experts and religious leaders have warned that Burma’s proposed religion laws, regarding conversion and inter-religious marriage, violate fundamental human rights and will further fuel “intolerance and hatred” against the country’s ethnic and religious minorities. Two proposed laws that have been granted endorsement from Burma’s president, represent a direct threat to the country’s ethnic and religious minorities, human rights…

Founding members of the newly formed Karen National Party (KNP) are currently going through a vetting process with the Government’s Interior Ministry following its June 4th submission to register as an official political party. Mahn Kyaw Nyein, a KNP’s founder told Karen News that the majority of the 15 founding members had already being vetted and there were only “one…

The Burma Army in Tanintharyi Township attacked the base of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) in the Huaypha area killing one KNLA soldier and wounding another. Sources close to the Karen National Union (KNU) in the Megui/Tavoy District confirmed to Karen News and added details of the attack. The KNU sources said that Burma Army soldiers from Light Infantry…

The Abbot from Dhamaduta monastery in Wanat Chaung village, Hmawbi Township, Yangon donated more than 10,000 sets of Burma school textbooks to Mae Sot based migrant learning centers and schools in displaced communities along the Thai Burma border. Ko Zaw Thu Ra, who made the donation on behalf of Dr. Ashin Hsay Keinda from Dhamaduta monastery, told Karen News that…

An extensive investigation by British newspaper, The Guardian, has uncovered evidence of endemic use of “slave” labour in Thailand’s fishing industry, with migrant workers being “beaten, tortured, and killed.” The investigation said that the 270,000 migrant workers in Thailand’s fishing industry were vulnerable to human trafficking and rampant exploitation in a racket involving brokers, boat captains and corrupt Thai authorities.…

International civil society organisations, human rights watchdogs and advocacy groups have issued a united call for Burma’s government to drop its proposed legislation that places restrictions on an individual’s right to freedom of religion. An alliance of 81 organisations pressed that Burma’s government, led by President U Thein Sein, scrap the Religious Conversion Law, saying that it is an attack…

To commemorate World Day Against Child Labour, Karen News spoke to child workers who scrape a meager living from collecting garbage in the Thai-Burma border town of Mae Sot. Too poor to go to school, they work unnoticed, working long days to help support their families. The children told Karen News of their hopes, dreams and daily concerns. Hla Hla…

Child migrant workers in the Thai-Burma border town of Mae Sot struggle to earn enough to survive, working in dirty, difficult and dangerous work, many miss out on an education and are vulnerable to exploitation. To mark World Day Against Child Labour, Karen News followed the story of one of Mae Sot’s child migrant workers, a garbage collector. Ali, 10,…