Articles

International rights group condemns marriage law proposal in Burma’s parliament as violating the rights of women and religious minorities. In an interview with Karen News a human rights advocate warns that the proposed law is a “bluntly racist answer to a paranoid racist agenda.” Human Rights Watch has said that marriage legislation currently being considered by Burma’s government would “strip…

Residents of Ka Mawt Ka Kyo village allege that area village heads are using the census to collect money from villagers. Civilians claim the village heads have been running the ‘census scam’ since last week under the pretense of supporting the census. Villagers spoke to Karen News. “The village heads collected money in our village,” a Ka Mawt Ka Kyo…

More than 130 villagers from 20 villages in Hlaingbwe and Hpa-An Township signed a petition letter and sent to the state parliament demanding a solution to the dispute over farmland that was granted concession to businessman for a rubber plantation. Daw Nan Say Awa, a member of parliament from the Pyithu Hluttaw [House of Representatives], Karen State said that the…

From out of Mae Tao Clinic’s Child Outpatient Department the sound of crying babies can be heard. A queue of parents, children in tow, wait outside the basic concrete building for their children to be weighed, measured and checked for serious diseases. “We have six medics and four community health workers to cope with the children.” Dixie, a medic from…

Kayah civil society organizations plan to run a landmine education awareness campaign in Kayah (Karenni) State using grants awarded by the US Embassy in Rangoon. A total of six Kayah civil society organizations plan to carry out the mine risk education according Khu K’law Reh, joint coordinator of the Kayah Phu Christian Social Welfare Department. Speaking to Karen News, Khu…

The Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) selected its nine-member delegation team to draft a nationwide ceasefire agreement together with a government team. The NCCT, a technical team working on the nationwide ceasefire agreement on behalf of the ethnic armed resistance organizations previously agreed in its last meeting with the government’s Union Peacemaking Work Committee in Rangoon, to form a joint…

Last night’s fire at Mae La Refugee Camp destroyed 19 houses and another 31 were dismantled to stop the flames spreading. Thai ambulances and fire trucks from surrounding villages attended the fire at the Mae La Refugee Camp that is located on the Thai Burma Border in Thailand’s Tak Province. Saw Honest, the Mae La camp leader spoke to Karen…

Tonight at around 9.30pm a fire broke out in Zone B Section 4 and 5 at Mae La Refugee Camp on the Thai Burma Border in Thailand’s Tak Province. A Karen News reporter, at the camp spoke to a camp resident, Saw Hla Win, who was close to the fire when it broke out. “We were asleep. Most people were…

More than 2,000 civilians have fled a Burma Army offensive in Shan State, with shelling in village areas and reports of government soldiers engaging in looting, forced labour and torture, a human rights group has said. The Burma Army attack, which allegedly involved more than 1,000 government troops, led to the attacks of village areas in Nawng Khio Township over…

A report by a political prisoner advocacy group has condemned the government’s ongoing arrest of political opponents. The Association Assisting Political Prisoners (AAPP) point out that Burma’s President, U Thein Sein has failed to deliver on his promise to the international community to release all political prisoners by the end of 2013. “Regardless of the government statements that no more…