Articles

Two leading Karen Women’s groups, the Karen Women’s Organisation and the Karen Women’s Empowerment Group (KWEG) have urged Burma’s reformist government to improve women’s rights in the country as the world marks international women’s day, arguing that peace could not be reached without respect for women’s rights. ”Lasting peace in Burma cannot be achieved without justice for the women of…

The Karen Women Organization (KWO) has called for the postponement of Burma’s nationwide census, scheduled to run this month, until the data classifications are deemed appropriate to ethnic groups and the political situation in the country is stable. Naw K’nyaw Paw, general secretary of KWO told Karen News that all its senior representatives attended the KWO annual meeting agreed and…

Residents from Lun-Nya village area, in Hpa-an Township voiced their opposition to a proposed cement factory planned for their area, over concerns that it could endanger their health and fears that they would receive no compensation. As many as 300 villagers raised their concerns at the meeting attended by representatives from Ultra Tech’s Cement Factory and ministers of the Karen…

Mu The village is in a tight spot. Not only is it in Karen National Union-held territory abutting Burmese government-controlled territory, but it is geographically remote as well. Virtually no outside aid made its way in during the long-running civil war that has only compounded the village’s isolation. This situation changed abruptly in August 2012, when a single truck laden…

A new research centre, called the Pyi Duang Su Institute for Peace and Dialogue (PI), opened in Chiang Mai this week with the aim of providing “technical assistance” to stakeholders in the peace process, said PI’s director in an interview with Karen News. Kheun Sai Jaiyen, PI’s director and an editor at the Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N), said…

Migrant workers, millions of whom come from neighboring Burma, are being cast adrift in a chaotic migration system – known as the National Verification Scheme – forcing them to pay as much as 10 times the official cost for their documents in Thailand, according to the Migrant Workers Rights Network (MWRN). “More than 1.7 million Myanmar workers have been cheated…

Funeral Of Respected Karen Stateswoman, Naw Paw K’Wor Naw Paw K’Wor, a respected revolutionary, teacher and much admired scholar of the Karen, Hta poems, passed away aged 95 after a long term illness on February 24th at her home in the Thai border town of Mae Sariang, Mae Hong Son Province. Her funeral service will be held today. Naw Paw…

The Karen National Union (KNU) has just finished a training program for a Karen police force in KNU controlled areas, aimed at improving the law enforcement capabilities of the Karen national police force. The two-week long training course held at Lay Wah in Hlaing Bwe township of Karen State ended on the 21st of February. The KNU’s Department of the…

Karen National Union officials have proposed the government use local based teachers as data collectors when the planned census is conducted in KNU control areas. KNU officials in Dooplaya district told Karen News that they have proposed to the Karen State Census Committee to use local teachers in Dooplaya district for the census. The proposal was made during a meeting…

Experts warn that Burma’s coming census could sow mistrust among ethnic groups and be used by the government to cement its political position. Mark Farmaner, the director of Burma Campaign UK, said that Burma’s proposed census in March could undermine the political and civil rights of ethnic minority groups, and that troubling signs of misuse have already appeared in the…