Articles

A reduction in funding from international donors will see many of the tens of thousands of refugees living on the Thai Burma border getting less food to eat. In a media statement released on the 18 September, The Border Consortium, who is responsible for the delivery of humanitarian aid to the 129,787 refugees from Burma now living in Thailand, said.…

Monks and a Malaysian construction plan to install a cable car on Karen State’s famous and symbolic, Zwekabin Mountain. A Pagoda at the top of Zwekabin Mountain, near Hpa-an Town, is visited each day by hundreds of Buddhists pilgrims and tourists who make the arduous three to four hour trek each day. The cable car project organizing committee said that…

The leaders of four different Karen political parties met over two days to discuss how to merge their organisations into one for Burma’s next general election in 2015. In an effort to merge the parties, leaders of the Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party, the Karen People’s Party, the Karen State Democracy and Development Party, and the Karen Democratic Party – all which…

Yesterday more than a 100 young men and women helped the Mergui-Tavoy District branch of the Karen Women’s Organization celebrated the International Day of Peace at their jungle office in Southern Burma. The KWO embraced the slogan ‘Peace begins in the family and spreads to the world.’ P’doh Naw May Ro Paw, secretary of KWO Mergui-Tavoy District said. “This is…

Farmers have demanded compensation for their land confiscated and for losses of land to mining and a cement factory in Hlakar village track, in Hpa-an, Karen State. The Hlakar farmers held a meeting in the village on September 12 that decided to present their five-point demands through the Member of Parliament, Daw Nan Say Awa, from the Phalon Swaw Democratic…

A Karen migrant worker died after falling from the sixth floor of Chiang Mai construction site on Monday, September 16. The dead worker was identified as 20-year-old, Saw Ye Tun Naing, who came to work in Chaing Mai from the Delta region of Burma. Saw Than Hlaing , a fellow migrant worker, told Karen News that Saw Ye Tun Naing…

The United Nationalities Federal Council held an emergency meeting last Saturday to discuss the government’s nationwide ceasefire offer. Following the meeting UNFC announced that the offer is not acceptable at this point. The UNFC called the executive emergency meeting following discussions with the Burma government to sign a nationwide ceasefire agreement on October 2013. The UNFC’s general secretary, Naing Han…

British MP, Valerie Vaz delivered more than 2,000 letters from supporters of Burma Campaign UK on 12 September to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, calling for action to end sexual violence against women in Burma. Burma Campaign UK called on the British government to highlight Burma when Foreign Secretary William Hague travels to New York for a major meeting at…

Villagers angry with a Thai company for not paying them ‘promised compensation’ have stopped vehicles from delivering supplies to the $60 billion Dawei project in southern Burma. Villagers from Kaw Htee Lor (Thebyutchaung) east of Dawei, in Southern Burma blockaded the road to protest against the Italian-Thai Development Company (ITD) for refusing to pay compensation for properties damaged caused by…

Karen National Union (KNU) leaders based in southern Burma have called on the parliament speaker, Thura Shwe Mann, to help move forward the the ‘cease-fire code of conduct’ between the KNU and the government. P’doh Saw Beeler, Joint Secretary of KNU’s Mergui-Tavoy District, urged Thura Shwe Mann who visited southern Burma recently to urgently help get both sides to accept…