Articles

The Burmese government’s decision to issue an amnesty order to reduce all prisoners’ sentences by one year that was issued in May has been widely criticized and condemned by political opposition parties and international humanitarian groups. The New York based Human Rights Watch said. “The government’s gesture will be welcomed by a great many prisoners in Burma, but for the…

The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army border guard force (BGF) in Myawaddy Township in Karen State has turned to a lottery system to recruit new soldiers after a call last month for new recruits went unheeded, according to an official from the Karen National Union (KNU). Saw Aung Maw Aye, a KNU official from Pa-An district, said a call for recruits…

Economic necessity and ongoing oppression by military authorities in Karen State have driven many in the Karen community to seek employment in neighboring Thailand, providing some with the means to secure a better future for their families but also posing new challenges for Karen traditional culture. Karen migrant workers in Thailand are increasingly known as “Bangkok Returnees,” a designation that…

As talk persists about repatriation of Burmese refugees living along Thailand’s western border, a refugee leader said he sees no possibilty for the safe return of tens of thousands of refugees and displaced persons in the immediate future. Saw Tun, leader of the Mae La refugee camp outside Mae Sot in Thailand’s Tak province, said the current fighting in eastern…

A dire economy and grinding poverty in Karen State have left its education system in shambles and a generation of young people cut off from educational opportunities they are desperate to receive. Nan Moo Mu*, 16, from Mi Tan village in Kyain Seikgyi township, is one such student. She was supposed to begin Grade 9 this year but has considered…

Teachers in central Karen state had to close their schools when they heard the Burma army were attacking villages in the area. Teacher, Saw Nway Oo, taught primary school at Kwee Ta Eu village until the soldiers fired heavy mortar and artillery shells into the village. “We had to run from our school. We had just rebuilt the school. It…

The newly elected Burmese civilian government is desperate to appear to the outside world as a fledgling democracy intent on building a civil society. But ‘good-feel’ statements made by elected government ministers at a Karen training course did little to convince, as the Burma army continues its strategy of militarization in Eastern Burma by displacing Karen hundreds of villagers in…

A former convict porter speaks to reporter Cha Mu about his arrest and imprisonment for drug use, and his subsequent conscription by the military as a porter in Karen State. My name is Tin Hlaing. I am a 35-year-old ethnic Burman. I’m single and have six siblings. On July 15, 2008, I was arrested at the Than Lin bridge with…

Recent moves by the Thai government to send back refugees from Burma have spurred fears among the 140,000 estimated refugees living in camps along the Thai-Burma border. Thailand’s National Security Council secretary, General Tawin Pleansri, told local media recently that the government was considering a plan to repatriate the refugees. Tak provincial Governor Samart Loifah further fuelled refugee fears when…

Karen National Liberation Army sources confirmed that clashes in May in the Walay area of Myawaddy Township between Karen fighters and the Burmese army had killed six Burmese soldiers and wounded seven others. Major General Saw Kyi Aung, commander of KNLA Battalion 201 who fought in the clashes, said KNLA forces engaged Burmese troops from Light Infantry Brigade 371 based…