Burma

Twenty-year old Hla Ko* has an easy smile, a cool haircut and the manic energy of a young man with few ties. He studies medicine but adores politics. He has an opinion about everything but isn’t too sure about anything. The church is an anchor, but hanging out and flirting with his many female friends is how he spends a…

A report released by the Karenni Civil Society Network (KCSN) has claimed that the Norwegian led Myanmar Peace Support Initiative (MPSI) is putting the security of returning internally displaced persons (IDPs) at risk by placing them in areas under Burma Army control. The MPSI is a Norwegian led “international initiative to support peace in Burma through development and humanitarian assistance.…

The vice president of the Karen People’s Party, Saw Say Wah, told Karen News that its party will be running candidates in more than 60 constituencies in the Irrawaddy Division in the 2015 Election. “In the meeting we held in late November, we nominated and selected our party’s representatives to run for seats in Burma’s Union Parliament. At the same…

With the support of the US Embassy in Myanmar, a two-year English Access Micro scholarship Program was recently launched in Hpa-an. The opening ceremony took place at Thumaydarama Kyartawya School in Hpa-an on December 04, 2014. Local teachers pleased with the new scholarship said that the project would help local children to learn English. “The purpose of this training course…

Dr Cynthia founder of the Mae Tao Clinic on the Thai Burma border that provides free health care to as many 140,000 refugees and migrant workers from Burma each year celebrated her 55th birthday on Saturday 6 December by planting the same number of trees and called on the international community to continue funding border projects. Dr Cynthia’s Mae Tao…

The human rights advocacy group, Burma Campaign UK, has called on David Cameron’s government to support a UN Commission of Inquiry into violations of international law in Burma, amid concerns that the country’s reform process under President U Thein Sein has stalled. “Burma Campaign UK believes that European Union sanctions on Burma were lifted prematurely, without the EU’s own human…

Mai Luh, 6, was getting a hard time from playmates who poked fun at him over his looks. Mai Luh, born with a cleft palate, had experience discrimination from birth because of his facial disfigurement. In Mae Sot Hospital on the Thai-Burma border, a medic from Mai Luh’s home village recounts the story of how Mai Luh’s father abandoned him…

After six-year-old That Pine had been ill for four days, That Thin took the boy to a clinic in Myawaddy just across the border from Mae Sot in Thailand’s Tak province. Father and son went there twice, paying a sizeable 60,000 kyat (about US$60) in fees, but the doctors claimed to be stumped. “His condition became worse. He did not…

Following its officially registration with the Federal Electoral Commission, the Karen National Party (KNP) established an executive committee on November 15, 2014. The KNP’s, newly elected secretary, Mahn Kyaw Nyein, told Karen News that the executive committee will work towards getting its officers in charge of respective portfolio in place as soon as possible. “The Executive Committee will act until…

A Hla Ka Myin village leader is determined that the population of voting aged people in his area are verified and ready to vote in the 2015 Election in Karen State. The village elder, Saw Htay Kyaw Myo, told Karen News that he began the verification process on November 13, 2014. “In gathering data, the first and most crucial thing…