displacement

Villagers who witnessed two civilians killed last week say Burma Army soldiers on a search and kill mission fired indiscriminately into a jungle hiding site killing the two civilians in Southern Burma, on August 21. A local Karen National Union source from Mergui-Tavoy District (Tenasserim Division) told Karen News that soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion 555, led by Commander Zaw…

Burmese and Thai researchers speaking at a conference last week in Bangkok fear that the Dawei Special Industrial Zone planned for southern Burma will have severe negative impacts on thousands of local people as well as the environmental. The 4th International Conference on Human Rights and Human Development held on the 19th of August at Chulalongkorn University featured papers on…

A giant construction project managed by an Italian-Thai company has run into a number of major stumbling blocks in Karen State. Villagers say they have not been compensated for the loss of their land and the Karen National Union has stopped it building a highway to Thailand. The Italian-Thai Development Company has begun negotiations with the Karen National Union to…

Karen News reporters investigate persistent rumours that a dam site is being prepared for construction in Southern Burma. The site, on the Tenasserim River, is causing concern among villagers in the area who claim that a Thai company has been surveying the area and plans to build a hydro-power dam on the river that means villagers will be evicted and…

Fighting this week between Karen fighters and Burma army soldiers forced 200 villagers from Mae Ka Tha out of their homes. Mae Ka Tha village is located in the Three Pagodas Pass area in Kyain Seikgyi Township, Karen State. On June 10, Karen fighters attacked the Burma army Light Infantry Brigade 563 based near the monastery of Mae Ka Tha…