human rights

International rights group condemns marriage law proposal in Burma’s parliament as violating the rights of women and religious minorities. In an interview with Karen News a human rights advocate warns that the proposed law is a “bluntly racist answer to a paranoid racist agenda.” Human Rights Watch has said that marriage legislation currently being considered by Burma’s government would “strip…

More than 2,000 civilians have fled a Burma Army offensive in Shan State, with shelling in village areas and reports of government soldiers engaging in looting, forced labour and torture, a human rights group has said. The Burma Army attack, which allegedly involved more than 1,000 government troops, led to the attacks of village areas in Nawng Khio Township over…

Burma’s transformation from international pariah to political success story is being called into question by widespread and ongoing human rights abuses that Western interests increasingly refuse to acknowledge, humanitarian advocates claim. Burma Campaign UK director Mark Farmaner said that a recent British Foreign Office quarterly report on the human rights situation in the country willfully neglects the severity of such…

The United Nations special envoy on human rights in Myanmar, Mr. Tomas Ojea Quintana, met with community-based-organization’s in Mae Sot on Feb 10, as part of a fact-finding mission. A source at the meeting told Karen News that the topics discussed included religious discrimination, political reform and the pro-democracy movement in Burma. Mr. Quintana is preparing a report on Burma…

Even as Burma opens up to the world under President Thein Sein’s nominally civilian government, serious human rights abuses continue to occur, including sexual violence, extra-judicial killings and illegal arrest, says rights groups. On the first day of May 2012, ‘Ngwa Mi’ (not her real name), 48, hid alone in a church in the Kachin Town of Pang Wa, on…

Three soldiers from Burma Army Light Infantry Battalion 549 held seven Karen villagers hostage, demanding cash for their return, claims Free Burma Rangers, a humanitarian organization that delivers aid to displaced people. The incident is alleged to have took place on the 26th of January near Law Naw Village, Win Ye Township, Dooplaya District, Karen State. FBR said the villagers…

A report by a human rights groups claims Chin Christians are facing state discrimination and being denied their religious freedom. Ethnic Chin Christians in Burma’s impoverished Chin State continue to face religious discrimination from Buddhist government authorities, according to a report released by a prominent Chin human rights organization. Chin Human Rights Organization country coordinator Salai Bawi Pi said that…

Naw K’nyaw Paw Nimrod, General Secretary of the Karen Women Organization (KWO) has been selected as the winner of the 2013 Padoh Mahn Sha Young Leader Award, on 31st January 2014, Karen Revolution Day. The award ceremony was held on the evening of the Karen 65th Revolutionary Day at Day-Pu-Noh village in the Karen National Union’s 5th Brigade in Karen…

In an interview with Karen News, Nan Dah Eh Kler, Chairperson of the Karen Women Organization (KWO), argued that the Burma’s Government’s reform process was being undermined by a culture of impunity and sexual violence in the Burma Army. Referring to a report released by the Women’s League of Burma (WLB), which documented over 100 cases of sexual violence committed…

The British Government has been criticized by a prominent human rights advocacy group after it’s decision to fund military training for the Burma Army, who have been accused of ongoing human rights violations. In a report titled ‘Training War Criminals? – British Training of the Burmese Army’, Burma Campaign UK said the decision to spend at least £87,850 (approximately 4.7…