Urgent Release: The Humanitarian Crisis Update and Key Messages for Kachin State and Northern Shan State

The Joint Strategy Team for Humanitarian Response in Kahcin and Northern Shan State would like to raise concerns over the recent increases of clashes and military actions near Laiza where over 17,000 IDPs are taking shelters in 4 camps. JST would like to request your urgent action and support for the safety and protection of the IDPs as well as ensuring unhindered and continuing humanitarian assistance for the IDPs in the KIO control area. […]

Key Messages to World Leaders, International Governments and the UN Concerns and Requests Related to Humanitarian Situation in Kachin and Northern Shan States, Myanmar

The 25th ASEAN Summit is commencing from 11 to 13 November 2014, hosted by Myanmar in its capital, NaypyiTaw. Most prominent world leaders are gathering and discussing important matters affecting the ASEAN countries and, inevitably, the interconnected global arena. On this occasion, Joint Strategy Team for Kachin Humanitarian Response would like to urge the world leaders, international governments and the UN to pay attention to the following concerns and take immediate actions to fulfill the requests. We firmly believe that the world leaders, international governments and the UN will strongly support the protection of dignity and rights of the internally displaced persons. […]

Key Messages to World Leaders, International Governments and the UN Concerns and Requests Related to Humanitarian Situation in Kachin and Northern Shan States, Myanmar

The 25thASEAN Summit is commencing from 11 to 13 November 2014, hosted by Myanmar in its capital, Naypyi Taw. Most prominent world leaders are gathering and discussing important matters affecting the ASEAN countries and, inevitably, the interconnected global arena. On this occasion, Joint Strategy Team for Kachin Humanitarian Response would like to urge the world leaders, international governments and the UN to pay attention to the following concerns and take immediate actions to fulfill the requests. We firmly believe that the world leaders, international governments and the UN will strongly support the protection of dignity and rights of the internally displaced persons […]

Burma Army Continues to Use the Drugs Trade as a Weapon of War

A new report by Kachin Women’s Association – Thailand (KWAT), “Silent Offensive: How Burma Army Strategies are Fuelling the Kachin Drug Crisis” outlines the severity of the drug problem in northern Burma as well as the complicity of the government in the trade. The report shows how the government is using opium-growing militia forces in its operations against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) as part of a deal in which these militias are given free rein to produce and sell heroin and other narcotics.

Thus, as the report points out, it is members of either Burma Army controlled Border Guard Forces (BGF) such as the New Democratic Army – Kachin (NDAK), a splinter group of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) that became a BGF in 2009, or People’s Militia Forces (PMF) that are heavily involved in offensives against the KIO. Land that is taken by the Burma Army and its proxy forces is then allocated to BGFs/PMFs to utilize however they like. This is often opium cultivation, heroin production and methamphetamine production. To make matters worse these are areas under which the KIO had previously been involved in anti-drug activities but since BGFs or PMFs have taken over, opium cultivation has increased greatly in areas such as Nampaka in northern Shan State and Chipwi in Kachin State […]

Press Release – Special Adviser to the UN Secretary- General on Myanmar

The Special Adviser welcomes the constructive dialogue held between the Government of Myanmar’s Union Peace-making Work Committee and the Kachin Independence Organization in Myitkyiana on 13 May. The meeting was held against the backdrop of concerns about recent clashes between the Armed forces of Myanmar and the Kachin Independence Army […]

POLICY MEMORANDUM: Preventing Indiscriminate Attacks and Wilful Killings of Civilians by the Myanmar Military

The International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School released Policy Memorandum: Preventing Indiscriminate Attacks and Wilful Killings of Civilians by the Myanmar Militarydescribing a pattern of attacks that has unfolded over several decades. The memorandum identifies the policies and practices that give rise to such attacks and proposes a practical program of reform […]

A Tentative Peace in Myanmar’s Kachin Conflict

On 30 May 2013, the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) signed a tentative peace agreement with the Myanmar government – the last of the eleven major ethnic armed groups to do so since 2011. This represents a major opportunity to secure lasting peace in Kachin State, and in the country as a whole. Yet, there will be significant challenges in doing so. Key issues still need to be discussed and agreed, including the repositioning of troops from both sides to reduce the chance of clashes, a monitoring mechanism, and a meaningful political dialogue. Major steps need to be taken to develop an equitable peace economy, and the exploitation of Kachin’s significant natural resources, if not appropriately regulated, could compound inequalities and trigger renewed conflict. Much remains to be done to avoid a repeat of the failures of the previous ceasefire process […]

Union Government – Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) Peace Talks

We welcome the constructive talks which took place between the Union Government and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) May 28-30 in Myitkyina, Kachin State. We are encouraged by the seven-point joint agreement that resulted from the talks and look forward to continued progress in building trust and delivering lasting peace, as envisioned in the agreement […]

Agreement Between the Union Working Committee and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO)

The full text of the tentative agreement reached between the government’s Union Working Committee and the Kachin Independence Organization.

Joint Statement After the Ruili Peace Talk

The Government Representatives led by the vice chairman of the Union Peace Implementation Committee and the Union Minister U Awng Min to which the Lieutenant General Myint Soe is a member and the KIO representatives led by U Sumlut Gam met in Ruili […]