Sumlut Roi Ja Still Missing One Year On

More than one year on, Sumlut Roi Ja, an ethnic Kachin woman abducted by the Burmese Army, is still missing and President Thein Sein is still failing to take action to investigate and prosecute the soldiers who abducted her.

Sumlut Roi Ja is a 28-year-old mother who was arrested by Burmese Army soldiers on October 28th 2011 while working on a family’s farm near her village Hkai Bang, close to the China border […]

International Donors Spurn 60,000 Displaced in Kachin Control Area on China Border

From persecution to deprivation, a brief report launched today by KWAT, documents that nearly 60,000 people sheltering in Kachin-controlled areas have received only 4% of their basic food needs from international aid groups, including the UN. About 100,000 have been displaced in total since the Burmese government broke its 17-year ceasefire with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in June 2011 […]

From Persecution to Deprivation: International Donors Neglect 60,000 Displaced Kachin on China-Burma Border

About 60,000 Kachin villagers fleeing Burma Army attacks and persecution, who are sheltering in Kachin-controlled territory along the China-Burma border, have received almost no international aid since conflict broke out in June 2011.

Data compiled from local relief groups shows that international aid agencies, including the UN, have provided only 4% of basic food needs of this displaced population, who have been kept alive almost entirely by private donations from local and overseas compatriots […]

Open Letter to Thein Sein Demanding Justice in the Case of Kachin Villager Sumlut Roi Ja

We are writing to demand justice in the case of Kachin villager, Sumlut Roi Ja, aged 28, who has disappeared since being arbitrarily arrested by the Burma Army.

On October 28, 2011, Sumlut Roi Ja was arrested by Burma Army soldiers while farming near her village Hkai Bang, Momauk township, close to the China border. Her husband and father-in-law witnessed her being forced at gunpoint to carry corn to their camp, an outpost of Battalion 321 at Mubum […]

Open Letter to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

In response to your recent public comments in the United States regarding the conflict and human rights violations in Kachin State, Kachin communities world-wide would like to take this opportunity to invite you to visit internally displaced people (IDP) forced to live in makeshift camps in Mai Ja Yang, Kachin State […]

Open Letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at High-level UN Meeting on the Rule of Law

We are writing this letter to highlight the continued state sanctioned violence and civil war in our home, Kachinland. Despite the international euphoria surrounding purported reform in Burma, grave human rights violations are increasing to an alarming level while the international community selectively focuses their attention on investment. We, the KNO, therefore urge you and your office to address the following issues in your upcoming high-level UN meeting on the Rule of Law […]

Just Saying Peace is Not Enough, It Needs All of Us to Take Action

Karen Women Organization celebrates the 2012 International Day of Peace with great hope. The UN declared that this International Day of Peace’s theme would be “Sustainable Peace for a Sustainable Future”. We celebrate the recent negotiations for ceasefires and peace in Burma. We hope this beginning will bring sustainable peace someday soon […]

KNU Statement on International Day of Peace

In recent years the KNU has observed a unilateral one day ceasefire in honour of the United Nations International Day of Peace.

On this day the KNU restates our commitment to work for a peaceful democratic Burma where human rights for all are respected […]

Innocent Civilians Remain in Burma’s Jails – Free Brang Shawng!

Burma Campaign UK today called for the immediate release of Brang Shawng. Brang Shawng is a 25-year-old Kachin farmer who was arrested under suspicion of being a captain of Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and carrying out bombing operations near Myitkyina. While he was in interrogation he was tortured brutally and forced to confess to bombings in the area […]

China: Stop Expelling Refugees

Forced Return of Kachin to Burma Violates International Law

In late August 2012, the Chinese government forcibly returned at least 4,000 ethnic Kachin refugees to a conflict zone in northern Burma in violation of international law, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs today.

Human Rights Watch said that the Chinese government carried out the forced returns without having provided the Kachin refugees a process for determining their claims to refugee status […]