News
Indigenous woman sentenced to jail for encroachment
The Supreme Court has sentenced an indigenous Karen woman to 2 years and 8 months in prison for encroaching on National Park land despite pleas that the piece of land was passed down through her family. Wansao Phungam is an indigenous Karen woman who lives in ...
Prachatai
‘Low point’ in world heritage committee history as politics ‘tramples’ human rights of the Karen people
Along Thailand’s border with Myanmar, in rich forests filled with rare plants and animals, the indigenous Karen people are fighting for the right to live on their traditional land. Last month, the UN’s human rights agency said the Karen continued to be forcibly evicted from the Kaeng Krachan ...
Graham Readfearn
Talks held with UN to help fleeing Karen
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has held talks with authorities in Mae Hong Son to find ways to help more than 2,000 Karen refugees who crossed the Salaween River into Thailand to flee fighting between the KNU (Karen National Union) and Myanmar ...
Post Reporter
Crackdown on "Encroachers" in Kaeng Krachan Forest Begins
Fresh evidence of apparent forest clearing and burning in the deep jungle of Kaeng Krachan National Park has been presented to the public to substantiate claims and the forest suppression operation by forest officials, while Karen supporter groups have condemned the latest suppression move and ...
B.Tribune
Concern rises after Karen indigenous community returns to ancestral land
Concern continues to rise among civil society for the safety of members of the Bang Kloi Karen indigenous community who returned to their ancestral land at Chai Phaen Din in the Kaeng Krachan forest, after reports of a possible military operation to evacuate them from ...
Prachatai
Karen People Cut Off From Help in Myanmar After Fighting Drives Them From Their Homes
Around 1,000 ethnic Karen villagers have been cut off from help in Myanmar’s Kayin state by renewed fighting between government troops and rebel forces, with relief groups now unable to reach them with badly needed food, blankets, and medical supplies, sources say. Fighting between the Myanmar ...
Reported by Saw Nyunt Thaung for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Parks Dept rejects Karen call to return
The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) has rejected a request by a group of evicted Karen villagers to be allowed to resettle in their ancestral home deep into a forest at the Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi. “As long as there ...
APINYA WIPATAYOTIN
Palm oil projects destroy local livelihoods: report
More than 1.8 million acres of palm oil plantations in Myanmar’s southern Tenasserim Division do more harm than good for local Karen villagers, causing land conflict, damaging livelihoods, destroying biodiversity, and polluting the environment, according to a new report. Companies and businesspeople have taken over ...
