The Karen are the second largest ethnic group in Burma and Karen State is located in eastern Lower Burma, along the Thai border. The land that the Karen people belong to, in the past, has been part of an area of land that Burma and Thailand has fought over. Today there are Karen people living in Thailand and Burma, with the majority in Burma.
During the World War II, Karen nationalists fought against the Japanese, and in return the British government promised to grant them independence. When the war ended, the British did not keep their promise and in 1947, the Karen began to fight for their self-determination. The Karen has maintained the largest and most efficient army among the ethnic groups in Burma.
In February 1947, the Karen National Union (KNU) was established. After the British Government granted independence to Burma in 1948, the Burmese government declined requests from the ethnic groups for autonomy. Despite conflicts following this announcement, it was not until the Burmese government outlawed the KNU and demanded their surrender that the fighting took on a new intensity.
However, there were problems within the KNU, and in the 1960s there was a spilt, due to differing ideological opinions. In 1975, the KNU was re-formed under General BO Mya and Mahn Ba Zan, and a separate armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) was formed under the reunited KNU. The KNU and the KNLA are not only a political party and their armed force, but rather a government. They have a judicial, health and education system which provides an infrastructure and some stability for the Karen people.
In early December 1994, Buddhists KNLA soldiers' complaints of discrimination by the predominant Christian KNU leaderships erupted into an open conflict, and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) was formed. The DKBA subsequently accepted support, such as money and weapons, and control over parts of Karen State from the SLORC in return for help in fighting the KNU. In some areas the DKBA was allegedly protecting villagers from SPDC abuses and retributions.
After peace talks between the KNU and Burma's government collapsed in 1963, Ne Win's dictatorial government launched a counter-insurgency operation against the KNU in areas the KNU controlled. Later attempts at ceasefire and peace negotiations, from 1996 - 2004, have failed due to the State Peace and Development's Council disregard for the safety of internally displaced people and refusal to acknowledge and stop human rights violations. Currently there is a "gentlemen's ceasefire agreement" between the KNU and the SPDC, but there have been over 200 armed clashes between the groups since the ceasefire was announced.
People & Livelihood
The Karen is probably estimated about 7 per cent of Burma's population. The Rangoon government says there are about 2 million but the Karen estimates the population to be about 7 million . Though there are various Karen sub-groups, more than 70 per cent of Karen's belong to just two: the Sgaw and the Pwo. Most Karens are either Buddhists or Buddhist Animists, while among the Sgaws about one-sixth are Christians. Agriculture is the major livelihood of the Southern Karen.
Human Rights Abuses
In the 1970s the Burmese government introduced the Four cuts program which was an attempt to cut off food, information, recruits and financial supports for the armed ethnic opposition groups. This policy, which is still in effect today, mostly affected villagers, as a deterrent for supporting insurgent groups. Villagers have had numerous human rights violations perpetrated against them, such as forced relocation, killings not sanctioned by the judiciary, arbitrary detention, rape, village destruction, forced labor and portering by Burmese military.
However, the situation of human rights abuses has gotten worse since the 1997, when the SPDC initiated a mass relocation program among Karen areas. There are reports that the Burmese troops during this operation destroyed and burned shelters, crops and food stocks, in addition to confiscating their land. Many villagers were forced to be labourers on road constructions or to porter for the Burmese army. Others were tortured and killed.
IDPs & Refugees
Displacement has been widespread in Karen State because of war and human rights abuses since the Burmese government launched offensives against the ethnic minorities in 1970s. Villagers have not only fled immediately after the Burmese attacks, but they also had to leave their houses because of forcible relocation, forced labor, arbitrary taxation and other human rights violations. Thailand Burmese Border Consortium estimated in 2004 that there are over 13,000 people in relocation sites, and around 75,000 displaced in ceasefire areas while more than 46,000 still hiding in free-fire areas.
The first Karen refugees fled to Thailand after a massive offensive between the Burmese army and the KNU in 1984, when about 10,000 refugees crossed the Thai border. In 1997, the Burmese Army launched a huge offensive in dry season and overrun the Karen controlled territory along Thailand border. Following this offensive the number of refugees from all ethnic nationalities had increased more than 100,000 people. The Karen refugees make up 65 per cent of the registered refugee population. It was reported that over 77,000 Karen people had been registered as refugees in the camps; meanwhile around 15,000 have not been registered.
End Notes
Desmand Ball and Hazel Lang, Factionalism and the ethnic insurgent organizations, (Strategic & Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, 2001.) page 16.
Thailand Burma Border Consortium, Internal Displacement and Vulnerability in Eastern Burma, 2004, page 33.
Burmese Border Consortium, Relief Programme January to June 2004. page
Other sources:
Min Zin, Karen: in their own words, the Nation, 25 December 2000.
Burma Issues, After the 1997 Offensives: The Burma Army's Relocation Program, 2003.
