"Karen"

Thai military officers on Saturday sent 380 refugees back to their homeland across the Moei River in Mae Sot district of Tak province following three days of a ceasefire between the Karen and Myanmar military in the Ban Pha Lu Noi area.

Thailand attaches great importance to humanitarian principles, Foreign Minister

The Asean Summit in April in Brunei will address the issue of Myanmar’s ethnic Karen that have fled across the border to Thailand to seek refuge, Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said on Tuesday, adding that Bangkok is closely monitoring the situation.

The Karen villagers who have fled across the border to Thailand will not be deported as rumoured, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Thani Saengrat said on Tuesday.

Nearly 3,000 villagers from Myanmar’s Karen state escaped to Thailand on Sunday and have been given shelter in refugee camps in Mae Hong Son.

The Karen National Union (KNU) issued a statement on January 29 calling for an urgent plenary meeting inclusive of all groups of delegates so as to break the ongoing political deadlock and forge national reconciliation.

Mae Sot officials are concerned about the situation along the Thai-Myanmar border at Tha Song Yang district, Tak province, after Myanmar’s government ordered three battalion commanders to be removed from office on charges of “conspiracy with foreigners to destroy the country” and a clash in the neighbouring nation between its military and ethic rebels.

Hitting back at Thailand’s proposing Kaeng Krachan National Park as a World Heritage Site, an observer at the ongoing World Heritage Meeting in Azerbaijan has submitted a report on rights abuses against the Karen who were evicted from the park.

A Karen National Union soldier has been arrested and charged with allegedly poaching in a national park in Kanchanaburi.

Karen war refugees lost their makeshift homes in a camp in Mae Hong Son in two separate fires on Saturday evening, but no one was injured.

Wednesday, April 17, marks five long years since Pholachi “Billy” Rakchongcharoen was seen being taken into custody by Kaengkrachan National Park officials.

ETHNIC KAREN have asked United Nations policymakers to suspend plans to declare Phetchaburi’s Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex a World Heritage site.