KWO puts out a quarterly magazine in Skaw Karen which are distributed through out the 7 Karen refugee camps and 7 districts. Each magazine is passed between refugees being read by multiple people. It is just one way we seek to keep our community up to date and informed.
Use this link if you’d like to download or read our magazine: KWO Magazine Volume 2 Issue 10
Use this link if you’d like to download or read it.
KWO 6th Congress Statement 2013 Burmese Version
KWO Chair Person Speech at Karen National Day
Use this link if you’d like to download or read it. KWO Chair person speech
We are half way through the school year here and KWO is supporting 73 village nursery schools spread across 5 areas in Karen State, Burma. Many of these students have been displaced by the Burmese military and the long standing civil war. We are so pleased that this year we have been able to support these schools serving over 3000 Karen children.
The Burmese education system has been terribly underfunded. A large portion of the Burmese government treasury goes to the military despite the fact that we have no external enemies. This means parents must pay for their children to attend in the poorest country in South East Asia. The average level of education in Burma is just 4 years. For areas dominated by ethnic minorities the education level is lower and poverty higher.
This makes our Nursery School project even more important. Each community builds and maintains their own bamboo or wooden school and forms a nursery school committee to support it and the teacher. Through a grant from Dave and Kerry Rickards we are able to provide training, a small stipend to the teachers along with some materials and supplies. Through private donations we provide lunch. We still haven’t raised all the money we need to feed all 3000 students through the end of the year, but we are happy to have been able to do it so far. We continue to apply for additional funding to fill the gaps. We have so far raised about 60% of the overall budget including the food. Just $25 feeds one child lunch for the school year.
One 5 year old student spoke the simple truth when he said, “I am happy to go to nursery school because of every day I get snack, lunch, and food. I have a lot of friends in school and we play together. If I did not go to nursery school I would go with my parents to the field. The field it is not fun for me. In the past when I went with my parents to the field, the insects bit my body. My body got a wound. It itched so much! If I finish nursery school I will go to primary school.”
A parent in Noe Poe Htee Moo Hta said, “Because we send our children to nursery school our children look so healthy and fresh, not like before, because they eat, sleep and play regularly. They are growing up quicker than before. If we compare two children’s condition the first one going to nursery school and the second one not, we can see the difference.” A parent in Do Tha Htu district said, “Because of the nursery school we work in our field free all day from worry. When we send our children to nursery school we get two advantages. First, we go to the field to work not worrying that our children will fall down, swim in the stream, climb the trees, eat unclean foods or get hurt by someone else. Secondly, we see that their condition is better than before. They can read and write the Karen, English, and Burmese alphabet. It is a basic thing they need to go to the primary school. They can sing songs and dance. They have confidence. If someone asks them to stand in front of people and sing, they can do it, they are not afraid anything.”
We want all our children to have confidence and not be afraid of anything.
Responding to Karen Women Participation as provided in UNSCR 1325
Date: 28th, November 2012
The first Karen Women Seminar was successfully held from 24th to 26th of November 2012. The meeting was attended by more than 40 Karen women who are working in a wide variety of fields including education, health, social work, emergency assistance, environment, human rights and women rights.
During the seminar, we discussed United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 regarding women participation in the peace process, and analyzed Karen women’s involvement in the current peace process. In addition, we planned future activities with the intention to encourage the continuation of women’s active participation in the ongoing peace process.
Thramu Paw Gay Khu, the General Secretary of Federation of Trade Unions – Kawthoolei said that “This is the first time Karen women from various geographic areas have come together to consult and discuss various issues related to women participation in the peace process. We have seen that many women are motivated to take a more active role in the leadership and decision making process. We also came to the unfortunate realization that most of our Karen women are still marginalized and their views are all too often being ignored. I felt this seminar provided a safe space for many women to share their difficult experiences and support each other so we all have more resilience to keep working of behalf of Karen women and our community.”
As a result of the seminar, a working group called “Karen Women for Peace” was established to enhance and improve cooperation among committed Karen women to constructively participate in the peace process. Moreover, an agreement was also made to organize another women’s seminar next year.
Contact- Nan Dah Eh Kler – +66 857269291
Use this link if you’d like to download or read it.
Karen People’s Forum Statement _Burmese_
Karen People’s Forum Statement (English)
Karen People’s Forum Statement (Karen)
KWO puts out a quarterly magazine in Skaw Karen which are distributed through out the 7 Karen refugee camps. Each magazine is passed between refugees being read by multiple people. It is just one way we seek to keep our community up to date and informed.
Use this link if you’d like to download or read our magazine:
Karen Women Organization
21st September 2012
International Day of Peace
”Just saying peace is not enough, it needs all of us to take action”
Press here for Karen Women Organization International Day of Peace Statement 2012 Karen Version
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.
KWO in honoring the International Day of Peace, would like to honor a longstanding female leader, Naw Zipporah Sein, the General Secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU) for her tireless efforts and leadership in the peace talks with the current Burmese Peace Team.
On behalf of KWO, Dah Eh Kler KWO Secretary, warmly welcomed the ongoing ceasefire talks between the Government of Burma and different ethnic groups. She said ” In our hearts, we deeply hope this will lead to political settlement and sustainable peace. We believe just saying peace is not enough, it needs all of us to take action.”
While we celebrate the ceasefires, our hearts also go out to the Kachin people who have been subjected to violence by the Burmese Army for almost a year. We know and understand the suffering of Kachin women and children, for we have experienced it in the past. We welcome the initiative of the Government of Burma for the recent talks. We also know that real peace takes more than a single leader or group. It requires all of us to work together as equals. It is only through the full engagement of all the people of Burma that we can reach this cherished goal.
As the Karen Women Organization we have called for more women in leadership roles in this peace process. General Secretary Zipporah Sein is one woman who has stepped forward as a leader. We hope that all parties to the various peace talks will act to include women in their delegations. Women have a vital role to play in building peace and unity alongside men. We all must work toward peace, never letting that goal out of our sight.
KWO, on the International Day of Peace would like call on the Burmese military to show that they want genuine peace by stopping all operations within ethnic areas especially within Kachin and Shan States. We also call on all parties to fully implement ceasefire agreements by signing codes of conduct and enforcement mechanisms. Finally we hope the coming year all ethnic groups and the Government will enter into political dialogue to establish a real democracy within a Burmese federal system with equality and dignity.
As we reach for real sustainable peace in Burma, we know it must include rights, democracy and dignity for all the people of Burma.
Contact:
1. Nan Dah Eh Kler – + 66 857269291
2. Naw Blooming Night Zan – + 66 885455746
Email: KWOCentral@gmail.com
Karen Women Organization International Day of Peace Statement 2012 Karen Version
For Immediate Release: 11 September 2012
Karen Community Based Organizations
Release Position Paper on Refugees’ Return
Today a grouping of Karen Community Based Organizations (KCBOs) released their collective position in response to recent news about the repatriation of refugees. The position paper outlines the pre-conditions and processes necessary for a successful and voluntary return of refugees from several camps along the Thai-Burma border, back to Karen areas. Repatriation without these pre-conditions and processes will be against the will of the refugees and will not respect their right to return voluntarily in safety and with dignity.
“We are encouraged by the changes in Burma but there are many improvements that would need to happen before refugees would be safe to return,” said Dah Eh Kler from the Karen Women’s Organization (KWO). “We fled the fighting and the abuse by the Burma Army. We know the ceasefires are still fragile and do not yet include an enforceable code of conduct; the troops are still all around our former villages, along with land mines and other dangers. We hope that we can go home one day soon, but it is just not possible under the current conditions in Karen areas.”
The position paper is a comprehensive view of what the Karen community needs in order to go home. It outlines several pre-conditions that must be met before refugees return to Burma, including: achievement of a political settlement between ethnic armed groups and the Burma government, agreement on a nationwide ceasefire, guaranteed safety and security for the people, clearance of land-mines, withdrawal of all Burma Army and militia troops, end of human rights violations, abolishment of all oppressive laws and resolution of land ownership issues.
“We have learned from the UNHCR that the Burma government has already planned the locations to which refugees will be repatriated. KCBOs were very surprised to hear this as we and the refugees themselves have not been consulted properly on where, when and how they will be repatriated. Refugees have the right to make free choices on where, when and how they will return to their homeland,” said Ko Shwe from the Karen Environment and Social Action Network (KESAN).
In order to make their own choices about their return, the KCBOs have outlined specific processes that must take place, including defining how consultations with refugees and affected communities must be conducted and how refugees and KCBOs must take part in the decision-making process at all stages, including in preparation, implementation and post-return phases.
For the full list of pre-conditions and necessary processes, please see the attached position paper.
For more information, please contact:
Saw Ko Shwe, KESAN: +66825047718 Nan Dah Eh Kler, KWO: +66857269291
