Overseas Karen call for UN action as SPDC attacks continue

Posted on March 11, 2010
Filed Under Burma news, Karen news | Comments Off

Ethnic Karen from around the world are calling for international action to stop attacks by Burma’s ruling military junta on Karen civilians.
Karen communities from ten countries have issued an appeal for the United Nations Security Council to demand that Burma’s military regime immediately cease ongoing attack on civilians in eastern Burma.
Over 2,000 Karen civilians have been displaced since January, as the Burma Army appears to be targeting civilians as part of its latest offensive.
The Chinland Guardian reports that Karen communities from Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States have issued a statement linking the attacks to elections the junta plans to hold later this year.
They say, “The new wave of attacks is linked to the Burmese dictatorship’s fake elections due later this year.”
They also point out that not only will the new military-backed constitution and its resulting elections fail to protect the rights of the ethnic people.”
In the latest offensive, the advancing Burmese troops are being accused of deliberately targeting civilians by shelling on a school, shooting Karen civilians on sight, destroying homes and even beheading one Karen civilian, among many other allegations of human rights abuses.
In a statement last week, the Karen National Union warned, “What is happening in Karen State is not a civil war with two sides fighting each other. The reality is that the Burmese Army is attacking and deliberately targeting civilians, and this has been verified by the United Nations’ own reports. The KNU cannot end hostilities, as we are not engaged in active hostilities against the regime. Our soldiers in the Karen National Liberation Army are protecting civilians from attack and providing humanitarian assistance.”

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