The petition has been signed by about 84,000 Karen people and approved by 30 Karen organizations from 15 countries.
The petition will be proposed to many world leaders and organizations, including the UN, UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard. The petition will also be delivered to the governments of Japan, Norway, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Canada.
Unprecedented appeal from ordinary villagers
General-secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU), Zipporah Sein, says the petition is an unprecedented appeal to the United Nations from ordinary villagers who are facing human rights abuses in Burma. The eldest petitioner was 103 years old and the youngest was 16.
According to the Mizzima News, more than 3,600 villages in Karen State have been destroyed by the junta in the past 15 years. More recently, 18 Karen civilians were executed and 38 were physically abused by junta troops before the elections in November 2010.
Fifty-two Karen were arrested unlawfully, 2,300 were used in forced labour, 198 buildings including homes, schools and churches were destroyed due to the military clashes in the Karen State, and more than 3,000 Karen villagers were forced to seek refuge in the jungle, according to the KNU statement.
Karen want UN to exert pressure on junta
Naw Zipporrah Sein, the KNU secretary-general, said: “W
Karen rebels have been fighting the Burmese authorities for decades
e want Mr. Ban Ki-moon to use his power and authority to exert pressure on the junta to stop the violations of human rights. We would like to request Mr. Ban Ki-moon to put pressures on the junta to negotiate a cease-fire across the country, to hold a serious political dialogue and to build a federal country that can guarantee racial equality and human rights.”
Throughout 2010, there were in excess of 1,000 armed conflicts between the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the KNU, and the junta troops in Thaton, Taungoo, Nyaunglebin, Myeik, Dawei, Papun, Kawkareik and Hpa-an districts, as said by the KNU officials. The KNU was formed in February 5, 1947, to fight for equality and self-determination for the Karen people.
The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Tomás Ojea Quintana, criticized the Burmese junta over its human rights violations. Human rights violations in Burma are burdening other countries in the region, with an influx of refuges fleeing a host of abuses from forced labour and land confiscation to arbitrary detention and sexual violence, the United Nations expert warned on 24 February 2011.
Quintana to present latest report
Quintana made his criticism in Kuala Lumpur at the end of an eight-
day fact-finding mission to Malaysia, one of the affected countries with some 84,800 registered refugees and asylum-seekers and a large number still unregistered, the UN News Centre said.
“Despite the promise of the transition in Myanmar, the human rights situation remains grave,” he said.
“Countries in the region have a particular interest in persuading the Government of Myanmar to take necessary measures for the improvement of its human rights situation,” Mr. Quintana added. “These measures are an urgent matter for the new Government, and the international community should ensure that Myanmar fulfils this responsibility.”
Tomás Ojea Quintana has recommended in a report in March 2010 that the UN should consider establishing a Commission of Inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Burmese government.
Mr. Quintana will present his latest report to the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council in this March.
Background
The Karen (Kayin) are indigenous to Burma and Thailand, they are
one of the largest ethnic minority groups in Burma (Kayin State, a state of Burma, map on the left), in Thailand they are described as a hill tribe. Karen people have a strong sense of history that they trace back over 2700 years.
They speak several related languages which are quite different from other langauges in the region. They have their own distinctive culture, customs, traditions, and festivals. The Karen have fought for independence from Burma since 31 January 1949, they still seek the autonomy and democracy. The total number of Karen is difficult to estimate. The last reliable census of Burma was conducted in the 1930s. A 2006 Voice of America article cites an estimate of seven million in Burma. There are another 400,000 Karen in Thailand.
You can find out more about the Karen here nad here.
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