KWO Statement in Support of Karen Day in Washington DC

The Karen Women’s Organization and our 60,000 members support the effort of Karen people in the United States to shed light on the plight of our people and others in Burma. We know that the United States has supported our efforts for gain human rights, democracy and peace in our homeland. We need help again to finish the fragile process begun with elections in 2015. The process is currently stalled, people are being killed and human rights standards violated across Burma.

The Burmese Army has continued to attack innocent ethnic people across the region including the Karen, the Shan, the Kachin in Northern and Southeast Burma and recently the people in the west, particularly the Rohingya. All ethnic rights have consistently been violated in a uniform campaign over decades. The attacks on the Rohingya people are the latest horrific example while other attacks also continue. The Army must be stopped and our rights firmly established. It is only with a federal system and full democracy that lasting peace can be achieved. We cannot pretend to make progress through words while the reality of ethnic cleansing continues across our land.