The Australian Karen Organisation (AKO) 10th Biennial General Meeting was held on the 27th to 29th September 2018. Representatives from four (4) states and one (1) territory were in attendance.

After much discussion and the election of the National Central Executive Committee was held, amongst the participating representatives, the following resolutions were unanimously made:

1. To reaffirm and uphold the Karen four slogans of peaceful demand and Saw Ba U Gyi’s Four Principles until the completion of the Karen national and political objectives are achieved.

2. To support the Karen revolution by all political and moral means, with the accomplishment of the Karen national objectives of equality and genuine federal union with self-determination.

3. To assert that the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), as it currently stands, is not in support of the pursuit of the national goal of the Karen, and other ethnic nationalities.

4. To encourage Karen national patriotism, in raising political awareness amongst all Karen, during the political situation in Burma and armed conflict within the ethnic States of Burma.

5. To maintain that although the 21st Panglong Conference appears to be a good platform if every stakeholder participates with sincerity, the Burmese Military is in opposition as it continues to act as an obstruction in achieving true national conciliation.

6. To condemn all existing and future development projects of land confiscation and extraction of natural resources in the ethnic areas of Burma without the consulting and mutual agreement with the locally effected people in accordance with the principles of international law.

7. To strongly oppose the premature repatriation of refugees along the Thai-Burma border due to the instability of the area caused by the Burmese military.

8. To welcome the Report of the Independent International Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar (IIFFMM) and Recommendation by the UN General Secretary which calls for the referral of Burma to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed against ethnic nationalities in the Kachin, Shan, and Rakhine States in Burma.

9. To urge the International Community to endorse the Recommendation of the IIFFMM to refer the Burmese Military to the ICC for the decade-long atrocities and human rights violations committed to the Karen by the Burmese Military.

Central Executive Committee AKO Inc. 2018-2020
Media Contacts Saw Lwin Oo +61 412 344 009 / Mahn Sanlwin Y Shwe +61 412 039 426

Download this statement HERE.