Lway Chee Sangar: Reclaiming Rights After a Childhood of Labor, Hardship, and Conflict
"We had never heard about human rights in the village," Lway Chee Sangar tells me at the Palaung Women's Organization (PWO) office in Mae Sot, Thailand. Sangar is 23 years old. The ethnic nationality group to which she belongs […]
‘Please Support Our People, Not the Government – They Are Cheating the World’: Mahn Robert Ba Zan
Ariana Zarleen / Burma Link There is no political solution, only ceasefire. During the ceasefire, they [Burmese military] have been building a stronghold in Karen areas […]
‘One Day the World Will Recognise Our Sovereignty’: Naga Leader Part 2
By Ariana Zarleen / Burma Link Shapwon is a leader of the Naga, a forgotten people who have fought a desperate struggle against the Indian and Burmese governments as well as Naga socialists. In a [...]
‘I Am One of the Top People on Their Lists to Be Killed’: Naga Leader Part 1
By Ariana Zarleen / Burma Link Shapwon is a leader of the Naga. He joined the nationalist movement in 1975 and is now the Joint Secretary of Naga National Council. He is a leader who [...]
‘The British Had No Right to Draw the Borderline in the Heart of Naga Country’: Eastern Naga Leader
By Ariana Zarleen / Burma Link Nagaland was once a free land with rich and unique cultural traditions that varied from village to village, each village ruled by their own chieftains. The faith of the [...]
Part 2: ‘They Create Problems Between Lahu and Other Ethnicities’
Burma Link | July 5, 2014 (updated July 30, 2015) Lahu are a little known ethnic group scattered around four countries; Burma, China, Laos and Thailand. Lahu people typically live up on the mountains and [...]
Part 1: ‘INGOs Cannot Reach Lahu Areas and the Needs of the Lahu People’
Burma Link | July 1, 2014 (updated July 30, 2015) Kyar Yin Shell is a 26-year-old young man from Kengtung, the ‘dark and dirty’ capital city of eastern Salween in the Shan State. While Kengtung [...]
‘We Weren’t Afraid of Snakes or Tigers, just Burmese Soldiers’
Daw Hla Shin is a 70-year-old Karen woman from Win Tar Pan village in Bilin, Mon State. She grew up amidst Burmese Army abuse that only worsened after she married a Karen soldier. The villagers [...]