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Burma - Generation Change
Wednesday, 28 June, 2006
The Karen people of Burma have been fighting for human rights and independence for over sixty years.
Dateline profiles one young Karen activist who has devoted her life to the cause.
From humble beginnings in a bamboo shack in a Karen refugee camp, 24 year old K'nyaw Paw has taken her fight for the Karen people all the way to the United Nations, giving evidence to the UN human rights commission in Geneva.
Since the decision by the Burmese government to build their new capitol in Pyinmana, a fresh offensive has seen whole Karen villages cleared out.
The refugees from these villages have been flooding into Thailand in recent months. Dateline hears from these recently arrived Karen refugees who tell of this latest example of Burmese ethnic cleansing.
K'ynaw Paw wants to get the Karen people's's voice heard.
"Sometimes, when I travel I see very rich people with very nice house and car and I was thinking the world is not fair. We are just unlucky that we are born in Burma and that we are citizens of Burma," she says.
Dateline profiles one young Karen activist who has devoted her life to the cause.
From humble beginnings in a bamboo shack in a Karen refugee camp, 24 year old K'nyaw Paw has taken her fight for the Karen people all the way to the United Nations, giving evidence to the UN human rights commission in Geneva.
Since the decision by the Burmese government to build their new capitol in Pyinmana, a fresh offensive has seen whole Karen villages cleared out.
The refugees from these villages have been flooding into Thailand in recent months. Dateline hears from these recently arrived Karen refugees who tell of this latest example of Burmese ethnic cleansing.
K'ynaw Paw wants to get the Karen people's's voice heard.
"Sometimes, when I travel I see very rich people with very nice house and car and I was thinking the world is not fair. We are just unlucky that we are born in Burma and that we are citizens of Burma," she says.
