The Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) is a grassroots Karen-led human rights organisation, established in 1992 and now operating across rural southeastern Burma. With over twenty years of experience, and twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize (2000 and 2001), KHRG is recognised internationally as a leading authority on issues such as forced labour, landmines, internal displacement and conflict in southeastern Burma. Most recently, they have been nominated for (2012 and 2013) and won (2013) the Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award, and KHRG staffers have been chosen to represent national civil society organisations in discussing land rights with the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission and the Myanmar Peace Center, and to testify before the United Nations Security Council about child soldiers.
VISION
The Karen Human Rights Group envisions a future in which people in Burma achieve full human rights and justice.
MISSION
KHRG is an independent local organisation committed to improving the human rights situation in Burma by projecting the voices of villagers and supporting their strategies to claim human rights. They aim to increase villagers’ capability and opportunity to claim their human rights, and ensure that their voices, priorities and perspectives influence decision makers. They encourage other local and international groups and institutions to support villagers’ self-protection strategies.
KHRG Activities
- Field Research: KHRG trains community members in eastern Burma to document individual human rights abuses using a standardised reporting format; conduct interviews with other villagers; and write general updates on the situation in areas with which they are familiar. Community members are trained to summarise recent events, raise issues that they consider to be important, and present their opinions or perspectives on abuse and other local dynamics in their area.
- Report-writing: In order to directly communicate the experiences and perspectives of villagers in eastern Burma, KHRG translates and publishes the Field Research on their website exactly as it was received in the form of Interviews, Incidents Reports and Situation Updates. To ensure villagers’ voices and priorities reach influence decision makers, KHRG staff compile and analyze the field information into thematic reports, area reports or in targeted submissions.
- Village Agency Workshops: Conducted at the community level, KHRG facilitates workshops that provide a space for villagers to share their experiences and support their self-protection strategies by gaining knowledge about international human rights standards and available national mechanisms that they can use to claim their rights.
- Local and International Advocacy: By sharing their Field Research, KHRG hopes to ensure villagers’ voices and strategies for coping with human rights abuse reach decision-makers who can influence their lives. They distribute their Field Documentation and Reports to local and international human rights organisations, national institutions in Burma, United Nations agencies and rapporteurs, foreign governments and embassies, academics, journalists, and others.
