Karen people
Encyclopedia : K : KA : KAR : Karen people
The Karen (Burmese: ကရင္လူမ္ယုိး; MLCTS: ka. rang lu myui:), also known in Thailand as the Kariang (Thai: ) or Yang , are an ethnic group in Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand.
The Karen have fought for autonomy from Myanmar for decades; January 31 is considered "Karen Revolutionary Day" among the Karen.
Distribution
The Karen live mostly in the hilly eastern border region of Myanmar, primarily in Karen State, with some in Kayah State (Karenni State), southern Shan State, Ayeyarwady Division (Irrawaddy Division), Southern Kawthoolei (Tenasserim Coastal Region) and in western Thailand.The total number of Karen is difficult to estimate; a 2006 VOA article cites an estimate of seven million in Myanmar. There are another 400,000 [[Citing sources citation needed]] Karen in Thailand, where they are by far the largest of the hill tribes.
History
The Karen aided the British during World War II, when the Japanese occupied the region.After the war ended, Burma was granted independence in 1948, and the Karen, led by the Karen National Union (KNU), soon became the largest of 20 minority groups participating in an insurgency against the military dictatorship in Yangon. During the 1980s, the KNU fighting force numbered approximately 20,000; in 2006, that number has shrunk to less than 4,000, opposing what has grown to a 400,000-member Burmese army.
The conflict continues as of 2006, with KNU headquarters in Mu Aye Pu, on the Burmese/Thai border. In 2004, BBC cited aid agencies estimates that up to 200,000 Karen have been driven from their homes during decades of war, with 120,000 more refugees from Burma, mostly Karen, living in refugee camps on the Thai side of the border.
Many Karen [[Citing sources citation needed]] accuse the government of Myanmar of ethnic cleansing. The U.S. State Department has also cited the Burmese government for suppression of religious freedom[link], a source of particular trouble to the Karen as between thirty and forty percent of them are Christians[link][link] and among the Burmese religious minority.
Language
The Karen languages are members of the Tibeto-Burman group of the Sino-Tibetan language family. The three main branches are Sgaw, Pwo, and Pa'o; they are not considered to be mutually intelligible. They are almost unique among the Tibeto-Burman languages in having a Subject Verb Object word order; other than Karen and Bai (the latter not always considered Tibeto-Burman), Tibeto-Burman languages feature a Subject Object Verb order.References
External links
- [Kawthoolei.org], Kawthoolei literally means a land without evil, is the Karen name of the land of Karen people. An independent and impartial media outlet aimed to provide contemporary information of all kinds – social, cultural, educational and political
- [Karen Human Rights Group], a new website documenting the human rights situation of Karen villagers in rural Burma
- [Karenpeople.org], a non-profit web portal on the Karen peoples run by Singapore-based Karen People Development Fund
- [Karen.org], The website of the Karen National League of Bakersfield, California
- [Burma's Karen Face Hard Times as Insurgency Begins Sixth Decade], a February 2006 Voice of America article
- [Burma's disorientated rebels], a November 2004 BBC article
- [Free Burma Rangers], website of Non-Governmental Organization that provides humanitarian assistance to Internally Displaced People
- [U.S. Dept. of State 2005 International Religious Freedom Report on Burma]
- [Index of IRF reports on Burma 2001-5]
- [Article about Karen], 2006
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