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Mergui-Tavoy District
About
This district is called Tenasserim Division by the SPDC, who do not include it as part of Karen State, however the KNU include it in their definition of Karen State and large numbers of Karen (as well as Burman, Mon, Merguian and Tavoyan) reside here. This is the southernmost district of KNU's administration and the most isolated from the headquarters of the KNU. Most of the population live in villages along the Tenasserim river and its tributaries, the Tavoy river tributaries, the Ngawun river and its tributaries, and along the government-controlled costal plain.
This district has seen large numbers of human rights abuses for many decades. In 1996 the new SPDC Coastal Regional Command ordered a mass relocation of civilians in to fortified villages in order to consolidate their control over the Mergui/Palaw area. The rural population largely continue to reside in SPDC-controlled relocation sites where they are subject to predation, exploitation and abuse committed with impunity. A substantial number of villagers are unwilling to live under these conditions and choose instead to live their lives in hiding as internally displaced people (IDPs).
Perhaps the most well-known abuses in this area are those which occurred during the building of the Total-UNOCAL gas pipeline from the offshore gas fields in the Andaman Sea, across Mergui-Tavoy District, to Thailand. Many Karen youths were forced to work against their will on this pipeline project, thousands were forcibly displaced from their traditional land and large numbers suffered from the abusive acts of large numbers of uncontrolled SPDC soldiers posted in the area to secure the pipeline.
The combination of the gas pipeline, the various road projects, lignite and tin mines, the oil palm plantations and the fishing and tourism opportunities in the Mergui archipelago make this region very attractive to the SPDC to secure and develop for their own. In 1997 Burmese troops made and offensive against the KNU's Mergui-Tavoy District HQ in the east of the division on the Thai-Burmese border and overran it and occupied some parts of the district.
KYO Mergui-Tavoy District
KYO Mergui-Tavoy District has been doing many activities including Youth Empowerment Training, Youth Exchange, sport activities, celebration of Karen special days, summer Karen languge teaching course and IDP relief trips inside the townships and villages. We also run a students boarding house which supports orphans from internally displaced areas who do not have any chance to go to school.
KYO along with Karen Womens Organisation (KWO) and the Karen Refugee Committee (KRC) are working together for young people's capacity building, empowerment and leadership development.
In the past year, many KYO members were promoted to a higher position in the Karen struggle and now many of them are active leaders of their community.