Support our work

KHRG is a small organisation trying to accomplish a great deal with only a few people and a very small budget. Most of our funds come from independent foundations worldwide, though these grants almost never meet our entire budget and we usually have to cut back our operations as a result. Donations from individuals or small groups are therefore always needed and welcome, regardless of how small.

Right now about 30 KHRG field researchers are in the villages and the forests, gathering information on human rights abuses and conducting workshops to help villagers stand up for their human rights at the local level. This work requires constant travel through rugged jungle areas, facing regular bouts of malaria, landmines, and the risk of being arrested or shot on sight by SPDC troops. Doing this work for the love of their people they require little except material support costs. The list below gives some idea of how we can use your donation.

• US$2 buys one film for 36 photos which we can use as evidence of human rights abuses, or enough cassette tapes to record four and a half hours of villagers' testimony.

• US$6 buys a hammock, backpack or cookset for one of our researchers, necessary equipment for travelling in the forest.

• US$30 buys a cassette recorder to capture the voices of villagers telling their own stories, the testimonies which form the core of our reports.

• US$100 pays for up to two months' worth of satellite phone communications to get information directly from the remotest Karen areas to our office.

• US$120 pays a month's rent for our information processing office.

• US$200 can pay all of a field researcher's costs for two months of intensive field work, or it buys a digital camera for one of our researchers to greatly improve the quality and timeliness of their photos.

• US$250 pays for a two or three day workshop for 25 villagers, including all notebooks, supplies, and food. At these workshops held in the forest, people from several villages and forest hiding sites come together to discuss their human rights situation and plan ways to strengthen their ability to respond to human rights abuses and support each other.

• US$500 buys a computer for transcribing testimonies, writing human rights reports and releasing them on our web site.

Whatever the level of your donation, there is a need waiting for it.

How to donate

KHRG uses PayPal, a secure encrypted payment service which allows you to use your credit card to make a donation straight to our account.  You can do this by clicking on the button on the right. One hundred percent of the money we receive goes directly into our work. 

All transaction details are confidential and protected by encryption.  As soon as your transaction is complete, KHRG will be able to access the funds.  The PayPal service will keep 4% of the money you donate as a service charge.  For donations of US$1 to US$300, this is significantly less than the service charge for an international bank transfer to us. If your donation is more than that you can still use the PayPal service, though an international bank transfer may cost less in transaction fees. Donations of any size are welcome.  If you would prefer to do a bank-to-bank transfer please contact us using our contact page.

If you  would like your donation to be tax-deductible, it may be possible to arrange this depending on your home country, provided the donation is sufficient to make the required bank transfers worthwhile.  Please contact us using our contact page for further information.

If you would like more information on exactly how your money would be or has been spent, you can contact us using our contact page.

Buy a KHRG T-Shirt

A simple and effective way to support our work is to buy a KHRG t-shirt. Wear this t-shirt and help villagers in Karen State to get their voices heard. You'll find it is a great way to start a conversation with your friends or colleagues about the abuses Karen villagers face and thereby help to raise awareness of their situation. While at the same time, your purchase will contribute towards the continued work of KHRG. To purchase a KHRG t-shirt click here.

Buy a KHRG coffee table book

In January 2010, KHRG released Patterns of Abuse, a coffee table book containing more than 125 full colour pictures showing scenes of life in rural Karen State, from paddy cultivation to attacks on villages to flight as displaced people and refugees. Professionally printed on glossy paper and in a hard cover binding, this photo album will stimulate conversation, raise awareness and prompt reflection on more than 17 years of human rights research by KHRG. For more information on Patterns of Abuse, click here.

Becoming Active Yourself

KHRG has few people and a small budget, so we seldom get the chance to conduct advocacy internationally. Wherever you live, you can help us - either by organising others to help support our work, or by using our materials and those of other groups (see our 'Selected Links' page) to increase attention on the situation of Burma's rural people among politicians, policy makers, media, students, and the general public. There may be local interest groups in the area where you live that you can collaborate with, or you may choose to work on your own or with colleagues or friends. If you need advice on specific things you could do or on what the policy priorities are in your home country or region, you are welcome to contact us using our contact page and we will see if we can help.

For those interested in working directly with KHRG, we sometimes seek volunteers provided they can cover their own costs, are willing to stay a sufficient length of time and have skills we need - like expertise in web sites, advocacy or fundraising. We sometimes also have openings for longer-term full time paid staff. All of our field work is done by local people, so foreign volunteers can expect to work in our information processing and advocacy office. For more information, contact us to find out what skills we need right now.

KHRG Brochure

Download the KHRG brochure as PDF [ 1.49MB]