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[1] This News Bulletin was written by KHRG office staff and is based on information from a community member from Thaton District who has been trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. It summarizes information from three incident reports, one situation update and one interview received by KHRG in October 2013. In order to increase the transparency of KHRG methodology and more directly communicate the experiences and perspectives of villagers in eastern Burma, KHRG aims to make all field information received available on the KHRG website once it has been processed and translated, subject only to security considerations. For additional reports categorized by Type, Issue, Location and Year, please see the Related Readings component following each report on KHRG’s redesigned Website.

[2] Pyithu sit translates to “people’s militia,” which is a militia structure into which local civilians are conscripted to serve in village or town militia groups.  For further reading on the pyithu sit, see “Enduring Hunger and Repression; Food Scarcity, Internal Displacement, and the Continued Use of Forced Labour in Toungoo District,” KHRG, September 2004, pg. 18.

[3] On January 12th 2012, the KNU and Burma government officials signed a ceasefire agreement in Hpa-an, capital of Karen State. The preliminary agreement was based on ‘11 key points.’ In 2013, the ceasefire process expanded to become a nationwide effort. On November 2nd 2013, representatives from 17 ethnic armed groups (EAGs) unified their position and signed an accord in the Kachin State capital, and headquarters of the KIO, Laiza. See "Burma's armed ethnic groups sign nation-wide ceasefire pledge in Laiza," Kachin News, November 5th 2013. At a subsequent meeting on November 4th in Myitkyina, the ethnic armed groups met with a Burma government delegation, but were unable to reach an agreement due to significant differences between the groups’ proposals. See "Myanmar Peace Talks Fail to Nail Down Cease-Fire Agreement," Radio Free Asia, November 5th2013. Most recently, on January 25th 2014, the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (comprised of 17 EAGs), agreed to an updated version of the 11-point proposal at the 2nd Ethnic Armed Organisations Conference in Law Khee Lar, the headquarters of the KNU. This 11-point pact will be presented to the Burma government Peace-Making Work Committee in Hpa-an in February 2014. See "Ethnic armed groups sign 11-point nationwide ceasefire draft," Myanma Freedom Daily, January 26th 2014.  For more information on the ceasefire and how it has affected local villagers, see “Safeguarding human rights in a post-ceasefire eastern Burma,” KHRG, January 2012 and “Steps towards peace: Local participation in the Karen ceasefire process,” KHRG, November 2012.

[4] As of October 15th 2013, all conversion estimates for the Kyat in this report are based on the official market rate of 972.99 Kyat to the US $1.

[5] According to the understanding of the villagers, the act of turning in their guns signifies ending their term of service in the people’s militia.