End of October 2010, WIN facilitated the training of Karen community health and relief workers for human rights documentation for the United Nations (UN). During the course, 10 Karen community workers leaned about the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism on Children’s Rights in Conflict.
Every time we talk to members of the Karen community about getting their message out to the world, they say they want to tell the UN, and rightly so. The United Nations has the power to enforce international cuts in communication, trade, military support and diplomatic relations to any government they feel is a threat to peace. Training programmes like these, therefore, aim help local community run groups to bridge connections with the UN. Now, when abuses are suffered in their communities, they have the capacity to report these crimes on an international level.
Solid UN-approved evidence of Burma’s war crimes are tantamount to gaining international support for the country’s victims of war, both political and funding for relief and development. However, the international body often struggles to gain information from areas of war due to restrictions put in place the ruling military regime. Therefore, these community workers have been very enthusiastic to begin recording cases of abuse, which they come across regularly, and then report directly.
This also comes at a crucial time politically, as western governments across the globe are calling for the UN to implement a Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights Abuses in Burma. It is crucial that the UN is receiving up-to-date reports on the horrific crimes committed by the Burma Army from all angles so that these calls can be acted upon.