According to its own recent resolution on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, the UN Security Council (UNSC) needs to place Burma on its agenda to protect Karen civilians from the atrocious situation, said Brad Adams, HRW's Asia director.

"The atrocious situation in Burma is exactly the kind of crisis the [UN] resolution was designed to address. Without swift and decisive Security Council action, the killings and abuses there will not stop," Adams said.

Civilians seeking refuge in Thailand "have been placed at grave risk by landmines planted by the Burmese army along the border", HRW said in a statement released yesterday.

In a telephone interview with The Nation, a KNU field commander, Colonel Ner Dah, sounded bitter at the lack of response to the Karen's plight from the international community.

"It would be great if the UN intervened on our behalf because the Burmese will not stop killing our people. At this particular moment there doesn't seem to be anybody in the international community who seems to be concerned about the suffering of the Karen people," Ner Dah said.

"In the past the UN has provided assistance to Karen refugees, but it has never really intervened directly in the Burmese campaign to wipe out the Karen people, including women and children," Ner Dah said.

More than 800 Karen refugees are stranded on the Burmese side of the border on the banks of the Salween River, while hundreds more have been displaced from their homes since the junta's latest offensive began in November last year.

The latest round of fighting between Burma and the rebel Karen National Union (KNU) started in November 2005, displacing about 10,000 Karen villagers, according to HRW and rebel sources.

Decades of war between the Burmese junta and rebel groups have forced some 650,000 civilians living in eastern Burma to flee their homes, HRW said.

Onnida Aditapsatit

The Nation