ETHNIC KARENS are an indigenous ethnic group located in Burma and Thailand.

In Burma, the majority of Karen people live in Irrawaddy Division, Rangoon Division, Pegu Division, Tanessarim Division and Karen State. In Thailand, most of Karen are grouped into hill tribes in northern and western Thailand. There are two major Karen groups called Pwo and Sgaw. The Karen people make up approximately 7 percent of the total Burmese population of approximately 50 million people.

The Karen people were originally animists. However, most of modern ethnic Karens are baptized converts to Christianity.  Some are Buddhist, while others are animists. Their traditional occupations are farming, fishing, breeding livestock, and selling handicrafts.

They have their own traditional New Year festival date of January 5. Traditionally, Karen people prefer to live in simply and in peace, and don’t want confrontation with others. Despite longstanding grievances against the Burmese government, most Karen people have avoided entanglements in politics and armed revolution. 

In Burma, the main Karen opposition political organization is Karen National Union (KNU) founded in 1947 after Burma gained independence in 1948 from Great Britain. It founded its military wing, Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) in 1949 and has been fighting for autonomy and liberty since then.

The KNLA currently has an estimated 3,000 fighters in Karen State, in eastern and southeastern Burma. Due to Burmese government military offensives, thousands of Karen civilians have been displaced in the jungle, more than 150,000 sought refuge in Thailand and about 60,000 resettled in third countries.  

In 1995, big division within KNU emerged due to religion. A group of KNLA soldiers who are Buddhist thought that they were oppressed by the Christian-dominated KNU leadership. They formed Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and signed a ceasefire with the Burmese government in 1995.

However, in Nov 2010, due to disagreement with the Burmese government, the DKBA rejoined the KNLA, and they now continue to fight for autonomy against the Burmese government.

Editor's note: The author Saw Yan Naing is also of the Karen people.