Most of these abuses were committed by soldiers and officials of the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC), Burma's previous ruling military junta.

The greater part of this territory they occupy in connection with the other peoples of the country, namely, the Burmese, Shan, Siamese, and Chin.

Persecution of Christians by the Burmese authorities has continued to this day, fuelled by the belief that Western imperialists have sought to divide the country not only on ethnic but on religious grounds.

Over the last 50 years, opposition organisations representing a variety of political agendas have taken up arms against the central government in Rangoon.

The primary victims in Burma's protracted civil war have been ethnic minority people, like the Karen, Mon and Karenni.

[7] Their forced relocation under the SPDC military is for the purpose of using them as a convenient source of unpaid labour at local Army camps and along the roads.

[7] The Burmese army carries out massive forced relocation of rural villages, with the intention of eliminating civilian support for opposition groups or clearing ground for infrastructural projects.

[8] These days most people know what is happening at the relocation sites, so when they are ordered to move they simply flee into hiding in the forests surrounding their farmlands.

Tens of thousands of people are presently living in this way "under the constant risk of being captured or shot by passing SPDC patrols who also seek out and destroy their food supplies and crops in the fields.

[1] To this end, the KHRG seeks to further develop as an independent, credible and Karen-led organisation working in close co-operation with local communities and operating with a perspective on human rights as articulated by villagers themselves.

KHRG aims to increase villagers’ capability and opportunity to claim their human rights, and ensure that their voices, priorities and perspectives influence decision makers.

Scholar Kevin Malseed in Where There Is No Movement: Local Resistance and the Potential for Solidarity argues that even though "in Burma, any attempt to form independent agrarian movements is violently suppressed, rural Karen villagers have developed and practice complex forms of resistance involving inter-community action and solidarity across wide regions.

"[11] These movements have been successful in "weakening state control over land and livelihoods largely because their lack of formal organization makes them difficult to target".

"[12] It is believed that these organisations play a fundamental role in aiding refugees and helping them sustain their socio-political legitimacy.