This paper explores the current and past practices of the government of Myanmar in
its attempts to disenfranchise and disempower the sizeable minority of Karen peoples. The
Karen, constituting a large community that stretches predominately over the two countries of
Thailand and Myanmar is often overlooked because of the lack of readily available information
regarding Myanmar in general and the Karen in particular. This paper views the issues that
surround the Karen and the human rights violations they have suffered in the past 70 years at the
hands of the dominant Burman government. Further, in attempts to tie this to the current
Rohingya crisis in Myanmar’s southwest, this paper also intends to use predictive forecasting
assessing the future endgame of Naypyidaw, the government of Myanmar.
