Australian Activists Meet with Naw K’nyaw Paw

On her speaking tour of Australia, Naw K’nyaw Paw delivered this message to unionists, internationalists, and activists around Australia:

“I know we are just one people in the world struggling for a better life and basic human rights.  It is by standing together across international borders that we can make a better world.”

Naw K’nyaw Paw, Secretary General of the Karen Women’s Organisation, met with women unionists, parliamentarians, Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA members and activists, public servants at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and refugee advocates.

On her advocacy tour, K’nyaw Paw was also able to speak to members of the Karen diaspora in Australia. Thousands of Karen refugees today call Australia home, and the community meetings organised to welcome K’nyaw Paw to Australia were a highlight in her visit.

In Sydney, Canberra, and Melbourne, Naw K’nyaw Paw spoke to her audiences about the humanitarian situation facing Karen refugee communities along the Thai-Myanmar border, where peace rests on a knife’s edge.

After decades of conflict, thousands of Karen refugees fled across the border to seek refuge, but still they are unable to safely return home, and unable to start a new life in their new country.

K’nyaw Paw is the leader of the powerful Karen Women’s Association, a movement of over 60,000 women who are defending their rights and fighting for women’s equality.

K’nyaw Paw called on her audiences to stand with those refugee women in their fight for a dignified life, a just community, and a peaceful future:

“I have come to deeply understand the importance of solidarity across causes. This is a vital part of our empowerment.  We know by working together we can make a difference.