The junta began carrying out its census in the Karen State capital of Hpa-An on 1 October 2024, with allied ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) helping to provide security.
On 2 October, a resident of Yonkone Road in Hpa-An City said to KIC: “Yesterday, the junta’s enumeration staff conducted the census along Bogyoke Road, Yonekone Road, and in Pyidaungsu Ward of Hpa-An City. EAOs that signed the [Nationwide] Ceasefire [Agreement (NCA) of 2015], such as the KNU/KNLA Peace Council [a.k.a. Karen Peace Council (KPC)], along with [Karen] Border Guard Force [BGF] troops, Pyu-Saw-Htee militia members, and informants, were present. Schoolteachers carried out the census by asking the required questions. Security included plainclothes and uniformed police personnel, and fully armed security measures were in place during the census enumeration.”
The census was also carried out in other areas of Hp-An District with junta and Karen BGF soldiers providing security for the census enumerators. Both Karen National Union (KNU) Brigade 7 and the junta aligned Karen BGF are active in Hpa-An District.
Elsewhere in Karen State, in Kyondoe Town, Kawtbein Village Tract in Kawkareik District, and several villages in Kyainseikgyi Township educational staff and the children of military veterans carried out census enumeration whilst junta supporters and BGF members provided security for them.
A Kawtbein resident said: "Junta supporters and BGF members providing security were armed. Villagers feared physical harm if they couldn't respond smoothly to the census questions. Many were anxious about being placed in difficult situations due to the detailed questions or potential language barriers. As a precaution, some chose to temporarily avoid their villages before the census enumeration staff arrived.”
The Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), another Karen ethnic armed organisation that signed the 2015 NCA, has its headquarters in Sonseemyaing Village South of Myawaddy Town. When the junta arrived there to carry out the census it asked the DKBA to help take the census, but the DKBA refused to do so, according to one of its senior officials who did not want to be named.
The Karen National Union (KNU), the only other Karen EAO to sign the 2015 NCA, is opposed to the junta and has been fighting it on many fronts. In September 2024, the KNU spokesperson Padoh Saw Kler Say told KIC that ethnic resistance forces, including the KNU, will oppose the census.
KIC contacted the KPC and the Karen BGF to ask them about their participation in the census. They are still awaiting replies.
In Karen State villages where fighting is still ongoing, junta soldiers have continued their offensives and there has been no census enumeration.
The census which is supposed to be being carried out between 1 and 15 October 2024, is a crucial part of the upcoming junta-controlled elections planned for 2025, which have been criticised as not being free and fair and just a way for the junta to try to legitimise its rule. The census results will be used to draw up registers of voters for the election
