Six years on, conflict in Kachin leaves youths older, wiser – and still struggling

Earlier this year, DVB’s Youth Voice team visited camps for the internally displaced in Kachin State to speak to young people about the particular challenges they have faced as the war raging in northern Burma entered its seventh year. Their stories include the hardships of cramped living quarters in the displacement camps, difficulties continuing education, and the stigma that sometimes comes with being a member of an internally displaced (IDP) community.

Fighting between the Burma Army and Kachin Independence Army reignited in June 2011, bringing to an end a ceasefire that had held for 17 years. About 100,000 people have been displaced across Kachin and northern Shan states in the years since. Most of them are women and children.