The Karen Border Guard Force/Karen National Army is a militia that has long allied with the Myanmar military and is notorious for human rights violations and involvement in organised crime.

The Myanmar junta-allied Karen Border Guard Force (BGF), rebranded as the Karen National Army (KNA), has built a transnational network of businesses that enriches the militia’s ruling family and their associates, and causes widespread suffering.

Justice For Myanmar calls on GMS countries to cancel the conference and ban the junta from the GMS program. The ADB, which has decided to not attend the conference, should reconsider its support for the GMS program while it continues to engage with the junta.

The Myanmar military has been invited to the Tri-Service Asian Defense & Security Exhibition, Conference and Networking Event in Bangkok, organised by a joint venture of Informa, the parent company of academic publisher Taylor & Francis Group. JFM demands Informa ban the Myanmar junta from all events.