Because of the abrupt internal conflict, thousands of internally displaced people fled to refugee camps which are located in the government controlled area as well in the Kachin Independence Army controlled area (Hlaing, 2005). KIO made a ceasefire agreement with the military government in 1994 while leaving political issues to be discussed with the next elected government. Throughout its struggle, both in the ceasefire and non-ceasefire period, KIO also made agreements with other ethnic rebels and alliances including the Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB), the National Democratic Front (NDF), and United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC). The main goal was to pressure the military government and restore the federal democratic government with greater autonomy to Kachin State. During its 17 years of ceasefire from 1994 to 2011 the KIO actively participated in the military-led constitution-drafting-process, attending the National Convention, which was boycotted by the democratic icon Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy and ethnic political parties. The KIO together with 12 other ethnic groups demanded amendments of the draft to be more in line with a federal democratic system and to give autonomy to states (Zaw Oo & Win Min 2007). The seventeen-year ceasefire broke down and fighting between the Kachin Independence Organization and the government resumed in June 2011 after the Kachin Independent Army disallowed the government’s order to transform into a Border Guard Force and it claimed that the regime’s 2008 Constitution lacked federal democratic principles and equal political rights for ethnic minorities based on the Panglong Agreement. Renewed fighting between the Kachin Independence Army and the Burmese army began on June 9, 2011 at Ta-pein hydropower plan and continued throughout 2012. Initial reports suggested that from June to September 2011 a total of 5,580 Internally Displaced Persons from 1,397 households arrived at 38 IDP camps under Myanmar Government control. In August, 2012 thousands of Kachin refugees were forced by the Chinese Government back into Myanmar despite the continued fighting there; NGOs like Human Rights Watch called to cease such action and pointed the illegality of doing so under international law. As of October 9, 2012, over 100,000 IDPs are taking shelter in various camps across Kachin State. The majority of IDPs (est. 70,000) are currently sheltering in KIA controlled territory. Fatality estimates were difficult to estimate but most reports suggested that between government troops, Kachin Independence Army rebels, and civilians upwards of 1,000 people had died in the conflict.