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Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2005 10:03 AM
Subject: The War on Burma's Women
The War on Burma's Women
By Charm Tong
The Boston Globe
Tuesday 28 June 2005
It has been three years since the report "License to Rape" exposed to the
world how troops of the Burmese military regime have been committing systematic
sexual violence against women in Shan state, one of the ethnic regions of Burma
where civil war has been continuing for more than four decades. The report, by
the Shan Human Rights Foundation and the Shan Women's Action Network,
documented the rape of more than 600 women by Burmese troops.
Regrettably, despite increased international awareness of the problem of
state-sponsored sexual violence in Burma following the report, the suffering of
women in the wartorn ethnic areas of Burma is continuing. The Burmese regime is
still using rape as a weapon of war to terrorize, demoralize, and control local
communities. Hundreds more women have been raped during the last few years.
Burmese military personnel, including high-ranking officers, are raping
with impunity. Women who are seven months pregnant are being gang raped. Girls
are being kept for forced labor during the day and raped at night for periods
of months. Mothers and daughters are being raped together. Girls as young as 4
are being raped.
Some stories are hard for many of us today to imagine. A woman, now insane,
weeps over the photo of her 14-year-old daughter, who was raped and burned
alive by Burmese troops.
Another woman tells how a commander dragged her to a bed in a hut, raped
her, then beat her unconscious. She awoke to find herself lying naked and her
sister's dead body outside the hut.
The sexual violence is happening not only in Shan state but in other ethnic
areas. Last year, the Karen Women's Organization released a report detailing
125 incidents of rape by the regime's troops in Karen state. The Women's League
of Burma, an umbrella organization of 12 women's groups, also released a report
entitled "System of Impunity" exposing a nationwide pattern of sexual violence
by the regime's troops.
Women and girls throughout the country are increasingly at risk from
military sexual violence, whether they are in civil war zones, cease-fire
areas, or "nonconflict" areas.
The recent rape and murder of the young daughter of a Burmese Army soldier
by a fellow officer in April 2005 has shown that even families of the regime's
army are now suffering the consequences of the "License to Rape" policy.
The countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations and other
neighboring states bordering Burma continue to disregard human rights abuses in
their dealings with Burma. There have been constant calls by women of Burma,
particularly ethnic women, to condemn the regime and push for genuine political
reform in Burma. This is the only way to end the regime's rape policies.
Some ASEAN countries have properly felt compelled to debate in public
whether the junta should assume the chairmanship of ASEAN in 2006. The ASEAN
Inter-Parliamentary Caucus, composed of members of parliament from throughout
the region, is calling for political reform. If the ASEAN legislators want a
real change in Burma they must not ignore sexual violence authorized by the
military junta.
Political repression in Burma has intensified in recent months. Last
February, Hkun Htun Oo, chairman of the Shan Nationalities League for
Democracy, and other Shan state leaders were arrested by the junta and remain
imprisoned. Ethnic resistance leaders who had made cease-fire agreements with
the regime are now being forced to disarm and surrender. Fierce military
offensives along the Thai-Burmese border are causing increased numbers of
internally displaced persons and unabated flows of refugees into Thailand.
But does this mean we will surrender to this regime, with its battalions of
rapists? The answer is no. We owe this to the women who have dared speak out
about the sexual violence committed against them. Women who relate their
stories say that each time they talk about rape it is like they are being raped
again. Yet they have been brave enough to speak out in order that one day the
violence can end.
Rape survivors say that all they want is to return home and to live in
peace, without fear of the regime's troops. Last week we marked the 60th
birthday of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest in
Burma's capital. Let us be inspired to continue the struggle to restore
democracy and peace in Burma, and to fulfill the wishes of these brave women.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charm Tong is an advocacy team member of the Shan Women's Action Network
and recipient of the 2005 Reebok Human Rights Award.
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