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Description: "January 2024 Girls as young as 14-years-old were recently brought to safety from sex trafficking, in an operation run by an IJM partner and the Anti-Trafficking Task Force. The operation was initiated after one of the girls was reported missing by her aunt. She’d been coerced into forced labour at a restaurant before being trapped in sexual exploitation in a night club. Two perpetrators were also arrested at the brothel where the women and girls were found. As soon as the survivors were safe, an IJM-funded partner provided them with urgent aftercare support, including accommodation and health checks. Meanwhile, IJM’s legal partner ensured legal protection for the survivors by filing a case under the Human Trafficking Prevention and Suppression Law. Six of the survivors received legal counselling and are involved in legal proceedings. Today, after receiving intensive support at a shelter, the women and girls are safely home with their families and guardians..."
Source/publisher: International Justice Mission
2024-01-17
Date of entry/update: 2024-01-17
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Description: "Since the attempted military coup in Myanmar in February 2021, Myanmar has fallen into a state of despair. Two-thirds of the Karenni population, one of the country’s minority groups, have been displaced. Gender-based violence is a widespread problem, and the conflict has made the situation for women and girls in the country increasingly worse. “Since conflict broke out, social violence has become widespread, and the military is notorious for its brutal sexual and structural violence. Women face potential danger everywhere, and it’s getting worse by the day”, says a representative of The Karenni National Women's Organization (KNWO), a women’s grassroots organization that was established by refugee women in a Karenni refugee camp in 1993. Due to the sensitivity of her work, she will remain anonymous. Situated in the eastern part of Myanmar, Karenni State has a population of around 300,000 people. In 2022, the amount of internally displaced people reached a devastating 280,000. According to the activist, with the ongoing fighting between the military and the People's Defence Force in the state capital of Loikaw, an additional 30,000 people are likely to be displaced. KNWO works to promote equal rights and opportunities for Karenni women in political, economic, and social spheres. In addition, the organisation provides support and services for the survivors of domestic and gender-based violence. With nearly the whole population displaced, the majority of the organisation’s activities take place in refugee camps in Karenni State’s internally displaced people (IDP) sites. “Joining KNWO has led to a great transformation in my life. The women are highly inspirational and have made me see things differently and truly understand the mechanisms we need to change in our society, and not the least highly motivated me to work for that change”, says the woman activist. Myanmar has a long way to go when it comes to transformation of gender norms: “Domestic violence is a common problem. The patriarchal system is deeply rooted in society, and the cultural mindset is very fixed. In addition, there are no proper mechanism or policies in place for the protection of women and girls. The perpetrators go unpunished”, KNOW’s representative explains. 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence has become an annual event for KNWO. “Being part of the global women’s movement is important to us, and ‘16 Days’ is great for awareness building. Before the attempted coup, we conducted 16 days activism in Bawlakhe Township in Karenni State. But our event was forced to stop. They didn’t allow us to celebrate. But we still mark this global moment, especially in our refugee- and IDPs areas,” she says. KNWO counts around 400 staff and volunteers in refugee camps and IDP camps. The organisation is part of a larger network of woman organisations located in different townships across the state, as well as nation-wide organisations. “We all work to promote women’s rights, but we cover different areas. We have a widespread network in Karenni state. On national level, we are a member of Women's League of Burma, an umbrella organisation for all the ethnic women organisations,” the woman activist says. A key issue for KNWO is to push political institutions for political change and promote participation and representation of women in public society. Currently they are pushing for the Karenni state consultative council, which is the political platform where all revolutionary organisations are represented, to adopt a gender policy framework. An executive pillar and judicial pillar have already been established. What remains is the establishment of a legislative pillar. So far, the women's organisations have been able to get two positions in the Karenni state consultative council. “With two civil society representatives in place, carrying the wisdom of all the women organisations with them, we can advocate within the system we are trying to change”, she says. In her experience, women issues are always being depoliticised. “My message for this year’s 16 days campaign, is that women’s issues are political issues, and something that all political decision makers need to take seriously”. Through awareness building on how women are being marginalised throughout political processes, the revolutionary actors in the conflict have slowly become aware that during the revolution, women are also being captured and targeted. “This is not an issue for female soldiers only, it goes for medical staff, teachers, homemaker, and mothers taking care of children. Many of the roles traditionally occupied by women are considered low status, making them especially vulnerable during conflict. This is important to acknowledge, and we see attitudes slowly changing”, she adds. It is not without risk that Myanmar’s women activists have taken on the fight against gender inequality. “There are lots of obstacles and we constantly get threatened, both from the perpetrator and from the local community”, the activist explains. “That is why we have organised. Working alongside other women gives us courage”..."
Source/publisher: Norwegian People's Aid
2023-12-08
Date of entry/update: 2023-12-08
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Description: "CHIANG MAI – The Myanmar pro-democracy movement must listen to the calls of women and ethnic people and their vision for federalism, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights said today. On 29 June, APHR held a closed-door meeting with women human rights defenders and activists from Myanmar civil society groups in Chiang Mai, Thailand as part of a series of discussions that aim to provide a platform for gendered perspectives on the crisis in the country, including topics such as federalism, patriarchy, and ethnic inclusion. As long as there has been a civil war in Myanmar, there has been a struggle for ethnic autonomy, including the rights to their land, language, health care, education and traditions. For women, in addition to the fight for ethnic equality, has also been for gender equality. In the current context of post-coup Myanmar, new challenges have emerged and a new struggle for equality across all genders and ethnicities. “The commitment and dedication of women to Myanmar’s struggle for democracy is evident across the movement,” said APHR Board Member and former Thai foreign minister Kasit Piromya. “Federalism cannot exist in Myanmar without democracy, and certainly not without the contributions of women.” “The history of Burma is rooted in ongoing conflict. When we look at the creators of conflict, it is very clear it is the Myanmar junta. Women have always been involved in revolutionary acts because we believe in genuine peace,” said Moon Nay Li, Joint General Secretary of the Women’s League of Burma . While pro-democracy bodies, including the National Unity Government, the National Unity Consultative Council and the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, have called for federalism to defeat the junta, women-led organizations and activists are advocating for a future that is gender-equal as well as federal. “Too often, women are told that their pursuits for gender equality are of lesser importance amidst the shared struggle to defeat the junta. These struggles are interconnected as the commitment to end military rule is rooted in ending patriarchal norms and institutions,” said APHR member and member of the Philippine House of Representatives Arlene Brosas. “Women’s rights defenders are critical actors in the pro-democracy movement, and their voices must be amplified to ensure their needs are met and perspectives are heard.” During the meeting, the women human rights defenders and activists were very clear that more reflection needed to be done on how the ‘pro-democracy’ movement is currently progressing. For many, this includes inner work, primarily from the Bamar majority, on how to ‘unlearn’ certain attitudes and beliefs which stem from Burmanization, Buddhism and the patriarchy. Calls were also made to the international community to engage with pro-democracy stakeholders, and not the terrorist regime. “The international community, including ASEAN, must support women human rights defenders and their calls for a more inclusive vision of federalism in Myanmar. Defeating the junta is imperative, but without the participation of women and ethnic people, a democratic Myanmar cannot be sustainable,” said APHR Chair and member of Indonesian House of Representatives Mercy Barends..."
Source/publisher: ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights
2023-07-03
Date of entry/update: 2023-07-03
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Description: "On June 19, 2008, the 15-member United Nations Security Council passed resolution 1820 and designated the day as the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. This resolution strongly condemns the usage of sexual violence during times of war and conflict, considering it a dangerous tactic and strategy that undermines international peace and stability. Mainly women and LGBTQI people fall victim to conflict-related sexual violence. However, some men and young men are not exempt from that. Sexual violence is the result of power imbalance, gender inequality, and the culture of impunity. The victims of sexual violence are both armed actors as well as many innocent civilians. Sexual violence in conflict is not an unavoidable by-product of wars and conflicts. It can be prevented through specific strategies, such as plans, military orders, Code of Conduct, communications procedures, and operation guidelines. Research demonstrates that conflict related sexual violence (CRSV) does not occur in every war and conflict with the same magnitude and prevalence. By implementing effective guidelines and operations with strong political will, it is possible to decrease and address sexual violence. All warring parties involved in the conflict must uphold the international humanitarian law during armed conflicts. This is also a pressing matter for Myanmar. CRSV should not be perceived as an inevitable part of active armed conflicts. At this time, the National Unity Government and all armed actors must prohibit and prevent it. To effectively support survivors, concerned stakeholders, local NGOs, and CSOs need multisectoral assistance. International development partners must provide timely and adequate resources in the manner that aligned to the local situations. This type of assistance would enable survivors to reclaim their fundamental rights. All survivors have the human right to receive survivor-centered services, live a life free from violence and threats, and access justice. Civic space has been shrinking across the country since February 2021. When CRSV cases happen, those who tirelessly work on them are civil society women's groups. On this day, we would like to take this opportunity to honor these women human rights defenders, frontline workers and first responders, for their important work to help the survivors, despite the danger and risk that could fall on them. It is mandatory for the international justice mechanisms to hold Myanmar’s military, or Sit-Tat accountable for systematic, widespread and pervasive sexual violence and gender-based crimes that they have committed in armed conflicts for decades. Myanmar military and Myanmar Security Forces have been designated in the UN list of parties that have committed widespread and systematic patterns of sexual violence since 2018. It is also necessary to hold perpetrators of all kinds accountable for sexual violence directly or indirectly linked to armed conflicts regardless of their kinship, political party affiliation, ranks in an army, or socioeconomic strata. All perpetrators must be held accountable without partiality to end impunity. We must act urgently to impose immediate and severe punishments for sexual violence crime perpetrators as we continue to build our path towards a Federal Democratic future. Enhancing response mechanisms can be achieved through a survivor-centered approach and seeking guidance from women's and human rights groups. A just and equal future can only be achieved when armed organizations and women's groups collaborate. Sexual violence in conflict is not just a women's issue or a concern solely for survivors; it is a Myanmar’s societal issue. Sexual violence during conflicts shatters mutual trust and represents a misuse and abuse of power. To rebuild trust, a comprehensive societal approach, in accordance with the international definitions and standards, should be adopted..."
Source/publisher: Women Advocacy Coalition Myanmar
2023-06-19
Date of entry/update: 2023-06-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "19 June 2023, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh; Bangkok, Thailand: After decades of sexual and gender-based violence and other atrocity crimes perpetrated by the consecutive Myanmar military regimes, victims and survivors are still waiting for justice. Myanmar’s judicial system is designed to protect the perpetrators instead of bringing them to justice. This culture of impunity has left survivors with little to no trust in Myanmar’s national justice system. For survivors speaking out and seeking justice can create real and significant risks to their personal safety and wellbeing – this is especially true in the context of Myanmar. Fear of retaliation, harassment, arbitrary arrest, and physical violence continues be cited by the survivors of crimes perpetrated by the Myanmar military as a key barrier to seeking justice, nationally or internationally. In the Bangladesh camps, courageous group of Rohingya women, most of whom are survivors of brutal violence perpetrated during the 2016 and 2017 “clearance operations”, created ‘Shanti Mohila’ – a network of Survivor Advocates who continue to play a leading role in the fight for justice. Through community-based counselling and knowledge-sharing, Shanti Mohila empowered the Rohingya community members to speak out and take the first steps in seeking justice, supporting national and international justice initiatives. Shanti Mohila offers a clear example of how legal support can empower victims to become advocates for justice and bring hope to their communities. In absence of domestic justice options, survivors of crimes perpetrated by consecutive regimes in Myanmar are increasingly turning to international and foreign courts in search of justice for their communities and an end to decades of military impunity. International investigations, such as that by the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, should be escalated and strengthened, with a view to ensuring justice for survivors of SGBV and accountability for its perpetrators. States must effectively utilise universal and extraterritorial jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute conflict related sexual violence and other atrocity crimes that take place in Myanmar, removing legislative and policy barriers to doing so. As an increasing number of survivors face displacement from Myanmar into third countries, we urge the international community and neighbouring states to ensure adequate survivor support measures including access to healthcare and psychosocial support for survivors, as well as relevant witness protection for those who wish to share their experience with international courts and justice mechanisms. Sexual and gender-based violence has consistently been used by the Myanmar military to terrorise communities – to destroy populations by shattering lives and corroding familial and social ties. Survivors and their communities are vulnerable to illicit criminal enterprises including human trafficking, sexual exploitation, and external displacement that have deeply destabilising effect within Myanmar and broader ASEAN region. Longstanding impunity for these acts must end now..."
Source/publisher: Legal Action Worldwide (Genève)
2023-06-19
Date of entry/update: 2023-06-19
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Description: "“We (Women with disabilities) experience double discrimination due to our gender and disability status. Without having access to information and services, we are more vulnerable to face different forms of violence both inside and outside of our homes,” Nwe Nwe Win, a local woman with physical disability said. According to the 2019 Myanmar Inter-censal Survey, there is an estimated of 3.5 million females with disabilities compared to an estimated 2.5 million of males. Women with disabilities are 2 to 4 times more likely to experience intimate partner violence. They are more vulnerable to experience the situation such as withholding medication and assistive devices (such as wheelchairs, hearing aid and white canes, etc.), denial of assistance, food, water, and basic needs. In conflict related situation, women and girls with disabilities are especially vulnerable. UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, with the support of local partner organizations of persons with disabilities , provides dignity kits which include basic needs for women and girls with disabilities from affected communities to ensure their personal hygiene and dignity. “I had to flee my home when armed clashes happened near my village. I couldn’t bring anything from my personal belongings due to my physical disability?. Thanks to the items included in the kits such as basic clothing and sanitary napkins, I can live with dignity and manage my personal hygiene even in the situation of emergency.” Nyein Nyein, a local woman with disabilities from conflict affected area. Sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence information is important for women with disabilities at the displaced sites to minimize the risks they might have. Without access to the sexual and reproductive health services and information, they are at higher risk of unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. Women with disabilities are up to 10 times more likely to experience sexual violence. It is important to provide information and services for persons with disabilities considering their specific needs based on major types of disabilities. Sian Nuam, a local woman with physical disability said, “I didn’t notice that I was experiencing gender-based violence at home. Thanks to the assistive devices (wheelchair) to go out by myself without needing assistance from my family anymore and the opportunity to attend gender-based violence awareness and mental health and psychosocial support sessions provided by local OPD with the support of UNFPA, I feel empowered and understand my rights.” Every person with disability has equal rights and choices as anyone else, as in global frameworks such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ICPD Programme of Action and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. To end discrimination and exclusion in our society, it is important that we leave no one behind. Yu Myat Mun, Programme Analyst of UNFPA Myanmar said, “The integrated sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence and mental health and psychosocial support services and information are lifesaving assets for the women and girls with disabilities especially who are at the conflict affected displaced sites, by safeguarding their dignity, and opportunity to practice their body rights with the informed choices.” UNFPA’s support also ensure the equal accessibility to the maternal and family planning services for the persons with disabilities promoting their sexual and reproductive rights as others. Joshua, one of the leaders of local organization of persons with disabilities said, “The main barrier which women and girls with disabilities face in the society is not their disabilities, but, sadly, it is the discrimination of people from their communities. It hinders full and effective participation of women with disabilities in the communities. We must end this barrier - discrimination against persons with disabilities including women and girl and provide support to ensure their rights and dignity.”..."
Source/publisher: United Nations Population Fund
2023-03-31
Date of entry/update: 2023-03-31
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Sub-title: Sharing a survey study on the post-coup socio-economic impact of the women and working peoples from peri-urban areas
Description: "It is crucial to document all forms of human costs shouldered by different social groups due to the military coup and to recognize and understand all the struggles and resilience strategies deployed and the specific circumstances in which they are being deployed. In this regard, TNI wants to highlight the work of a local partner as they attempt to capture the double burden of ‘post-covid economic stresses’ and ‘military coup’ faced by the urban women laborers and women-headed households living in Hlaintharyar and South Dagon townships of Yangon city. This past February 1 marked the second year since the Myanmar military staged a coup d'état back in 2021. Within this two-year period, the country saw the highest number of mass displacements, deaths, destruction, and torture in every state and region ever – surpassing any point of time in the country’s history. These atrocities committed by the genocidal military can be seen in the numbers.1 However, other human costs, such as the social, emotional, and economic dimensions may be less visible and harder to capture even though they are important parts of the totality. A particularly tragic outcome of such human costs is the number of people (forty-four cases recorded between 1 Feb 2021 to Sept 2022)2 who are reported to have committed suicide since the coup. Nevertheless, despite these hard cruel facts, the military dictator continues to face strong resistance in a majority of the country. At the same time, there are ongoing and unsettling debates around what is the ‘right’ kind of resistance. Looking back at the country’s history of colonial occupation, armed conflict, and political oppression, there have been many forms of resistance, and not all were undertaken by established groups. Often, resistance undertaken by ordinary people have not been very overt or highly visible, but this does not mean they were not organized or meaningful. Fast-forward to today, surely the same holds true. While there are circumstances that have clearly led many people to devote themselves completely to the revolution, many others find themselves in other kinds of circumstances where they must keep on working so that their families can survive. Yet these two different scenarios surely only tell part of the story of what is really happening in the lives of real people in either case. In either case, people found themselves in difficult circumstances not of their own choosing that they must find a way to survive and get through. We must keep in mind that even before the coup, Myanmar had become a country of very high poverty and very deep inequality. People from the rural areas made up an overwhelming majority (87%) of the country’s poor.3 Urban-biased forms of development pursued by the previous governments had pushed waves of rural villagers to the cities in search of work, and more often than not ending up as part of the cheap informal labor force in the growing manufacturing and service industries. Myanmar pays the lowest daily minimum wage in ASEAN since 2018, which is now equivalent to around 2 US$ factoring in current inflation rate, below international poverty line of 2.15 US$ per day.4 Even before the coup, only 2% of the entire workforce is estimated to be employed in the formal sector where workers are eligible to register for social security schemes.5 The rest are effectively overexploited and uncared for. A significant proportion of working people lack access to the most basic public services such as primary health care, reproductive health services, municipal public services, decent housing, and more. For the majority of people whose lives had already been shattered by various events in previous decades, the coup was a new crisis on top of an already existing crisis. In the early days after the coup, we have seen media reports of hundreds of factory workers from Yangon industrial zones on the streets, one hand grasping a humble lunch box while another gripping into a fist to protest against the coup. Here is where the junta’s iron hammer fell first and with unmitigated harshness. Hlaingtharyar and South Dagon township faced a horrifically ruthless crackdown by the military, killing nearly 100 people which Human Rights Watch described as a massacre.6,7Many workers have since left the area and returned to their villages. But many have no choice but to remain, forced to earn a wage under the close military surveillance, as they try to rebuild their lives on the ruins and look for jobs available from whichever factories. There is a popular saying that people often use whenever a crisis hits – ‘we are all in the same boat’. It is utterly wrong. Different people live in different contexts based on their social class, ethnicity, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and geographical locations. That is why it is so crucial to keep on documenting all forms of human costs shouldered by different social groups due to the military coup and to recognize and understand all the struggles and resilience strategies deployed and the specific circumstances in which they are being deployed. In this regard, TNI wants to highlight the work of a local partner as they attempt to capture the double burden of ‘post-covid economic stresses’ and ‘military coup’ faced by the urban women laborers and women-headed households living in Hlaintharyar and South Dagon townships of Yangon city. The report investigated increasing pressures faced by the women in the areas of health, children education, safety and security, food, living situation, debt, and psychological impact. Their experiences and struggles deserve our attention and invite us to walk with them toward a fuller understanding of their lives and the multiple meanings of resistance and resilience..."
Source/publisher: Transnational Institute ( Amsterdam)
2023-03-29
Date of entry/update: 2023-03-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Kachin State, Myanmar — On International Women’s Day, and Daw Htu Tawng, 33, and Daw Ja Nan, 34, are giggling together in the kitchen of their restaurant in north-eastern Myanmar. Daw Htu Tawng is holding some spices; she adds a dash of black pepper in a pot of noodles while the other stirs the food. The air holds a fusion of mouth-watering aromas. With this year’s International Women’s Day promoting Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality, it is a perfect setting to celebrate women who have used their new cookery and business skills to establish their own restaurant, breaking barriers for women in the catering business. “The business is doing well,” said Daw Ja Nan, a mother of three. “Our best sellers are the ban sai salad, and the spicy noodles garnished with sweet-smelling herbs, which makes the taste of our home so much alive in our popular noodles.” When they first established their restaurant Ma Join Lusha Seng (meaning “origin” in Kachin), some people did not believe the enterprise would last a month. However, the two women have proved that with enough support, women too can create and sustain profit-making businesses. In the last 10 months, the two chefs have been preparing hot delicious meals, and trying new recipes that have kept their many customers happy. After receiving a cookery and business management training course through an initiative funded by the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the business partners received the opportunity to learn diverse ways of cooking many types of food. The new skills gave them the confidence to start their own small restaurant, outside Pa Ka Htawng Camp 3 in Kachin State. They settled in this camp with their families after an armed conflict between the Myanmar armed forces and the Kachin ethnic armed group in 2021 forced them to leave their village in Sein Lone in Man Si Township. And using their innovation, they are now able to run their business, working safely and generating an income helping them to look after their families. "Education is important because it empowers you and makes you confident to take that bold step towards helping yourself, your family and your community..” — Daw Htu Tawng, an entrepreneur in Myanmar Through the CERF multi-country programme in Myanmar, UN Women and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) are collaborating with women’s civil society organizations to use technology and innovative ways to provide life-saving assistance, build capacity to address socio-economic challenges and enhance the protection of vulnerable women and girls from risks such as child marriage, human trafficking and sexual and gender-based violence (GBV). The multi-country programme targets 7,192 women and girls in Kachin and Rakhine states with activities under UNFPA, improving communities’ access to quality and comprehensive prevention and response services for gender-based violence. For their part, UN Women is complementing these efforts through the provision of a series of trainings that support livelihoods such as cookery; sewing; hairdressing; livestock production; other life skills and cash assistance. In May 2022, UN Women partnered with the Finnish Refugee Council to provide livelihood support, life skills and vocational training that targeted survivors of GBV and women and girls at risk of GBV. The aim was to transfer skills that would empower women to start income-generating enterprises. Thirty women participated in a cookery and business management skills training that changed the lives of Daw Ja Nan and Daw Htu Tawng. “The interventions have so far demonstrated the ability to help prevent displaced women from falling prey to unsafe work and working environments and selling family property to earn a living,” mother-of-two Daw Htu Tawng said. After completing their one-month training course, the women borrowed one million Kyat (USD 500) from a relative to start their business. With a daily expenditure of 42 Kyat on ingredients, the business is now making a profit of 31 Kyat each day. Most of their clients are camp residents while others are migrant workers. “We are now able to look after our families and also use some of the money to pay back our loan,” Daw Ja Nan said. The business partners dream of one day opening a bigger restaurant and expanding to provide specialized catering services at events such as weddings and graduation parties. Increasing their profits means a lot to the women who are passionate about their children’s education and dream of sending them to good universities in Yangon. “Education is important because it empowers you and makes you confident to take that bold step towards helping yourself, your family and your community,” Daw Htu Tawng said. We are grateful for the support we have received and wish there could be more training opportunities to support other women to also start other types of businesses.”..."
Source/publisher: United Nations Population Fund via United Nations Women
2023-03-29
Date of entry/update: 2023-03-29
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Description: "Women have been barred from education in Afghanistan and face mass arrests and summary executions in Myanmar. In Iran, failure to wear a hijab to the satisfaction of the morality police was enough to end in death—after being beaten by police, according to witnesses—for Mahsa Amini six months ago today. Women’s rights are indivisible from national security. That’s the powerful message that came through strongly when four Australian women—one each from Afghanistan, Myanmar and Iran, plus a nationally renowned foreign correspondent and rights advocate—gathered for ASPI’s event for International Women’s Day. Titled ‘Women in conflict and protest: a conversation on protecting human rights and strengthening peace and security’, the discussion focused on women, the grassroots movements they lead, and how they stand at the forefront of protests and movements to defend human rights. The panellists were united in raising the international community’s shortcomings in supporting these women’s efforts in consistent, principled ways. Women have distinct experiences of conflict and oppression and play particular roles in responding. That includes bringing unique strengths to popular acts of resistance and to peace processes. But realities for women across the world show that the importance of their role in peace and security continues to slip through the cracks of the international community’s agenda. The women, peace and security agenda remains on the backburner, despite the fact that we’ve seen a backsliding, if not a complete unravelling, of women’s rights in many countries over the past few years after decades of progress. In her keynote address, Shaharzad Akbar, former chair of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, highlighted that Afghan women started mobilising against Taliban rule as early as 16 August 2021—just one day after the group took control of Kabul. Undeterred by the brutal crackdowns they continue to face, these women have adopted different forms of protest and resistance against the regime, such as establishing underground schools and libraries. Nos Hosseini, an Australian-Iranian lawyer and refugee rights advocate, spoke about anger against the regime in Tehran and the courage of Iranian women who were ‘unafraid of the bullets they’re met with’. ‘It’s not about the headscarf at all,’ she said of the protests that have now lasted six months and claimed at least 500 lives. ‘It’s about dignity.’ The power of social media as a tool for women protesting emerged as a key feature of the discussion. Mon Zin, a founding member of Global Myanmar Spring Revolution, described social media as ‘the life of the revolution’. Myanmar’s civil disobedience movement has its own verified Twitter page where protest ideas are posted and discussed. Zin said women use social media to disseminate anti-coup symbols. These include the three-finger salute, a symbol of resistance and democracy movements in Southeast Asia adopted from The Hunger Games film series; bouquets of flowers, a reference to Myanmar’s jailed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s signature floral hairstyle; and bright-red lips, a reference to the #RedLipsSpeakTruthToPower campaign aimed at raising awareness about sexual violence against women committed by the junta. Similarly, in Afghanistan and Iran, social media helps women overcome barriers to their physical movement and access to public spaces. Akbar observed that Afghan women, unable to take to the streets due to Taliban restrictions, have chosen to record videos at home, producing pieces of music and poetry with their faces covered and releasing them on social media. Hosseini raised the invaluable role social media has played in sharing Iran’s realities with the world, mobilising support not just within Iran but also among the international community. Despite internet blackouts, she said, people have used virtual private networks to disseminate footage and imagery of the protests and the government’s crackdown. She particularly emphasised the role of social media in ensuring that Iran’s story reached the homes and phones of non-Iranians whose support is crucial in amplifying the voices of Iranians and ensuring that their struggle is not forgotten by the international community. Women are also subverting and repurposing symbols of male power and patriarchy. For instance, Mon explained how women activists in Myanmar developed a tactic to keep security forces at bay by stringing up women’s clothing across the streets. In traditional Myanmar culture, walking beneath women’s clothing is considered bad luck and even emasculating for men. Hosseini noted that the current wave of protests in Iran involves all genders, ages, ethnicities and religions. People are standing together in solidarity against ‘the gender apartheid regime that’s engulfed and held the Iranian populace hostage for the last 44 years’, she said. Maryam Zahid established Afghan Women on the Move to address the lack of support available in parts of Australia to Afghan women who are recovering from past traumas and trying to rebuild their lives. The organisation uses community-based approaches to provide social engagement, mental health and settlement support to Afghan and other women from multicultural backgrounds in Australia. In the face of extraordinary stories of courage of women fighting repressive rimes, Sophie McNeill, senior Australia researcher at Human Rights Watch, underlined the international community’s short and selective attention span for women’s rights. While media, governments and the public often show keen support for courageous women protesters early on, they tend to lose interest over the longer term. The other panellists agreed. Zahid, for instance, recalled receiving enthusiastic political and media attention in the days following the Taliban takeover in 2021. But that evaporated soon after as a business-as-usual attitude set in. Looking ahead, Zin encouraged members of the public to participate in online petitions and campaigns supporting the civil-disobedience movement and to let governments know that Australian public opinion stands firmly against the junta and with the people of Myanmar. She also underlined the importance of funding civil-society organisations. McNeill reiterated the importance of long-term investments in the people on the ground, focusing on their protection, education and empowerment. She urged Australians to talk to their local members of parliament about increasing foreign aid. And she called on the international community to be more consistent in calling out human rights abuses wherever they occur in the world. The importance of placing international pressure on repressive regimes and to break expectations of impunity was echoed by Hosseini. Overall, as McNeill also said, governments need to learn from mistakes and realise that conversations on human rights, women’s rights and security must not happen in silos. The discussion brought out the contrast between the incredible resilience of grassroot movements and the international community’s patchy concern. For me, this raised questions about the usefulness of international frameworks such as the UN women, peace and security agenda and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Authoritarian regimes such as the Taliban, the Iranian state and the Myanmar junta, as Zin noted, simply don’t care about such frameworks, and the international community seems to lack the political will to take concrete action against the regimes’ violations. What is the use of these frameworks, then, if they are only applied in situations where they are easily accepted and palatable, and are absent where they are needed most? In a recent advocacy video, an Afghan woman called for the world to ‘not forget the women of Afghanistan and help them not to be buried alive’. Her appeal shows what is at stake when the world turns a blind eye to gender-based violence and repression..."
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Source/publisher: Australian Strategic Policy Institute
2023-03-13
Date of entry/update: 2023-03-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "GENEVA (13 March 2023) – Myanmar’s military junta is orchestrating an online campaign of terror, and weaponising social media platforms to crush democratic opposition, UN experts* said today. “Online rhetoric has spilled into real world terror, with military supporters using social media to harass and incite violence against pro-democracy activists and human rights defenders,” the experts said. “Women have been targeted and severely harmed,” they said. According to the experts, pro-junta accounts regularly use hateful, sexualised, and discriminatory rhetoric in an attempt to discredit women activists and human rights defenders. “Gendered abuse has caused many women to cut back their online activism and retreat from public life,” they said. The UN experts warned that messaging and social media platforms – Telegram in particular – have become a hotbed of pro-military activity. “Since the coup, pro-junta actors have taken advantage of Telegram's lax approach to content moderation and gaps in its terms of service. They have attracted tens of thousands of followers by posting violent and misogynistic content,” the experts said. They noted that women are often targets of so-called “doxxing”, the act of publishing private information, including names and addresses, about individuals without their consent. These attacks are frequently accompanied by calls for violence or arrest by junta forces. “Doxxed” women have also been accused of having sexual relations with Muslim men or supporting the Muslim population – a common ultranationalist, discriminatory and Islamophobic narrative in Myanmar. “Failing to cement its grip on power by locking up political prisoners and gunning down peaceful protesters, the junta has escalated its ruthless suppression of dissent to virtual spaces,” the experts said. They explained that the junta was terrified of women’s power to mobilise resistance to military rule in online spaces. “Every day, women are being threatened online with sexualised violence because they are standing up for human rights, opposing the military’s attempted rule, and fighting for a return to a democratic path. ‘Doxxing’ and other forms of online harassment add to the multiple threats that women activists human rights defenders and independent associations are already facing in Myanmar,” they said. After being made aware of these offenses, and shortly before the publication of critical reports detailing abuse on its platform, Telegram blocked at least 13 pro-military accounts, although at least one of the worst offending channels is back online. While welcoming Telegram’s recent actions, the experts said more needed to be done. “Unless Telegram fundamentally changes its approach to content moderation in Myanmar, it is likely that pro-military actors will simply open new accounts and continue their campaign of harassment,” they said. The experts urged Telegram and other social media platforms to meet their responsibilities to identify, prevent, and mitigate human rights abuses. “Tech companies must ensure that their services do not contribute to human rights abuses, including gender-based violence and discrimination, arbitrary arrest, the right to privacy, and the suppression of freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, both online and offline, and association,” they said. "Telegram and other social media companies must allocate the necessary resources to protect the human rights of their users," the experts said, referring to the targeting of women and the need to monitor content in Burmese and ethnic languages in close coordination with local organisations and actors..."
Source/publisher: United Nations Human Rights Council
2023-03-13
Date of entry/update: 2023-03-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Today, International Women's Day is being celebrated worldwide, while in Myanmar, a total of 483 women have been killed by the Terrorist Military Council in the past two years, and a total of 3,125 women including State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi are languishing in prison. A total of 11 women have been sentenced to death, and 15 to life imprisonment, with a further 122 women sexually assaulted by the junta's troops. Sexual violence and violence against Myanmar women of various forms now plague the country. On march 8th, 1857 protests in a New York textile factory to increase wages, gain voting rights, and reduce working hours led to a violent crackdown by authorities. Over a hundred years later, in 1975, the United Nations declared International Women's Day, a day designated to promote and protect women's rights. Myanmar also signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) July 22, 1997, and although Myanmar agreed, subsequent terrorist dictators not only ignored the treaty but also failed to implement its provisions for many years. The contract was violated. Over the past 26 years, terrorist dictators have committed a variety of inhumane acts of violence purposefully and systematically violating Myanmar women's rights and preventing any social progress. In the past 26 years even though Myanmar signed the CEDAW, terrorist dictators were absolutely unwilling to comply with it and this is evident by the statement they release on the day before International Women's Day. Terrorist dictators have committed inhumane crimes against Myanmar women and rather than apologising to Myanmar women for the crimes and abuses the terrorist leaders have committed, and taking legal action and delivering justice, the terrorist dictators instead destroying criminal evidence, torching crime scenes and incinerating dead bodies to hide the signs of torture. Along with this, a cruel 4 cuts policy is also being imposed on the people and violence against Myanmar women continues. As of the 8th of March, rather than protecting the rights of Myanmar women in accordance with the CEDAW, to which Myanmar is a signatory, and promoting the intellectual, physical, and emotional fortitude of Myanmar women, the junta have instead murdered a total of 483 Myanmar women who have been acting for women's rights and federal democracy in the past two years. Soon after the coup, on February 9th, 2021, peaceful protester Mya Thwet Thwet Khine (မ မြသွဲ့သွဲ့ခိုင်) was shot in the head. Less than a month later on March 3rd, 19 year-old Angel (ကြယ်စင်) was shot in the head. The military have continued their killing spree, most recently on March 1st, 2023 just before International Women's Day where they sexually violated and murdered three women Ma Pan Nwe (မပန်းနွယ်), Ma Pan Twe ( မပန်းသွယ်), Ma Swe Swe Oo (မဆွေဆွေဦး) in the village of Tatai, Sagaing Region. In addition to the 483 women murdered in the past 24 months, a total of 3,125 Myanmar women, including state counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi have been unjustly detained and junta forces have sexually abused and violated a total of 122 Myanmar women. In the last 24 months, in addition to the unjust executions of Phyo Zayar Taw and Ko Jimmy, a total of 11 Myanmar women have been sentenced to death and a further 15 have been sentenced to life imprisonment. The terrorist dictators use hunger, rape, and arson as weapons, leading to the displacement of 1.6 million people, mostly women and children. More than 50,000 buildings have been set ablaze, and more than 17 million people in Myanmar are affected by famine, again with women and children bearing the brunt of the burden. We will continue working with international governments and relevant organisations to prosecute terrorist dictators through international legal channels until the people of Myanmar get justice, with no crime left unpunished. Together, we will root out the military dictatorship and restore rights and power to the hands of women and people of Myanmar regardless of race, religion, gender, and ethnicity and build a new federal democracy embracing equality for all the people of Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of International Cooperation Myanmar
2023-03-08
Date of entry/update: 2023-03-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Today, on this International Women’s Day, the NUG welcomes the European Union's strong stance against human rights violations and abuses, particularly gender-based violence against women and girls in Myanmar. Today, the world marks International Women's Day, while the brave women of Myanmar are mourning the deaths of 483 of their fellow women who have been killed by the genocidal military in the last two years alone. Today, the Peace-loving women of Myanmar are commemorating two years of the pain and suffering that 3,125 of their fellow women including elected leader of Myanmar Daw Aung San Suu Kyi have been enduring in the brutal junta-run prisons across Myanmar. Today, the Freedom-loving women of Myanmar are in mourning for the 11 of their fellow women who have been handed death sentences, and the 15 of their fellow women who have been given life sentences by the genocidal military junta in Myanmar. Today, the Federal-Democracy-loving women of Myanmar are also grieving the inhuman and brutal rape of 122 of their fellow women by the genocidal military junta forces. These victims are sisters, daughters, and mothers of the Nation. These measures follow the EU's inclusion on International Women’s Day of further individuals and entities from Myanmar on its list of sanctions which include nine individuals and three entities from Myanmar, Russia, South Sudan and Afghanistan on the list of natural and legal persons, entities and bodies subject to EU restrictive measures. Among those targeted by the European Union are Major General Toe Yi, a member of brutal junta forces, the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs for the State Administration Council, and the Office of the Chief of Military Security Affairs, which oversees the management of detention and interrogation centres. These individuals and entities have been added to the 93 Myanmar individuals and 18 entities already subjected to EU sanctions, demonstrating the EU's steadfast commitment to promoting and safeguarding human rights. This demonstrates the EU's commitment to upholding the fundamental values of human dignity and respect for all individuals, regardless of their gender, race, or nationality. We hope that these sanctions will serve as a strong deterrent and send a clear message that the international community will not tolerate such atrocities..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of International Cooperation Myanmar
2023-03-08
Date of entry/update: 2023-03-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "HURFOM: Women in Burma today face many threats to their safety and well-being. On this International Women’s Day, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) calls for an end to military impunity, which has emboldened the junta to commit crimes of conflict-related sexual violence. Rape continues to be used as a weapon of war to traumatize and intimidate young women and girls. In Southeastern Burma, HURFOM has documented 5 women killed, 9 injured, 32 arrested, and 6 detained since the beginning of 2023. In addition, seventeen female teachers from the Civil Disobedience Movement arrested in February 2023 are still missing. Since the failed coup on 1 February 2021, HURFOM has documented that over 65 women have been killed, 190 were injured, and 700 were arrested. In addition, out of 125 total enforced disappearances since the coup in Southeastern Burma, 30 have been women in HURFOM target areas of Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi region. Gendered violence persists across the country. Women face ongoing risks as the military junta increases its presence, particularly in areas like Karen State, where opposition to the Burma Army has been fierce and unrelenting. Gendered violence is both targeted and indiscriminate. At the beginning of the year, on 1 January 2023, the junta forces patrolling a local area in Mon State fatally shot two young women riding a motorcycle in the back. The two victims were both severely injured. In a separate case involving attacks against women, the Burma Army arrested several young women at the end of January 2023, including four from Ye township and six from Abaw village and Kyar-tan village, Mon State. They were tortured and examined at a military training camp. HURFOM reporters from the area confirmed that the junta forces jailed four women detainees out of the ten who were abducted. The victim’s family members have appealed for the truth and justice to emerge. The junta’s treatment of women is entrenched in decades of patriarchal rule and institutions which discriminate heavily based on gender. HURFOM has reported that various forms of gender-based violence still occur in areas where internally displaced people have fled. Harassment and domestic violence are rising as there are worsening tensions within households due to the lack of food security and livelihoods. Women human rights defenders are working to provide social services that reduce stress in the home, such as clothing and monetary support. Mental health and psychosocial support are critical for war-affected families. And yet – despite the many challenges facing them, women have persevered. They continue to advocate for their rights and freedoms and for equality to be a pillar for a free and fair Burma. While women continue to take significant risks to protect themselves, their families and their loved ones, the international community must take their plight seriously. More protection for women and girls is needed from the international community. Funding for women-led organizations and supporting cross-border aid is one-way global actors can lend solidarity to those on the ground and offer support during this time of immense uncertainty. They can pursue international accountability mechanisms that hold the regime to account, including for their crimes against women and girls. Further, HURFOM condemns the ongoing gendered violence. On Women’s Day, and every day, HURFOM calls for gender equality and for all stakeholders to do their part in ending gender-based violence once and for all. As enshrined in the Geneva Convention for the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War states: “Women shall be especially protected against any attack on their honour, in particular against rape, enforced prostitution, or any form of indecent assault.”..."
Source/publisher: Human Rights Foundation of Monland
2023-03-08
Date of entry/update: 2023-03-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: In a dire situation, the prominence of women in social, political, and economic life give reason for hope.
Description: "International Women's Day on 8 March celebrates the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call for action for accelerating women’s empowerment and gender equality. Why does commemorating the International Women’s Day in Myanmar matter? I started writing this op-ed wanting to explain to the unborn generation of children why gender equality and the empowerment of women matters in Myanmar today. It is the ingrained hope of a mother wanting to pass on a better future to her child. It is also my call for action to all involved to further advance on gender equality and the empowerment of women as we are facing an erosion of many hard-earned gains in terms of gender equality. Myanmar’s women and girls have been hit disproportionately hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Feb. 1, 2021 coup and the pursuant security, humanitarian, and socio-economic crisis. The economic downturn has led to an increasing pay gap between women and men, and women-led businesses, which are often small and micro-enterprises or in the informal sector, have struggled more to make a recovery. Access to sexual and reproductive healthcare services has been severely diminished. While reliable figures are not available, all indicators point to an increase in various forms of sexual and gender-based violence across Myanmar, while access to response services and to justice for survivors is often minimal to non-existent. Why does gender equality matter, will you ask? “If society is like a bird with two wings, if one is broken the bird will not be able to fly” will I answer. If women, who make 52 per cent of the population are not equally represented in decision making bodies, lack equal access to basic rights, equal employment and income opportunities, and continue to face the threat of violence in their day-to-day lives, they will not be able to fully claim and exert their rights, then society will never be able to fully thrive and to use its full socio-economic potential towards a sustainable and prosperous future. Women in Myanmar have shown tremendous resilience but continue to face unequal access to productive resources, reproductive rights and suffer violence and abuse. The multiple crises have seen an extraordinary amount of women’s engagement socially and economically, with women playing central and life-saving roles in local and community-level pandemic and humanitarian responses, often in extreme circumstances. Previously marginalized women have begun playing increasingly visible leadership roles, and the unity within the women’s movement is at an all-time high. Threats of violence However, all of this has come at a high cost, with individual women leaders and women’s organisations finding themselves under-resourced, often at a risk of depletion and over-burdening, and facing increasing threats and violence both online and in real life for their outspoken and brave leadership. The 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan reports that women have been hit disproportionately by conflict, the political and economic crisis, and their subsequent economic impacts due to social norms around work, disempowerment in the workplace and their traditional role in their households and communities. Of the 4.5 million people prioritized for life-saving humanitarian support this year, 52 percent are women. Despite the extremely challenging circumstances, the United Nations in Myanmar together with its local partners will reach 2.3 million women and girls in humanitarian assistance covering prevention and response to gender-based violence, HIV/AIDS prevention, cash transfer and food distribution in 2023. Undoubtedly, the multiple crises have led to an across-the-board erosion of many hard-earned gains of the past decades in terms of gender equality and women’s empowerment as the ratification of the United Nation Convention on Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) or the National Strategic Plan for the Advancement of Women. But as dire as the situation is in Myanmar, the continued prominence of women in all aspects of social, political, and economic life give reason for hope as well. To halt the regression of gender equality and women’s empowerment, Myanmar women and women’s rights organizations need the urgent support of the international community, including from UN agencies, to listen to their appeals and to continue advocating on their behalf. This includes adaptive and flexible support to women’s organisations providing aid to populations in need in remote areas relying on their knowledge and networks to be able to localise and deliver aid efficiently and effectively. A bird with two equally strong and intact wings will fly high and far towards a prosperous and sustainable future. On March 8 and beyond I, on behalf of UN Women, commit to stand for gender equality in Myanmar, today and always..."
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Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
2023-03-08
Date of entry/update: 2023-03-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Embrace Equity- “ညီမျှခွင့်တူ-ဖမ်းဆုပ်ယူ” အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေး အတိုင်ပင်ခံကောင်စီ၊ဂျဲန်ဒါမူဝါဒဆိုင်ရာပေါင်းစပ်ညှိနှိုင်းရေးကော်မတီ နှင့် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ အမျိုးသမီး၊ လူငယ်နှင့် ကလေးသူငယ်ရေးရာ၀န်ကြီးဌာန ပူးတွဲ ထုတ်ပြန် ကြေညာချက် ၁။ ၂၀၂၃ ခုနှစ်၊ မတ်လ ၈ ရက်နေ့သည် အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာအမျိုးသမီးများနေ့ ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ယနေ့ ကျရောက်သော အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ အမျိုးသမီးများနေ့ကို ဂုဏ်ပြုသောအားဖြင့် ကမ္ဘာတစ်ဝှမ်းတွင် အမျိုးသမီး အခွင့်အရေးနှင့် ဂျဲန်ဒါတန်းတူညီမျှရေးအတွက် ရည်ရွယ်ပြီး လှုပ်ရှားမှုများ၊ အသိအမြင်ဖွင့်လုပ်ငန်းများကို နှစ်စဉ်ကျင်းပပြုလုပ်လေ့ ရှိပါသည်။ ၂။ ၂၀၂၃ ခုနှစ်အတွက် အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ အမျိုးသမီးများနေ့၏ ဆောင်ပုဒ်မှာ Embrace Equity- “ညီမျှခွင့်တူ-ဖမ်းဆုပ်ယူ” ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ အဆိုပါ ဆောင်ပုဒ်အတိုင်း အမျိုးသမီးများ၏ ရပိုင်ခွင့် အခွင့်အရေးများ နှင့် ခွင့်တူညီမျှ မှုများကိုဖမ်းဆုပ်မြဲမြံရရှိအောင် အစဉ်အမြဲ လုပ်ဆောင်သွားရမည် ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ၃။ အမျိုးသမီးအခွင့်အရေးများဟုဆိုရာတွင် စီဒေါ(CEDAW)ဟု လူသိများသော အမျိုးသမီးများအပေါ် နည်းမျိုးစုံဖြင့် ခွဲခြားဆက်ဆံမှု ပပျောက်ရေးဆိုင်ရာ နိုင်ငံတကာသဘောတူစာချုပ်ကို မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအနေဖြင့် ၁၉၉၇ ခုနှစ် ဇူလိုင်လ ၂၂ ရက်တွင် လက်မှတ်ရေးထိုးခဲ့ပါသည်။ ယခုကဲ့သို့ စီဒေါ(CEDAW)စာချုပ်ကို လက်မှတ်ရေးထိုးခဲ့ခြင်းသည် စီဒေါ(CEDAW)စာချုပ်ပါ ပြဌာန်းချက်များကို နိုင်ငံတော်အနေဖြင့် လိုက်နာရန်၊ လေးစားရန်၊ ဖြည့်ဆည်းပေးရန်နှင့် အစီရင်ခံစာတင်ရန် စသည်ဖြင့် တာ၀န်ခံလုပ်ဆောင်သွားမည် ဖြစ်ကြောင်း အာမခံကတိကဝတ်ပေးခဲ့ ခြင်းဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ၄။ ယနေ့ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် ဖြစ်ပေါ်နေသော နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေးတွင်လည်း အမျိုးသမီးများသည် ကျရာ အခန်းကဏ္ဍအစုံတွင် ရှေ့တန်းမှ စွမ်းစွမ်းတမံပါဝင်လျက်ရှိသည်ကို မျက်ဝါးထင်ထင်တွေ့မြင်နိုင်မည် ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ အာဏာရှင်ကိုတွန်းလှန်နေသည့် နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေးကာလအတွင်း စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်၏ အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများကြောင့် ယနေ့အချိန်အထိ အမျိုးသမီး သေဆုံးသူဦးရေ (၄၈၃) ဦးရှိပါသည်။ အကျဉ်းထောင်များအတွင်း မတရားဖမ်းဆီးခံထားရဆဲ အမျိုးသမီးဦးရေ (၃,၁၂၅) ဦးရှိပြီး သေဒဏ်ချမှတ်ခံထားရသူ (၁၁) ဦးရှိပါသည်။ ထောင်ဒဏ်တစ်သက်တစ်ကျွန်း ချမှတ်ခံထားရသူ (၁၅) ဦးရှိပါသည်။ စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်ဖွဲ့ဝင်များ၏ လိင်ပိုင်ဆိုင်းရာစော်ကားခံရသူ အမျိုးသမီးဦးရေ (၁၂၂) ဦးရှိပါသည်။ နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေးတွင်ကဏ္ဍပေါင်းစုံမှ ပါဝင်နေသောအမျိုးသမီးများကို အသိအမှတ်ပြု လေးစားဂုဏ်ပြုပါ ကြောင်းနှင့် လူ့အခွင့်အရေး ချိုးဖောက်ကျူးလွန်ခံရသည့် အမျိုးသမီးများအတွက် တရားမျှတမှုရရှိနိုင်ရန် အစွမ်းကုန်ကြိုးစားသွားပါမည်။ ၅။ အမျိုးသမီးများ၏ အခွင့်အရေးသည် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးဖြစ်သည်။ ဖယ်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီစနစ်၏ အခြေခံကျသည့် အုတ်မြစ်မှာ လူသားတိုင်း ခွင့်တူညီမျှသည့် အခွင့်အလမ်းနှင့် အခွင့်အရေးများကို ခွဲခြားမှုမရှိပဲ တန်းတူရရှိခံစားစေရန်ဖြစ်သည်။ အမျိုးသမီးများအပေါ် ခွဲခြားဆက်ဆံမှုများကို တားဆီးရန်၊ အပြစ်ပေးရန်၊ အသိပညာပေးရန် လုပ်ငန်းများကို ယခုနှစ် အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ အမျိုးသမီးများနေ့ ဆောင်ပုဒ်ဖြစ်သော Embrace Equity ဆိုသည့်အတိုင်း တိုင်းရင်းသားပြည်သူများ၊ အရပ်ဖက်အဖွဲ့အစည်းများနှင့် နိုင်ငံတ- ကာအဖွဲ့အစည်းများ၏ ပူးပေါင်းဆောင်ရွက်မှု များ နှင့်အတူ ခွင့်တူညီမျှစွာ အခွင့်အလမ်းများကို ဖမ်းဆုပ်ပိုင်ဆိုင်ခွင့်ရစေဖို့ လုပ်ဆောင် သွားမည်ဖြစ်ကြောင်း ယခုကြေငြာချက်အား အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေး အတိုင်ပင်ခံကောင်စီ၊ဂျဲန်ဒါမူဝါဒဆိုင်ရာပေါင်းစပ်ညှိနှိုင်းရေးကော်မတီ နှင့်အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ၊ အမျိုးသမီး၊ လူငယ်နှင့် ကလေးသူငယ်ရေးရာ ဝန်ကြီးဌာန တို့မှ ပူးတွဲထုတ်ပြန် ကြေညာအပ်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher: National Unity Consultative Council, Ministry of Women, Youth and Children Affairs
2023-03-08
Date of entry/update: 2023-03-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "As of December 2022, there are 1.4 million internally displaced people (IDP) in Myanmar.4 Over 40,000 people remain in neighboring countries like Bangladesh, Thailand, and India since the takeover. More than 18,058 civilian properties, including houses, churches, monasteries, and schools are estimated to have been destroyed during hostilities, although figures are difficult to verify. The level of destruction of civilian properties, particularly homes, combined with the seemingly never-ending fighting will very likely prolong the displacement of the IDPs and would further deteriorate their already fragile living conditions. The current volatile security situation and its associated restrictions, such as bureaucratic processes, systematic blocks on access approvals, continue to hamper humanitarian access and delay the delivery of assistance. The purpose of this Rapid Gender Analysis on Power & Participation (RGA-P) is to build a better understanding as to whether and how women are able to participate in the community and in decision making spaces in the Northern Shan State of Myanmar and what changes may have occurred as a result of the conflict and women’s participation and leadership. The research was conducted through primary and secondary data collection in July 2022 in three villages in the Lashio Township of the Northern Shan State, Myanmar. Summary of the findings The main factors that were found to restrict women’s access and opportunity to participate in public decision making and leadership roles were related to Social norms and expectations of the role women are expected to play/hold in society and the views that female characteristics are not fit for leadership roles. The expectation that women are responsible for all of the household chores, childcare and care for elderly. Restrictions on women’s movement (controlled by husbands and elder family members) also impedes women’s rights to engage in spaces outside of the home. In addition, barriers such a slow literacy rates in Myanmar language (the language used is most formal meetings/decision making spaces)..."
Source/publisher: CARE
2022-11-01
Date of entry/update: 2023-02-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "This Incident Report describes events that occurred in Waw Ray (Win Yay) Township, Dooplaya District in April 2022, including the rape and killing of two adolescent sisters. Four local male villagers, including an uncle of the victims, were involved in this incident. Excerpt Part 3 – Complete Description of the Incident On April 24th 2022, Naw S---, 12 years old, and Naw R---, 9 years old, disappeared after going out to find [wild] vegetables in the [nearby] plantations. They are the daughters of U A--- and Naw W---, living in Lay Hpoh village, Kwee K’Saw Kyee village tract, Waw Ray (Win Yay) Township, Dooplaya District. After realising that the two girls had disappeared, their family, relatives and other villagers looked for them around the village and nearby plantations. Finally, the bodies of the two girls were found on April 25th 2022 between 9 am and 10 am, one mile away from the village. Following that, family and villagers informed the local village leaders, the Karen National Police Force (KNPF) and local Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) Company #2 about the incident so that they would examine and investigate the case. The two girls were found dead, with extensive wounds and bruises all over their bodies. Their hands and feet were bound. A community member who saw the corpses explained: “When they were found, they were lying on the ground. Their hands were bound and a piece of cloth was tied around their eyes. But their clothes were on them. […] They had injury marks on their bodies. Naw S---’s head was smashed flat from her ear to her eye on the left side. […] She had injuries on her back like she was dragged on the ground. Naw R--- also had injuries on the left side of her head. Both of her legs seemed to be broken as they were all twisted. There were bruises all over their [both girls’] body and groin. Both of them had their anus torn.” Local authorities also found some semen in the female organs [vagina] of both victims. The local authorities who examined the bodies were the village security officers, the village head, the KNPF, the KNLA and health workers from Karen Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW) and Burma Medical Association (BMA). The local authorities and villagers believe that the victims were raped, tortured and killed. According to a local health worker, we [those investigating] did not have any examination materials at the local level. She explained, “I did not have any technologies to use for checking the body. I just went to check whether the bodies of the children had any signs related to sexual violence or not. I just used materials to protect myself such as gloves and a mask. There were no other materials that we used for checking.” However, the clothes of the victims were taken by the KNPF for the investigation [no further information was provided regarding that investigation]. According to the local villagers who provided information [including the victims’ family], initially, the KNPF and KNLA could not identify any perpetrator. However, they questioned some villagers who seemed to have a suspicious connection to this incident. Among them, Saw Hpa Eh Tee, an uncle [brother of the mother] of the victims, was questioned by the KNPF because he also disappeared on the day that the incident happened. However, the KNPF released him after a few days of questioning. He was released because there was no evidence. The KNPF and KNLA continued to investigate more clues and evidence with the help of local security. Meanwhile, the parents also visited a shaman [AL1][TB2]in the area to help find out more clues. During one visit to a shaman on April 30th 2022 in Payathonesu Town [Waw Ray Township], the spirit of their daughters entered the body of the shaman and said that “the person who killed us is Uncle Saw Maung Chit Soe” [not an actual uncle of the victims; uncle is used here merely as a familiar term]. Another shaman also said that the perpetrators’ houses are not far from the victims’ house, and that [one of] the perpetrators has dark skin and is aged around 30 to 40 years old. With these clues, the KNPF assigned some village security officers to continue trying to identify suspects, and also to monitor the situation of any suspected villagers. During the investigation, the security guards became suspicious of Saw Maung Chit Soe due to some of his words and activities. According to the victims’ parents, Saw Maung Chit Soe’s actions were suspicious because he was friendly to the victims’ family before the incident happened (he used to visit their home often), but after the incident happened, he did not visit the victims’ family anymore. When the victim’s parents visited him, he would not face them. He had some marks on his face like it was scratched by someone. And he would put on Th’Na Hka [traditional make up applied in the form of a paste made from ground bark] on his face, as though to cover up the scratch marks. According to the neighbour, he never applied Th’Na Hka to his face before. The village security officers reported the situation to the KNPF who later ordered the village security officers to bring any suspected villagers to the KNPF office in Thay K’Teh village in order to conduct an in-person investigation. On May 24th 2022, the village security officers sent Saw Maung Chit Soe, together with two other suspected villagers, Saw Soe Win Than and Saw Eh Doh Htoo, to be investigated by the KNPF. The uncle [AL3][TB4][Saw Hpa Eh Tee] was sent on May 26th 2022. Eventually, the perpetrators confessed to the KNPF and KNLA that they committed this abuse. [According to the confessions,] at first, the uncle Saw Hpa Eh Tee and a Lay Naw villager, Saw Eh Doh Htoo, convinced the children [two girls] to follow them to the incident place [a plantation near the river]. They had already been watching for when the two children would leave home to find vegetables in the plantations. They [the two perpetrators] went ahead of them [the girls] and waited at the stream. When the two girls arrived at the plantation, the perpetrators approached and convinced them to follow them further for fishing and finding vegetables. When they arrived at the stream, four perpetrators met up and brought the children to the incident place. When they arrived at the incident place, the perpetrators tore the sarongs off of the girls, which they then tore up in order to tie up the girls. Only three of the men (not the girls’ uncle [Saw Hpa Eh Tee]) raped the girls. However, he [Saw Hpa Eh Tee] remained just beside the girls while they were raped. The three perpetrators (not Saw Hpa Eh Tee) were drunk. According to the confession, the perpetrators had been planning this for weeks and they made it happen when they got the chance. The case is currently [at the time of the initial interviews] being handled by the township KNPF and local Karen National Union (KNU) authorities. According to the victims’ family, the case will be processed further according to KNU law. The victims’ family is concerned about retaliation from the perpetrators and the perpetrators’ families if the perpetrators are not arrested and punished or if they are only sentenced for a few years. [In many rape cases, even if found guilty, the perpetrators are only required to provide financial compensation to the survivor and/or family.] The family, especially the mother and father of the two girls, are still experiencing trauma and mental health issues due to this violent abuse inflicted upon their daughters. The mother could not sleep or eat properly since the incident happened. She is always in bed. She has not been going around in the village or outside as she used to do. They are in need of counselling. They have spent almost 1,000,000 kyats [USD 476.19] to follow the case, including travel costs, so they are also experiencing financial hardship now. Follow up: On September 28th 2022, the KNU Dooplaya District Court determined the punishment for each of the perpetrators. Saw Eh Doh Htoo was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and hard labour, Saw Soe Win Than was sentenced to 17 years imprisonment and hard labour, whereas the two other were given the death sentence. [KHRG did not receive further information about whether the latter two were put to death, but according to KNU policy, punishment is implemented 40 days after the sentencing.]..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group
2023-01-08
Date of entry/update: 2023-01-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Today, the 10th of December, the world celebrates Human Rights Day in commemoration of the approval of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. However, today we cannot celebrate the dire situation of human rights in Southeast Burma. Decades of military impunity granted to the Burma Army continue to impact the lives, livelihoods and safety of the villagers in Karen State, while the international community remains ineffective and passive. The international community has failed to take genuine action to prosecute these long-standing military leaders and their blatant disregard for human rights. The 2022 Human Rights Day theme of “Dignity, Freedom, and Justice for All” falls flat as freedom and justice are being denied in Karen State. Still, villagers remain strong and dignified continuing to stand up for human rights. Today, we celebrate the strength of citizens in Burma demanding their rights be respected. Since the 2021 coup, the Burma Army has undertaken widespread violence and attacks against civilians throughout Burma imposing its dictatorial rule once again. Their crimes include grave human rights violations, such as extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary arrests, forced displacements, shelling of civilian areas, looting, destruction of property, threats, extortion, forced labour and sexual violence, as well as the employment of the ‘four cuts’ strategy that makes civilians the central target of military offensives. More than 350,000 people have been displaced this year, the majority of them women and children. This violence is a mirror of the abuses perpetrated against the Karen peoples during earlier periods of military rule, from 1962 to 2011. On October 3rd 1991, the Myanmar Air Force killed 41 students from Tee Tah village instantly during the bombing and strafing of their school and village, in the Delta region. Thirty-one years later, on March 5th 2022, junta troops from the army camp in Hpapun Town fired artillery into Klaw Day village, Mu Traw District, killing seven civilians, including three children and a pregnant woman, and wounding four more, including a 3-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl. In 1992, a survivor of conflict-related sexual violence from Doo Tha Htoo District described her experiences to KHRG: “All night long the [Burma Army] soldiers would come and drag women away to be raped. They took turns and women were often raped by several soldiers in one night. I was raped frequently like the others. While I was being raped or trying to sleep, I could hear the screams of other women all around. This went on all night, and then in the morning they'd make us carry our loads over mountains again.” After the 2021 coup, villagers in the Lay Kay area, Doo Tha Htoo District, informed KHRG researchers that they were sending away young women to hiding sites when Burma Army soldiers were nearby the village. Between 2021 and 2022, KWO has documented 2,999 cases of human rights violations perpetrated by the Burma Army against civilians in Karen State. KWO has documented reports of 153 people killed, including 30 women, and 276 civilians wounded, including 117 women. There are 447 cases of looting and at least 171 burned homes, by the military since February 2021. The actual numbers are certainly much higher as many human rights violations have not been able to be reported or documented. For the past 30 years, the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) and the Karen Women Organization (KWO) have documented the experiences of rural villagers in Southeast Burma, the crimes committed against them, and their resilience despite longstanding campaigns by the Burma Army to eradicate all forms of opposition. Yet, these detailed testimonies of decades of state violence and military impunity have been met with little to no action by the international community, and no justice for survivors. Today, as local actors who have been working together to ensure that international stakeholders have the necessary evidence to hold the Burma Army soldiers and commanders accountable, we find ourselves outraged by the failure of regional and international bodies to support the dignity, freedom, and justice of all civilians in Southeast Burma. “The perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Karen State are military leaders. Ethnic minorities are oppressed by the military junta’s system of rule. Our human rights are severely violated. We are human beings but the junta seeks to crush our human dignity”, explains Saw Nanda Hsue, Advocacy Coordinator at KHRG. “There has never been justice for any violation committed against us. If this military dictatorship continues, ethnic people will never be allowed to live with full human dignity and rights.” To this, Naw Knyaw Paw, General Secretary of the KWO, adds, “Women and children are killed, and displaced. The shelling of civilian areas has dramatically increased. The international community must take more effective actions, and impose more sanctions including prohibiting the sale of jet fuel to the junta and boycotts of the SAC junta so that they will be disabled, disarmed and disbanded. Many years of impunity have emboldened the junta and they continue to commit atrocities without fear of consequences. No one should be above the law. We need action.” On this 10th of December, the Karen Women Organization (KWO) and the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) honour all civilians in Southeast Burma struggling against military atrocities and bearing the impact of systematic abuse. We celebrate today the resilience and fierceness of our Karen sisters and brothers who continue to fight for their human rights, and to defend dignity, freedom and justice for all. Likewise, we notice villagers’ increased knowledge of international human rights frameworks and their desire to engage the international community directly to demand justice. Therefore, we again call on the international community to condemn the crimes committed by the Burma Army, both past and present; to end all engagement that grants legitimacy to the junta -including with businesses that boost the junta’s economic power, as well as eliminating the sale of aviation fuel and arms trade to the junta; and to take concrete and coordinated action to assist local efforts and solutions to the humanitarian and human rights crisis in Burma..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group and
2022-12-10
Date of entry/update: 2022-12-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "At least 308 women and girls have been killed by junta forces since the coup in February last year, according to the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), a political coalition of anti-regime bodies. Twelve of those victims, including girls, were raped before being killed, said an NUCC statement issued Sunday (November 27). The statement, which came two days after the UN launched “16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence” on November 25, also demanded international action against Myanmar’s military regime. “Every time conflict breaks out in Myanmar, the military uses gender-based violence including the rape of women and children as a tool,” said the NUCC, an alliance of pro-democracy forces and ethnic armed organizations that serves as a decision-making body in Myanmar’s parallel government. According to data gathered by the NUCC, the junta’s police and military troops have killed 2,327 people, 308 of whom were women or girls. The data also shows the regime has arrested 16,432 people, 3,434 of whom are female. The NUCC has also identified 12 cases where junta personnel raped women or girls before killing them. It has logged another 40 cases in which women and children have been reported raped, killed and their bodies burned to destroy evidence. The NUCC said the military has adopted rape, torture and sexual abuse of civilians as a weapon of war, and continues to commit these and other war crimes with impunity almost daily..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2022-11-28
Date of entry/update: 2022-11-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "“UNITE! Activism to End Violence against Women and Girls” As we mark the launch of the Commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, women and girls in Myanmar are sounding a loud alarm over their heightened vulnerability, stressing that the weight of gender-based violence, combined with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ongoing conflict, are eroding their sense of hope and resilience. Gender-based violence (GBV) is a gross violation of human rights and its roots are entrenched in social norms in all countries. Globally, an estimated one in every three women experience physical or sexual abuse in her lifetime, and one in every four adolescent girls aged 15–19 years, has been abused by an intimate partner or husband. At its worst, gender-based violence can result in death, like in situations where a woman or girl is murdered by family members for bringing dishonour upon the family name or prestige (honour killing). Survivors of gender-based violence suffer short and long-term consequences to their physical and mental health. The root causes of gender-based violence are embedded in gender-inequality and an unequal power balance between women and men. The Myanmar Demographic and Health Survey (2015-2016) reported that 17 percent of ever married women aged between 15 and 49 have experienced some forms of intimate partner violence in their lifetime, of which 37 percent are survivors of physical injuries. Among women who have ever experienced sexual violence, 7 out of 10 have never sought help nor told anyone. However, evidence show that gender-based violence is often under-reported and intensifies during times of crisis when resources are limited, especially against women and girls. The ongoing political, socioeconomic and protection crisis in Myanmar is fuelling the risk of gender-based violence and increasing humanitarian needs. In this very difficult situation, all women and girls are entitled to unconditional protection and enjoyment of their rights without any form of discrimination. Through the United Nations’ work in other crisis situations, we know that women, children, and persons with disabilities, are particularly vulnerable as they are exposed to significant risks of violence. Working with civil society organisations, the United Nations in Myanmar is promoting the collection of sex, age and disability disaggregated data to ensure holistic and responsive interventions are delivered on time. Currently, over 1.3 million people, including those with disabilities, have been displaced, the majority of which are women and children. Factors such as high exposure to gender-based violence, poverty, displacement, restrictions on movement, and limited access to healthcare, including sexual and reproductive services, are rendering women and girls increasingly vulnerable to many other risks. The United Nations continues to prioritise delivering principled humanitarian assistance to all affected communities, including internally-displaced people, migrants, the LGBTIQA+ community, women and girls with disability, people living with HIV and AIDS and those affected by COVID-19. The culture of silence among survivors of violence must be broken in Myanmar to ensure that survivors report cases to local authorities, have access to gender-friendly justice, healthcare, social protection and Mental Health and Psychosocial services. We call on all humanitarian actors to listen to survivors, and to ensure that essential services, including Women and Girls’ Centers and Safe Houses and specialized services such as case management, receive adequate funds to continue and scale up. This can only be achieved in close partnership with women’s civil society organizations, community-based organizations, national and international NGOs and donors in Myanmar and donors. Collaborating with, and sustaining funding for women’s organizations and civil society organisations (CSOs), who are at the forefront of responding, and delivering life-saving gender-based violence services at grassroots level, is critical. Many of the Organisations that provide first line of life-saving GBV services are local CSOs. Unfortunately the recently announced Organisation Registration Law will not only negatively impact on their ability to provide such services but may even threaten their very existence. In Myanmar, the United Nations remains firmly committed to promoting building community-based prevention systems through intensified awareness-raising and social behaviour change programmes, engaging men and boys, community leaders and other local actors. Together, we re-affirm our strong commitment to stay and deliver life-saving services that address the urgent needs of women and girls. On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we call on all stakeholders and agents of change to break the silence to end violence against women and girls, and ensure that all survivors can have access to life-saving services. Let’s All UNITE and ACT to End Violence against Women and Girls Now!..."
Source/publisher: UN Country Team in Myanmar via "Reliefweb" (New York)
2022-11-25
Date of entry/update: 2022-11-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Women's League of Burma will organize 16 Days of Activism in various forms and activities along with white ribbons campaign under the theme of "Justice + Accountability = End System of Impunity” to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which falls today on the 25th November. The Women's League of Burma is not only solely opposed to violence but also uses the Zero Tolerance policy to condemn any kind and act of violence. In addition, WLB has documented all forms of violence committed against women and highlighted the issues from the national to the international level for justice and accountability. Burma/Myanmar is a country of prolonged civil war, and the main reason for the increase in violence against women in various ways is the use of the patriarchal system and military dictatorship. Additionally, due to the existing mindset dominated by patriarchy, the presence of those who practice the ideology of the patriarchy, and military dictators who seized power unjustly for generations, the survivors have not received full justice and accountability until today. According to the WLB’s members' organizations, since the t military junta seized the power on 1st February 2022 until today, they have documented 111 domestic violence cases, 14 rape cases committed by civilians, at least 16 rape cases, and 3 sexual assault and violence cases committed by the military Junta’s soldiers. In addition, according to news media, there are more than 40 cases of women being raped and burned to death for forced disappearance. The violence continues to occur every day with no punishment mechanism for the perpetrators, who are getting impunity for their crimes. Additionally, because of the current situation in Burma/ Myanmar, it is a terrifying situation that no one, including women, girls, and persons with diverse sexual orientations, has no security protection but is also deeply concerned. WLB has designated the Military Junta as a criminal for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, which have been systematically and intentionally committed for generations. Therefore, WLB strongly urges to work together in respective roles to ensure accountability of the perpetrators and to achieve justice. Women’s League of Burma would like to encourage women, girls, persons with diverse sexual orientations, and anyone to join the White Ribbon Campaign to eliminate physical, mental, and sexual violence and to stand against all forms of violence with WLB. For the reason stated above, the Women's League of Burma urges authorities and officials as follows: • To collaborate with national and international human rights organizations and women organizations to eliminate violence against anyone, including women, girls, and persons with diverse sexual orientations, as soon as possible. • To take effective action against perpetrators who have committed violence against women, girls, and persons with diverse sexual orientations. • To develop effective policies and implementation activities to stop violence, to prevent and protect against violence. • To provide the necessary security protection and services, rehabilitation programs, and financial support for the victims and survivors. • For the international community to take effective action to end the system of impunity and access to justice for the crimes committed by the military Junta..."
Source/publisher: Women's League of Burma
2022-11-25
Date of entry/update: 2022-11-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "အမျိုးသမီးများအဖွဲ့ချုပ် (မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ) မှ ယနေ့ ၂၀၂၂ ခုနှစ် နိုဝင်ဘာလ၊(၂၅)ရက်နေ့တွင် ကျရောက်သော နိုင်ငံတကာအမျိုးသမီးများအပေါ် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုပပျောက်ရေးနေ့တွင် “တရားမျှတမှု + တာဝန်ခံမှု = ပြစ်ဒဏ် ကင်းလွတ်ခွင့်များကို အဆုံးသတ်ခြင်း” ဆိုသည့် ဆောင်ပုဒ်ဖြင့် (၁၆) ရက်တာအတွင်း လှုပ်ရှားမှုများ၊ ပုံစံမျိုးစုံဖြင့် အသံထုတ်ဖော်ခြင်းများ၊ ဖဲကြိုးဖြူကမ်ပိန်းများ ပြုလုပ်သွားမည်ဖြစ်သည်။ အမျိုးသမီးများအဖွဲ့ချုပ် (မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ) သည် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုမှန်သမျှကို လုံးဝဆန့်ကျင်ကန့်ကွက်သည်သာမက အကြမ်းဖက်မှုမှန်သမျှ ပပျောက်စေရန် (Zero Tolerance)မူကို ကိုင်စွဲ ကျင့်သုံးပြီး မည်သည့် အကြမ်းဖက်မှု မဆို ရှုတ်ချကန့်ကွက်သည်။ ထို့အပြင် အမျိုးသမီးများအဖွဲ့ချုပ် (မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ) သည် အမျိုးသမီးများအပေါ် ကျူးလွန်နေသည့် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုမှန်သမျှကို မှတ်တမ်းတင်ပြီး တရားမျှတမှု ရရှိရေး အတွက် နိုင်ငံအဆင့် မှ နိုင်ငံတကာအဆင့် ထိ အမြဲတမ်းမီးမှောင်းထိုးပြနေသည်။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံသည် ရှည်လျားသော ပြည်တွင်းစစ်ပဋိပက္ခများ ဖြစ်ပွားနေသော နိုင်ငံဖြစ်ပြီး အမျိုးသမီးများ အပေါ် နည်းမျိုးစုံဖြင့် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများ ပိုမိုများပြားလာသည့် အဓိက အကြောင်းအရင်းမှာ ဖိုဝါဒကြီးစိုးသည့် စနစ် ကျင့်သုံးခြင်း နှင့် စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ် ကြောင့်ဖြစ်သည်။ ထို့အပြင် ဖိုဝါဒကြီးစိုးသည့် အတွေးအခေါ် များ ရှိနေခြင်း၊ ဖိုဝါဒကြီးစိုးနိုင်ရန် လက်တွေ့ကျင့်သုံးနေသူများ ရှိနေခြင်းနှင့် ခေတ်အဆက်ဆက် မတရား အာဏာ သိမ်းသော စစ်အာဏာရှင်ကြောင့် ကျူးလွန်ခံရသူများအနေဖြင့် ယနေ့အချိန်အထိ တရားမျှတမှု နှင့် တာဝန်ယူမှု တာဝန်ခံမှု အပြည့်အ၀ မရရှိသည်ကို တွေ့ရှိရသည်။ အမျိုးသမီးများအဖွဲ့ချုပ် (မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ) သည် ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလ (၁)ရက်နေ့ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်တပ် မတရားအာဏာသိမ်းသည့်အချိန်မှ စ၍ ယနေ့ထိ အိမ်တွင်းအကြမ်းဖက်မှု (၁၁၁) မှု၊ အရပ်သားမှ ကျူးလွန် သော မုဒိမ်းမှု (၁၄) မှု၊ စစ်တပ်မှ ကျူးလွန်သော မုဒိမ်းမှု (၁၆)မှု ထက်မနည်း၊ စစ်တပ်မှကျူးလွန်သော လိင်ပိုင်းဆိုင်ရာနှောင့်ယှက်မှု (၃)မှု ထက်မနည်း ရှိသည်ကို အဖွဲ့ဝင်အဖွဲ့အစည်းများ၏ မှတ်တမ်းများအရ တွေ့ရှိရသည်။​ ထို့အပြင် သတင်းမီဒီယာများတွင်လည်း အမျိုးသမီးများကို မုဒိမ်းကျင့်ပြီး မီးရှို့သတ်ဖြတ် လက်စဖျောက်သည့် အမှုများ (၄၀) မှု ထက်မနည်း ရှိပြီး အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများ နေ့စဉ်နှင့်အမျှ ဖြစ်ပေါ်လျှက် ရှိနေကာ ကျူးလွန်နေသူများမှာ အပြစ်ပေးအရေးယူဆောင်ရွက်မည့်ယန္တရား မရှိသည့်အပြင် ပြစ်ဒဏ် ကင်းလွတ်ခွင့် ရရှိနေသည်ကို တွေ့ရှိရသည်။​ ထို့အပြင် လက်ရှိ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရေးအခြေအနေကြောင့် အမျိုးသမီးများ၊ အမျိုးသမီးငယ်များနှင့် လိင်စိတ်ကွဲပြား သူများ အပါအဝင် မည်သူတစ်ဦးတစ်ယောက်မှ လုံခြံရေး အကာအကွယ် မရှိသည့်သာမက လွန်စွာစိုးရိမ်ရ သည့် အခြေအနေကို တွေ့ရပါသည်။ အမျိုးသမီးများအဖွဲ့ချုပ် (မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ) သည် ခေတ်အဆက်ဆက် ရည်ရွယ်ချက်ရှိရှိ ရာဇဝတ်မှု ကျူးလွန်နေသည့် အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်တပ်ကို စစ်ရာဇဝတ်မှု၊ လူသားမျိုးနွယ်စု များအပေါ် ကျူးလွန်သည့်ရာဇဝတ်မှု နှင့် လူမျိုးသုဉ်း သတ်ဖြတ်မှုရာဇဝတ်မှုများ ကျူးလွန်သော တရားခံ အဖြစ် သတ်မှတ်ထားပါသည်။ ထိုကြောင့် ကျူးလွန်သူအကြမ်းဖက်စစ်တပ် များ ကို တရားမျှတမှု ရရှိရေးနှင့် တာဝန်ယူမှုတာဝန်ခံမှု ရှိလာစေရန် အတူတကွ မိမိတို့ ကျရာကဏ္ဍများတွင် ဆောင်ရွက်ကြရန် မိမိတို့ အမျိုးသမီးများအဖွဲ့ ချုပ် (မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ) မှ အလေးအနက်တိုက်တွန်းအပ်ပါသည်။ အမျိုးသမီးများ၊ အမျိုးသမီးငယ်များနှင့်လိင်စိတ်ကွဲပြားသူများအပါဝင်အဝင် မည်သူမဆို စိတ်ပိုင်း၊ ရုပ်ပိုင်း၊ လိင်ပိုင်းဆိုင်ရာနှင့် မည်သည့် အကြမ်းဖက်မှု မဆို ပပျောက်ရန် အမျိုးသမီးများအဖွဲ့ချုပ် (မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ) မှ ဦးဆောင်ကျင်းပသည့် ဖဲကြိုးဖြူကမ်ပိန်းကိုလည်း ပူးပေါင်းပါဝင်ကြရန်နှင့် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုမှန်သမျှကို ဆန့်ကျင်ကြရန် ထပ်မံတိုက်တွန်းအပ်ပါသည်။ အထက်ဖော်ပြပါ အခြေအနေများကြောင့် အမျိုးသမီးများအဖွဲ့ချုပ် (မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ) သည် အောက်ပါအချက်များ ကို သက်ဆိုင်ရာတာဝန်ရှိသူများအား တောင်းဆိုလိုက်ပါသည်။​ အမျိုးသမီးများ၊ အမျိုးသမီးငယ်များနှင့် လိင်စိတ်ကွဲပြားသူများ အပါအဝင် မည်သူ့အပေါ်မဆို အကြမ်းဖက်မှု အမြန်ဆုံးရပ်တန့်ရန် ပြည်တွင်း၊ ပြည်ပရှိ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးတက်ကြွလှုပ်ရှားသည့် အဖွဲ့အစည်းများ နှင့် အမျိုးသမီးများ အဖွဲ့အစည်းများ အတူတကွ ပူးပေါင်းဆောင်ရွက်ရန်။​ အမျိုးသမီးများ၊ အမျိုးသမီးငယ်များ နှင့် လိင်ကွဲပြားသူများ အပေါ် အကြမ်းဖက်မှု ကျူးလွန်သူများကို သက်ဆိုင်ရာတာဝန်ရှိသူများ မှ ထိရောက်စွာ အရေးယူ ဆောင်ရွက်ပေးရန်။ အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများရပ်တန့်ရန် နှင့် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများ ကြိုတင်ကာကွယ်ခြင်း နှင့် အကာအကွယ် ပေးနိုင်ရန်အတွက် ထိရောက်သည့် မူဝါဒများ ရေးဆွဲချမှတ်ရန်နှင့်၊ လုပ်ငန်းအကောင်အထည်ဖော် ဆောင်ရွက်မှုများကို သက်ဆိုင်ရာ တာဝန်ရှိသူ များမှ လုပ်ဆောင်ရန်။ ကျူးလွန်ခံရသူများ နှင့် ရှင်သန်ကျန်ရစ်သူများအတွက် လိုအပ်သည့် လုံခြုံရေး အကာအကွယ်နှင့် ဝန်ဆောင်မှုများ၊ ဘ၀ပြန်လည်ရပ်တည်နိုင်ရေး အစီအစဉ်များ၊ ဘဏ္ဍာငွေ ပံ့ပိုးခြင်းစသည့် လိုအပ်ချက်များ ကို သက်ဆိုင်ရာ တာဝန်ရှိသူများ အသီးသီးမှ ဆောင်ရွက်ပေးရန်။ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်တပ်မှ ကျူးလွန်နေသည့် ရာဇဝတ်မှုများကို ပြစ်ဒဏ်ကင်းလွတ်ခွင့်များ ရပ်တန့် စေရန် နှင့် တရားမျှတမှု ရရှိရန် နိုင်ငံတကာ တာဝန်ရှိသူများမှ အမြန်ဆုံး အကောင်အထည်ဖော်ရန် တောင်းဆိုအပ်ပါသည်။ ..."
Source/publisher: Women's League of Burma
2022-11-25
Date of entry/update: 2022-11-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "On this International Day of the Girl Child, we bring your attention to the difficulties faced by girls in Kawthoolei (Karen State, Southeast Burma). Obstacles to growing up in peace, to securing food, to obtaining education, to accessing healthcare, and to attaining justice. The challenge for girls in Burma to remain children; sheltered in a safe environment where they can develop in a wholesome manner. On this 11th October, the Karen Women’s Organization (KWO) and the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) call the international community to take concrete action to end violence in Burma, which is harming all girl children in the country. Violations of girls’ rights Since the 2021 military coup, over 350,000 people have been displaced by the violence and military attacks committed by the State Administrative Council (SAC; or Burma Army) in Kawthoolei. Displacement disproportionately impacts women and children: almost half of all displaced people are children and half of those are girls. Both KHRG and KWO have received numerous reports of women fleeing while pregnant, or right after giving birth. While displaced, people must live in very poor conditions, moving suddenly and often, escaping SAC soldiers and their weapons, constantly at risk of injury or death from landmines, air strikes, and artillery shelling. There is little access to clean water and food, to education, sanitary facilities, and health services, including maternal and paediatric health care.[1] Women and girls who remain in their villages are also particularly vulnerable to threats and attacks from Burma Army soldiers since many local men are forced to flee to escape systematic arrest and torture by the junta. In one case reported to KHRG, SAC soldiers tortured the wife and child of a villager in order to obtain information about his whereabouts following a nearby bomb explosion.[2] Gross human rights violations are being committed by the military junta against girls in Burma, including forced labour, use of human shields, air strikes and shelling, trafficking in human beings, and sexual violence. Girls’ basic rights are being violated in Karen State every minute of every day, including today. Protection challenges and justice Under previous military regimes, violence against women and girls (VAWG), including sexual violence and gang rape, committed by Burma Army soldiers was taking place on a wide scale, particularly in conjunction with forced portering.[3] These military leaders and soldiers enjoyed total impunity for their crimes, and still do to this day. Lack of jurisdiction over Burma Army personnel by the civilian justice systems remains one of the biggest challenges in combatting sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in the country. Since the 2021 military coup, villagers in Karen State have reported sending young women and girls to hiding sites to protect them whenever the Burma military enters their village or sets up nearby camps.[4] Crimes of sexual nature committed by the Burma Army soldiers do not get reported, as impunity prevails. Since the coup, SGBV crimes reported in Karen areas are those perpetrated by community and family members, which are prosecuted through local community procedures which are still functioning, albeit with even fewer resources and less security. The current situation of conflict hinders the legislation and justice mechanisms in place, that already fell short of ensuring adequate protection for survivors. Stigma placed by the community on survivors of SGBV diminish reporting, justice-seeking processes, and the welfare of women and girls. Girl victims of sexual violence do not expect to get justice; it is not something we can celebrate today. Call to action In the current situation in the country, girls in Southeast Burma are increasingly exposed to violence and insecurity. KWO and KHRG urge the international community to: Put pressure on the military junta and its army to stop killing and injuring children, and eradicate all violence against girl children. Stop selling weapons, ammunition, aircrafts, and jet fuel to the military junta, and sanction those companies and individuals responsible for arms deals. Make violence against women and girls, including sexual violence, a stand-alone designation criterion for sanctions where possible, and include it as a criterion in more sanction regimes. Direct funding earmarked for protection services for victims of SGBV and other forms of violence to local existing CSO/CBOs (in Burma and neighbouring countries) already operating on the ground so that they can expand and develop support programmes and services, including child protection services. Prioritise and strengthen methods of humanitarian aid delivery that are cross border and organised by local CSO/CBOs and ethnic service providers that have the networks for local implementation of support programmes. Do not act in any way to legitimise the SAC. Do not collaborate with the SAC to implement any development or humanitarian programs. Take immediate action to bring military leaders in Burma who permitted and perpetuated systematic and widespread child abuse, and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) to justice in international courts and tribunals..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group
2022-10-11
Date of entry/update: 2022-10-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
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Description: "ယနေ့ကျရောက်သော နိုင်ငံတကာမိန်းကလေးများနေ့တွင် မြန်မာပြည်အရှေ့တောင်ပိုင်းရှိ အမျိုသမီး ငယ်လေးများ ရင်ဆိုင်နေရသော အခက်အခဲများကို မီးမောင်းထိုးပြလိုပါသည်။ ၎င်းတို့အတွက် ငြိမ်း ချမ်းစွာ အသက်ရှင်နေထိုင်နိုင်ရန်၊ အစားအစာလုံလောက်ရန်၊ ပညာသင်ယူခွင့် ရရှိရန်၊ ကျန်းမာရေး လက်လှမ်းမီနိုင်ရန် နှင့် တရားမျှတမှုရရှိရန် အခက်အခဲများစွာ ရှိပါသည်။ ၎င်းတို့မှ ကလေးသူငယ် များကဲ့သို့ အသက်ရှင်ပြီး လုံခြုံသည့်ပတ်ဝန်းကျင်တွင်ကြီးထွားလာရန် အခက်အခဲများစွာရှိနေပါ သည်။ ယနေ့ အောက်တိုဘာလ ၁၁ ရက်နေ့တွင် ကျရောက်သော နိုင်ငံတကာ မိန်းကလေးများနေ့တွင် ကရင်လူ့အခွင့်အရေးအဖွဲ့နှင့် ကရင်အမျိုးသမီးအစည်းအရုံးတို့မှ မိန်းကလေးများအား အကြပ်အ တည်းထဲသို့ တွန်းပို့စေသည့် မြန်မာပြည်အတွင်းဖြစ်ပေါ်နေသော အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများကိုရပ်တန့်နိုင်ရန် အတွက် နိုင်ငံတကာအသိုင်းအဝိုင်းအား လုပ်ဆောင်သင့်သည့် အရာများကို အကောင်အထည်ဖော်ရန် တိုက်တွန်းလိုပါသည်။ မိန်းကလေးများအပေါ် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးချိုးဖောက်မှုများ ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် စစ်အာဏာသိမ်းပြီးနောက်ပိုင်း စစ်ကောင်စီ၏အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများနှင့် ထိုးစစ်ဆင်မှုများ ကြောင့် ကရင်ပြည်နယ်အတွင်း ထွက်ပြေးတိမ်းရှောင်ရသူ ၃၅၀၀၀၀ ကျော်ရှိလာသည်။ အမျိုးသမီး များသည် နေရပ်ရွှေ့ပြောင်းနေထိုင်ရမှုများကို မတူကွဲပြားစွာ ရင်ဆိုင်နေရပြီး ထွက်ပြေး တိမ်းရှောင် နေရသူထက်ဝက်သည် ကလေးသူငယ်များဖြစ်နေပါသည်။ ထိုကလေးငယ်များ ထက်ဝက် သည် မိန်းကလေးများဖြစ်ကြသည်။ ထွက်ပြေးတိမ်းရှောင်နေရသူများသည် ထိခိုက်ဒဏ်ရာ ရရှိမှု၊ မြေမြှုပ် မိုင်းပေါက်ကွဲမှု၊ လေကြောင်းတိုက်ခိုက်မှုနှင့် လက်နက်ကြီး အန္တရာယ်များကို ရင်ဆိုင်ကြရသည်။ ထွက်ပြေးတိမ်းရှောင်နေရချိန်တွင်လည်း ဆင်းရဲကြမ်းတမ်းမှုများအတွင်း နေထိုင်ကြရပြီး စစ်ကောင်စီ စစ်သားများနှင့် ၎င်းတို့၏ ပစ်ခတ်တိုက်ခိုက်မှုများကို ရှောင်ရှားရန် မကြာခဏနှင့် အလျှင်အမြန်ရှောင် တိမ်း ကြရသည်။ ၎င်းတို့သည် သောက်ရေသန့်၊ အစားအစာ၊ ပညာရေး၊ ရေဆိုးစနစ်နှင့် မိခင်နှင့်က လေးကျန်းမာရေး ကဲ့သို့သော ကျန်းမာရေးစောင့်ရှောက်မှု စသည်များကို လက်လှမ်းမီနိုင်ခြင်း မရှိကြ ပါ။[1] စစ်ကောင်စီ၏ ဖမ်းဆီးမှုနှင့် ညှင်းပန်းနှိပ်စက်မှုများကို အမျိုးသားများမှ ရှောင်ရှားနေချိန်တွင် ကျေး ရွာများအတွင်း ရှိနေသေးသော အမျိုးသမီးများနှင့် မိန်းကလေးငယ်များသည် စစ်ကောင်စီ စစ်သား များ၏ ခြိမ်းခြောက်မှုနှင့် တိုက်ခိုက်မှုအန္တရာယ်များကို ရင်ဆိုင်ကြရသည်။ ကရင်လူ့အခွင့်အရေး အဖွဲ၏ အစီရင်ခံစာတစ်ခုထဲတွင် ဗုံးပေါက်ကွဲမှုဖြစ်ပွားပြီးနောက် သံသယရှိသူ အမျိုးသား၏ အ ကြောင်းကိုသိရှိရန် စစ်ကောင်စီစစ်သားများမှ ထိုအမျိုးသား၏ ဇနီးနှင့် ကလေးကို ညှင်းပန်းနှိပ်စက် ခဲ့ပါသည်။[2] မြန်မာပြည်အတွင်း မိန်းကလေးများအပေါ် အဓ္ဓမခိုင်းစေမှု၊ လူသားဒိုင်း အဖြစ်အသုံးပြုမှု၊ လေကြောင်းတိုက်ခိုက်မှုနှင့် လက်နက်ကြီးပစ်ခတ်မှု၊ လူကုန်ကူးမှု၊နှင့် လိင်ပိုင်းဆိုင်ရာ အကြမ်းဖက်မှု စသည့် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးချိုးဖောက်မှု အများကို စစ်ကောင်စီမှ ချိုးဖောက်နေပါသည်။ ကရင်ပြည်နယ် အတွင်းတွင် မိန်းကလေးငယ်များ၏ အခွင့်အရေးများသည် နေ့စဉ်နှင့်အမျှ ချိုးဖောက်ခံနေရပါသည်။ အကာအကွယ်ရရှိမှုဆိုင်ရာ စိန်ခေါ်မှုများနှင့် တရားမျှတမှု လွန်ခဲ့သည့်စစ်အုပ်ချုပ်မှုများ အောက်တွင် အထူးသဖြင့် ပေါ်တာထမ်းခိုင်းမှုများနှင့်ဆက်စပ်ပြီး စစ် သားများသည် အမျိုးသမီးများနှင့် မိန်းကလေးများအပေါ် လိင်အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများ၊ အုပ်စုလိုက် မုဒိန်း ကျင့်မှုများကို ကျယ်ကျယ်ပြန့်ပြန့်ကျူးလွန်ခဲ့ကြသည်။ ထိုကျူးလွန်သူစစ်ခေါင်းဆောင်များနှင့် စစ် သားများသည် ၎င်းတို့ကျူးလွန်ခဲ့သောပြစ်မှုများအတွက် ပြစ်ဒဏ်ကင်းလွတ်ခွင့် အပြည့်အဝ ရရှိခဲ့ကြ သည်။ မြန်မာပြည်၏ အရပ်သားတရားရေးစနစ်မှ စစ်တပ်အပေါ် လွမ်းမိုးနိုင်မှုမရှိခြင်းသည် ကျား၊မ အခြေပြု အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများကို ကာကွယ်တားဆီးရန် အဓိကစိန်ခေါ်မှုတစ်ခုဖြစ်cခဲ့သည်။ ၂၀၂၁ခုနှစ် စစ်အာဏာသိမ်းမှုဖြစ်စဉ် ပြီးနောက်ပိုင်းတွင် ကရင်ပြည်နယ်အတွင်းရှိရွာသားများသည် စစ်ကောင်စီ စစ်သားများ ရွာအတွင်း သို့မဟုတ် ရွာအနီးတွင်စခန်းချသောအခါ အမျိုးသမီးငယ်များကို ပုန်းခိုသည့် နေရာများသို့ပို့ ဆောင်ကြကြောင်းတင်ပြခဲ့ကြပါသည်။ စစ်ကောင်စီစစ်သားများကျူးလွန်သော လိင်ပိုင်းဆိုင်ရာနှင့်ဆက်စပ်သည့် ပြစ်မှုများသည် ပြစ်ဒဏ် ကင်းလွတ်ခွင့် အလေ့အထ ရှိနေသောကြောင့် ကျူးလွန်ခံရသူများအနေဖြင့် တိုင်ကြားခြင်းမပြုကြပါ။ စစ်အာဏာသိမ်းကတည်းက ကရင်ဒေသအတွင်း တိုင်ကြားခဲ့ကြသော ကျား၊မ အခြေပြုလိင်အကြမ်း ဖက်မှုများသည် လူမှုအသိုင်းအဝိုင်းအတွင်းနှင့် မိသားစုဝင်များ ကျူးလွန်သော ပြစ်မှုများသာ ဖြစ်ကြ သည်။ ဒေသတွင်းရှိနေသော တရားရေးစနစ်များသည် အရင်းအမြစ်နှင့် လုံခြုံရေး အားနည်းသော် လည်း ထိုပြစ်မှုများကို ကိုင်တွယ်ဖြေရှင်းပေးနေကြရသည်။ ယခုဖြစ်ပွားနေသော ပဋိပက္ခများသည် ဥပဒေပြုရေးနှင့် တရားမျှတမှုယန္တရားများကို နှောင့်နှေးစေပါသည်။ လူမှုအသိုက်အဝန်းမှ လိင်အ ကြမ်းဖက်မှု ကျူးလွန်ခံရသူများအား အပြစ်တင်ဝေဖန်မှုပြုခြင်းသည်လည်း လိင်အကြမ်းဖက်မှုနှင့် ပတ်သက်သည့် တိုင်ကြားမှု၊ တရားမျှတမှုဆိုင်ရာ ရှာဖွေရေးလုပ်ငန်းစဉ်များနှင့် ကျူးလွန်ခံရသူများ၏ ကိုယ်စိတ်ကျန်းမာရေး နှင့်လုံခြုံရေးများကို ထိခိုက်စေပါသည်။ လိင်အကြမ်းဖက်မှု ကျူးလွန်ခံရသည့် မိန်းကလေးငယ်များသည် ယခုလက်ရှိအချိန်တွင် တရားမျှတမှုရရှိရန် မျှော်လင့်ချက် နည်းနေသေး သောကြောင့် ဤနေ့သည်ကျွန်ုပ်တို့အတွက် လိင်ပိုင်းဆိုင်ရာ အကြမ်းအဖက်မှုအတွက် တရားမျှတမှု ရရှိနိုင်သည့်နေ့တစ်နေ့မဟုတ်သေးပါ။ လုပ်ဆောင်ရန်ဖိတ်ခေါ်ခြင်း မြန်မာပြည်၏လက်ရှိအခြေအနေတွင် မြန်မာပြည်အရှေ့တောင်ပိုင်းရှိ မိန်းကလေးငယ်များသည် အ ကြမ်းဖက်မှုနှင့် မလုံခြုံမှုများကိုပို၍ ရင်ဆိုင်လာရပါသည်။ ကရင်အမျိုးသမီးအစည်းအရုံးနှင့် ကရင်လူ့ အခွင့်အရေးအဖွဲ့တို့မှ နိုင်ငံတကာအသိုင်းအဝိုင်းကိုအောက်ပါအတိုင်းတိုက်တွန်းလိုပါသည်။ မိန်းကလေးများကို သတ်ဖြတ်ခြင်းများ၊ ထိခိုက်ဒဏ်ရာရစေခြင်းများနှင့် မိန်းကလေးများ အ ပေါ် ကျူးလွန်သည့်အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများ ရပ်တန့်သွားစေရန် စစ်ကောင်စီအပေါ် ဖိအားများ ပေးရန်။ စစ်ကောင်စီအား စစ်လက်နက်၊ လက်နက်ခဲယမ်းများ၊ လေယဉ်များနှင့် လေယဉ်ဆီများ ရောင်းချခြင်းများကို ရပ်တန့်ပြီး စစ်ကောင်စီအား လက်နက်ရောင်းချရာတွင်ပါဝင်သည့် ကုမ္ပဏီများနှင့် လူပုဂ္ဂိုလ်များကို စီးပွားရေးပိတ်ဆို့မှုများ ပြုလုပ်ရန်။ လိင်အကြမ်းဖက်မှုအပါအဝင် အမျိုးသမီးများနှင့် မိန်းကလေးငယ်များအပေါ်ကျူးလွန်သည့် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများကို ဖြစ်နိုင်လျှင် ပိတ်ဆို့အရေးယူမှုအတွက် သတ်မှတ်ချက်တစ်ခုအဖြစ် ထားရှိပြီး နောက်ထပ်ပြုလုပ်မည့် ပိတ်ဆို့အရေးယူမှုများတွင်ထည့်သွင်းသွားရန်။ ကျား၊မ အခြေပြုလိ င်အကြမ်းဖက်မှုကျူးလွန်ခံရသူများအား အကာအကွယ်ပေး နိုင်ရန်အ တွက် ငွေကြေးထောက်ပံ့မှုများထားရှိပြီး မြေပြင်တွင်လှုပ်ရှားလုပ်ကိုင်နေ‌သော အရပ်ဖက်နှင့် လူထုအခြေပြုအဖွဲ့အစည်းများသို့ ထောက်ပံ့မှုများအားတိုက်ရိုက်ပေးသွားရန်။ သို့မှသာလျှင် ၎င်းတို့မှ ကလေးသူငယ်များအတွက် အကာအကွယ်ပေးရေး ဝန်ဆောင်မှုအပါအဝင် ထောက် ပံ့မှုအစီအစဉ်များနှင့် ဝန်ဆောင်မှုများကို ချဲ့ထွင်လုပ်ဆောင် နိုင်မည်။ ဝန်ဆောင်မှုများပေးဆောင်ရာတွင် ဒေသခံများနှင့်ပုံမှန်ထိတွေ့မှုရှိပြီး ၎င်းတို့၏ ယုံကြည်မှုကို ရရှိထားသော စွမ်းရည်နှင့်ကွန်ယက်ရှိပြီးသား ဒေသခံ CSO/CBO များနှင့် ဝန်ဆောင်မှုပေး သည့် တိုင်းရင်းသားအဖွဲ့အစည်းများကို ဦးစားပေးရန်နှင့် ထိုအစုအဖွဲ့များ၏ ဝန်ဆောင်မှုပေး သည့် နည်းလမ်းများကို အားဖြည့်လုပ်ဆောင်ပေးရန်။ စစ်ကောင်စီကို အသိအမှတ်ပြုစေမည့်အရာများကို မပြုလုပ်ရန်။ စစ်ကောင်စီနှင့်ပူးပေါင်းပြီး မည့်သည့်ဖွံ့ဖြိုးရေးနှင့် လူသားချင်းစာနာထောက်ထားမှုလုပ်ငန်းများကို မပြုလုပ်ရ။ ကလေးသူငယ်များအပေါ် ညှင်းပန်းနှိပ်စက်မှုများနှင့် ကျား၊မအခြေပြု လိင်အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများ အား ခွင့်ပြုခဲ့ပြီး စနစ်တကျကျူးလွန်ခဲ့သော စစ်ခေါင်းဆောင်များကို နိုင်ငံတကာ ခုံရုံးများတွင် အရေးယူလုပ်ဆောင်မှုများ ချက်ချင်းလုပ်ဆောင်ရန်။..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group
2022-10-11
Date of entry/update: 2022-10-11
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Description: "A Myanmar woman has been jailed for six years by a military court for posting pictures on adult subscription site OnlyFans, amongst other platforms. Nang Mwe San, a model and former doctor, had been charged two weeks ago for "harming culture and dignity", military authorities said. She had also previously taken part in protests against the military, which seized power in 2021 in a coup. She is believed to be the first person in Myanmar jailed for OnlyFans content. Another model, who had also posted pictures of her participation in protests on social media, was also arrested in August under the same law. Thinzar Wint Kyaw is to face trial in October. Nang Mwe San was found guilty of distributing nude photos and videos on social media sites for a fee, under Section 33 (A) of the country's Electronics Transactions Law, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years. The model lived in Yangon's North Dagon Township - an area where martial law is in force. In such areas - and under state of emergency laws renewed by the Myanmar junta government earlier this year - those charged with crimes are tried in a military court where they're denied rights like access to a lawyer. She was tried at the Insein Prison Court - the capital's notorious prison and the largest in Myanmar - where many political prisoners have been sent since the coup last year. Her mother told the BBC's Burmese Service she was able to contact her daughter in recent weeks, but had not known of the sentencing until military media confirmed it on Wednesday. Myanmar's military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's democratically elected government in February 2021 - sparking huge protests across the country and a widespread resistance movement. It's estimated more than 15,600 people - including Ms Suu Kyi, other lawmakers, activists and journalists - have been arrested since the military seized power. On Tuesday a freelance journalist for the BBC had her prison sentence increased by three years after being convicted of making contact with an outlawed pro-democracy radio programme set up by activists last year. Htet Htet Khine had already been sentenced to three years hard labour under new laws which criminalise comments deemed to cause fear or spread "false news" about the military. More than 12,000 people remain detained while at least 2,322 political prisoners have been killed by the regime says the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group. Earlier this month, Britain's former ambassador to Myanmar Vicky Bowman and her husband were both jailed for a year for breaching immigration laws. But their case is likely to be about wider political concerns rather than immigration offences, for which foreigners are rarely prosecuted in Myanmar..."
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Source/publisher: BBC News (London)
2022-09-28
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-28
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Description: "This submission outlines the dangerous and rapidly deteriorating on-the-ground situation faced by women and girls following the coup by the Burma/Myanmar military (the military or Tatmadaw) on February 1, 2021. Since the coup, women and girls have faced direct and imminent threats to their health, welfare and safety and have lost hard-won gains in political, social and economic rights. This precarious situation demands immediate attention and action by the United Nations (UN) and the international community at large. Women and girls face significant and escalating security threats The military has committed atrocities in ethnic areas for over 70 years. Since the coup, the Tatmadaw and its proxies have expanded these brutal campaigns in ethnic areas, such as Chin and Karenni/Kayah states, and extended their reign of terror to urban and “dry zone” areas dominated by the Bamar majority, such as Sagaing and Magway. Civilians and aid workers have been targeted with systematic and widespread indiscriminate and disproportionate violence, including mass and arbitrary arrests and killings, air raids, artillery strikes, sexual violence and arson.3 These unrelenting attacks fully meet the definition of terror under international and national law and amount to violations of international humanitarian law and human rights laws. The UN has concluded these atrocities amount to crimes against humanity and, potentially, war crimes. While there has been a massive deterioration of safety and security for all civilians since the coup, women and girls face disproportionate threats and risks from security forces. Women have been victims of escalating sexual violence crimes, with recent qualitative research presenting a troubling snapshot of security force-perpetrated rape, gang rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment, including in detention. These cases are only the tip of the iceberg given the low level of reporting, and dovetail with other research demonstrating that security forces have for decades carried out brutal campaigns of violence, including sexual violence, as part of armed conflict in ethnic areas, including massive genocidal clearance operations against the Rohingya. Women have actively and bravely participated in and led the civil resistance movement, facing great personal risks to put an end to a brutal military junta. An estimated 3,100 women have been arrested and detained since February 1, 2021, with over 2,400 still in custody.4 Women have reported widespread violence in detention settings, including sexual abuse, torture and sexual harassment. Female detainees have also been denied medical treatment, including maternal healthcare, and access to potable water.5 Currently, there are nine women human rights defenders (WHRD) on death row whose lives are in grave danger given the military junta’s recent execution of four democracy activists, the first such executions in 30 years. All WHRDs were convicted after closed trials in a military court that fell far short of international standards. At a societal level, women have been hit hard by the economic downturn caused by foreign divestment and factory shutdowns. This economic hardship and lack of security resulting from the coup have pushed women and young women to fall victim to trafficking gangs and to agree to slave-like labour conditions or prostitution. Moreover, the level of societal gender-based violence has increased since the coup, as civilians have taken advantage of the violent chaos engulfing the country. Since the coup, women have lost the economic, social and political gains that they fought for with increasing political activism and participation over the past decade. Women now face massive protection needs to secure their welfare, sustain gender equality progress and support women’s leadership. As the UN has noted, women are “starting to see their future disappear” and the UN and international community must act with urgency and purpose.6 Burma/Myanmar’s humanitarian crisis has had a devastating impact on women The military has caused a devastating humanitarian crisis through its Four-Cuts Strategy of cutting off telecommunication, food, money, and intelligence in Karen/Kayin, Karenni/Kayah and Chin states, and the Sagaing and Magway regions. These brutal, scorched earth campaigns include air strikes, military offensives and burning of villages, which has destroyed over 28,000 homes thus far.7 As a result, over one million people have been displaced – amounting to one in every ten people.8 Civilians have had to travel deep into the jungle on a moment’s notice to avoid military attacks. Displaced persons, including women and girls, must deal with health risks, food scarcity, lack of shelter and inadequate medical care, especially during the current rainy season.9 Malaria, dengue fever and other waterborne diseases are rampant and poisonous snakes are a scourge. Drought, water shortages and poor water quality have resulted in not being able to meet basic hygienic needs and illness. Dry goods and food items are being depleted and food insecurity is acute. Women face particular health challenges, including a lack of sexual and reproductive health services which has led to an increase in premature births, underweight births and increased infant mortality.10 This dire situation presents formidable challenges to the health and safety of women and girls and requires targeted assistance, such as women’s dignity and delivery kits, lactating mothers’ support and sexual and reproductive health assistance, such as birth control and HIV drugs which are no longer available. Service delivery to those in need, already limited by decades of ethnic strife and chronic underfunding, has completely broken down. Humanitarian aid workers cannot access those in greatest need, and efforts by international and regional agencies to deliver humanitarian aid are woefully inadequate.11 Given this dire situation, brave volunteers from women’s groups, civil society organisations, communities, Ethnic Health Organisations (EHOs) and Ethnic Resistance Organizations (EROs) have stepped in to help despite security risks. The military targets these courageous individuals and groups, leading to regular harassment, arrest and murder.12 Current humanitarian aid delivery efforts focus on partnering with the military which is completely illadvised and counterproductive. The military has caused the crisis and is not to be trusted with aid delivery to areas that it is currently attacking. Civilians will not accept humanitarian aid distribution through any military-affiliated channel as they are afraid of backlash and there is a risk that the military will instrumentalize aid. Instead, the international community must build channels for providing humanitarian assistance by collaborating only with, and dramatically increasing support to, women’s groups, civil society organisations, communities, EHOs and EROs. In particular, women’s groups that have stepped in to fill service gaps have not experienced an increase in funding to support the increased burdens on the ground, highlighting an urgent priority for the international community.13 No avenues for justice exist Ample evidence exists to show that the military and its proxies have for decades committed heinous crimes, including murder, rape and genocide. These crimes have been widespread and systematic, part of a deliberate strategy to intimidate, terrorise and punish local populations. Since the coup, the patterns of abuse and violence seen in ethnic areas have been extended throughout the country, indicating that no group is immune from the security force abuses that ethnic groups have experienced for more than 70 years. The military has long enjoyed impunity for its actions, which has directly contributed to the current crisis. The coup has further proven the military’s disdain for the rule of law and its firmly-held belief in its omnipotence, including its perceived entitlement to commit human rights abuses without consequence. Survivors of security force abuses, including conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), are unable to access any justice in the current context as the legal system has been eviscerated and no trust exists between civilians and law authorities, which are under the aegis of the military. With no chance of domestic accountability, international and regional justice and accountability mechanism are crucial. The international community has not adequately responded to the crisis The international community, including the UN Security Council, have a mandate to secure international peace and security as well as to protect women in conflict settings in accordance with multiple directives in the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda. Yet, the international community has ceded to ASEAN the responsibility for finding a solution to the crisis. ASEAN’s efforts have failed, in part due to continued engagement with a recalcitrant military which has repeatedly thumbed its nose at the toothless “Five Point Consensus.” This failed strategy has prolonged the crisis and obstructed necessary protections for civilians, including women, who face massive security and humanitarian needs. The international community must abandon reliance on ASEAN and instead take bold action to resolve this dangerous situation and build trust with the people of Burma/Myanmar. As the 12 July 2022 report of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar acknowledged, interactions with civilians “…to build trust and increase confidence in the Mechanism’s ability to contribute to international criminal accountability processes are critical…”.14 Yet, trust can never be built as long as the UN, including its in-country teams, international agencies and regional actors work and engage with the military and the military-appointed State Administration Council (SAC). Recommendations The international community must collectively raise their voices to secure the human rights, safety and welfare of women and girls in Burma/Myanmar and expeditiously take the following actions: § Dispatch a well-equipped monitoring and intervention mission to secure the immediate and unconditional cessation of the military’s violent terror campaign against the people to prevent further atrocities. § Impose a comprehensive global arms embargo, with robust monitoring and enforcement mechanisms, to end the direct and indirect supply, sale or transfer of all weapons and other equipment that may be used for training, intelligence and military assistance. § Impose targeted sanctions against the military and its proxies to effectively cut off financial flows and endeavor to cut off supplies of aviation fuel to the military. § Support and stand with the people by refusing to engage with the military, its proxies or the SAC and work with the National Unity Government, as the legitimate representative of the people, and other groups working to build a truly democratic federal union. § Condemn the military for killing civilians and executing human rights defenders in the strongest terms, take effective action to stop further executions and atrocities and secure the immediate release of political prisoners, including human rights defenders and WHRDs. § Work and collaborate only with local actors, including women’s groups, as described above, to provide humanitarian aid and avoid any contact and cooperation with the military or its proxies; mediate with neighboring countries, such as Thailand and India, to open a humanitarian corridor to provide assistance to local aid actors; protect aid workers, including women first responders, from harm and harassment; urgently address country-wide food shortages; streamline aid procedures and delivery to be flexible and user-friendly to eliminate administrative burdens; and find innovative and alternative ways, using existing reliable social networks, to distribute aid outside of military channels. § Provide targeted, long-term and specific resources to women’s groups to support service delivery and the gender equality movement. § Ensure impartial and independent investigations so that perpetrators are held accountable for their crimes; fully and unequivocally support all efforts to ensure justice, including by: referring the situation to the International Criminal Court; instituting a special or regional accountability mechanism; supporting and intervening in international accountability efforts, such as those already underway at the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court; and initiating domestic proceedings via universal jurisdiction. § Protect those fighting for democracy and justice, especially women, and develop a comprehensive protection plan in accordance with WPS mandates to provide a safe haven for CRSV survivors, WHRDs and women peacebuilders; ensure that any resolution to the crisis includes the meaningful participation of women and has a clear mandate for justice and accountability for CRSV survivors. § Establish a Task Force on Myanmar and conduct an exceptional inquiry into the situation of women and girls in Myanmar, as the CEDAW Committee has done for Afghanistan and for Myanmar in 2019..."
Source/publisher: Women’s Advocacy Coalition - Myanmar and Women’s League of Burma
2022-09-15
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "In Myanmar, the National Registration Card (NRC)[1] is an essential citizenship document required for school enrollment, travel, marriage, and fixed-asset inheritance. According to data from the 2014 Census, about one-third of the population in Myanmar does not possess any identity documentation, including NRC cards.[2] The data also showed that women make up 54% of those lacking citizenship documents.[3] According to data from the Department of National Registration and Citizenship under the State Administration Council (SAC), the government has recently completed 90% of the Pan Khin (Flower Farm) project by the end of May 2022, which aims to issue NRC cards for those who do not have cards yet. Over 3.4 million people without NRC cards are expected to be issued cards over the project’s duration (May 2021 to November 2022).[4] However, applying for the NRC still presents difficulties for women, and even if they are successful, the NRC continues to validate patriarchal policies at the state level. This essay sheds light on the challenges women encounter when applying for the NRC and how the NRC legitimizes gender-based discrimination in daily life. The 1982 Citizenship Act, created by the Burmese Socialist Programme Party, serves as the foundation for the current legal framework for citizenship documentation. This law defines “Native citizens” (မွေးရာပါနိုင်ငံသား) as those from ethnic groups such as the Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Chin, Burman, Mon, Rakhine, Shan, and others living in Myanmar before 1823 and the British invasion. Although they are not considered nationals (တိုင်းရင်းသား), legal citizens are nevertheless qualified to apply for citizenship. However, non-Buddhist minorities—including Muslims, Chinese, and even groups that the law considers indigenous, such as Kachin and Kayah—have experienced discrimination while seeking NRCs.[5] Women have more challenges than men in NRC applications, and women from ethnic and religious minority backgrounds face multiple barriers to accessing NRCs. According to Norwegian Refugee Council’s 2018 report,[6] women have limited knowledge and access to information about citizenship documentation. Most households prioritize applying for men’s citizenship documents, particularly when unofficial fees make it expensive for everyone at home to apply for a citizenship document. Even though an NRC cannot offer all of the rights that female citizens are guaranteed in all of Myanmar’s constitutions, not having an NRC makes life more difficult for women. The main objective of this article is to understand the institutional barriers that women experience during the application process for an NRC, as well as the state’s institutionalized patriarchal practices affecting women through the NRC. Although the article primarily uses data from a 2018 study, the findings are still relevant today. Because the NRC application is one of the routes for corruption by state officials, the alleged success of the SAC’s Pan Khin project during the unstable post-coup period generates many doubts about its effectiveness. More precisely, the project is being implemented amid turbulent political conditions in which more than 1,037,800 people have been internally displaced across Myanmar, as of June 1, 2022, due to country-wide armed conflicts,[7] and the recognition as citizens of nearly 890,000 Rohingya people fleeing Bangladesh remains uncertain.[8] Moreover, even in the democratic transition period, the NRC issuing processes were criticized as being corrupt, incorrectly registering applicants’ ethnicities, whether on purpose or accidentally, and utilized as a political tool for elections. Rushing the project instead of addressing the existing problems related to citizenship documentation leads to the issues becoming more entrenched, while women are marginalized based on their ethnicity, class, gender, and religion, and also encounter institutional impediments when seeking citizenship documents and the rights granted by those documents. This article clarifies the following issues based on data gathered in 2018: first, what NRC means to women; second, institutional and structural barriers; and third, patriarchal practices ingrained in citizenship documents. For the 2018 study, I collected qualitative data from 56 women of different ethnicities from different regions by conducting Focus Group Discussions and In-depth Interviews. The study focused on collecting case studies which represent the experiences and perspectives of the participants. The locations of the study were selected based on geographical differences: the lower part of the country (Hpa-An and Mawlamyaing); the economic hub of the country (Yangon); the Dry Zone (Magwe and Minbu); and the upper part of the country (Myitkyina and Namatee). The participants, who were over 18 years of age were recruited from both urban and rural areas; some had successfully obtained their NRC, while others have not. What the NRC means to women The first part of the article mainly investigates undocumented women’s vulnerability and their motivations for seeking an NRC. First, all the interviewed participants listed traveling issues as a priority. The reason is that an NRC is also used as a travel document for boarding flights, buses, and trains as well as for overnight stays in other locations. In previous decades, women, particularly those living in rural or ethnically underrepresented areas, did not make significant efforts to obtain an NRC because there was limited need or opportunity to travel, due to inadequate road access, a lack of security and safety, or other factors including cultural barriers for rural women taking overnight trips. Even if they had to travel, they brought the ward/village administration’s letter of endorsement, in lieu of an NRC. However, women in border regions—for instance, those from the states of Mon and Kayin—had reasons other than travel for applying for the NRC, because they had to rely on border trade or move over the border to find a job. In this instance, they needed to possess the official documents that can only be applied for with an NRC, either a border pass or a permit for legal stay in another country. Before, they weren’t concerned about having formal documents because they were crossing the border illegally. However, once they became aware of the potential of trafficking of female irregular migrants, they began to favor having the NRC, which serves as a supporting document when applying for a passport or border pass. The second justification has to do with job applications. When women applied for jobs, those who did not possess an NRC had to borrow NRC cards from close friends or relatives, listing the friend’s card number on the application. The NRC is the source that is used to confirm a cardholder’s background, age, and right to work. Most of these incidents occurred in industrialized urban areas, particularly in garment industries where a larger female labor force was needed. Employers carefully checked an applicant’s ID card to confirm their age and background after reports of labor exploitation in garment manufacturers became public in 2017, and the authorities sometimes monitored those factories due to pressure from the international community and human rights defenders. Those without an NRC often had to find cheap labor in canneries or shoe factories in the informal sector. Accessing microloans was a further justification for an NRC card. If women did not have one, they would have to borrow money from informal lenders at an interest rate of between 10 and 20 percent. Women also sought to obtain an NRC for their schooling or to connect that card to their child’s identity card application. The matriculation exam and university entrance were both off limits to those without an identity document. However, women from minority groups, such as Hindu or Muslim women, had different motivations for why the NRC was crucial to their ability to maintain their citizenship and avoid statelessness. They were more worried about security. For instance, one Tamil female participant noted that although Muslim and Hindu Tamils can appear quite similar, she was concerned that Tamil Hindus would be at risk in any conflict between Muslims and Buddhists. Additionally, Muslim women in the country’s center or other regions felt their citizenship was in jeopardy whenever the Rohingya crisis on the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar came up. These women were worried that nearby communities would experience more community violence and that they would become victims of the conflicts. They wanted NRCs to be able to defend their citizenship, preserve their citizenship, and exercise their rights as citizens. Institutional and structural barriers experienced by women applying for the NRC The second part of the study examined the institutional and structural barriers experienced by women in the ID card regime. In this case, not having adequate information, a lack of supporting documentation, having to pay unofficial fees to the immigration officers, and officers’ mistakes in data entry were the problems most experienced by women. Men also have the same experiences; however, seasonal laborers, migrant workers, rural women, and ethnic women are more vulnerable because rural women and ethnic women have a lower level of education, a lack of exposure to interacting with government authorities, and additionally, ethnic minority women experience a potential language barrier. For instance, the documents pertaining to one’s ancestors’ citizenship status as well as character reference letters from the ward and township administrations and the police are necessary when applying for an ID card. However, when the officers put pressure on the applicant to submit those documents, women retreated from the application procedure because their ancestors had not been in the habit of retaining their records. Such circumstances created an opportunity for immigration authorities to elicit bribes. In addition, men were given preference over women in a family to obtain an NRC when the family had to pay these expensive unauthorized fees to officials. Moreover, the ward and township administration or police force were male-dominated areas; rural women were not comfortable visiting those places frequently to obtain the necessary reference letters. When the officers questioned them extensively, women were reluctant to raise objections. This was brought on by a lack of experience working with government agencies and authorities. The fact that ethnic women were reluctant to speak Burmese was an additional barrier. As a result, the immigration officer often filled out the applicants’ information on their behalf due to either a literacy issue or a linguistic problem. This situation could create a human error, such as entering an incorrect birth date, name, or ethnicity. The applicants then had to start over at the beginning of the procedure if they wished to fix those errors. In this case, women often accepted the mistake as they felt uncomfortable to re-start the process. The chances of migrant or seasonal workers missing regularly scheduled government projects were also higher. Every two or three years, these ‘one-stop shop’ projects visit the ward or village to provide NRCs to those who do not have it. But the arrival of that project in the ward cannot be predicted, so migrants or seasonal workers might miss it. In order to obtain an NRC, they would have to visit the township immigration office separately. They were under time pressure because they could not take many vacation days from work, so when the officials took too long to issue their NRC, they had to pay unofficial fees to expedite the process. The corrupt officers more frequently victimized women in this situation since the officers were aware that women found it harder to travel or return to the office often until their card was issued. Patriarchal practices ingrained in citizenship documents The third section of the study investigated the patriarchal structure promoted by the NRC and its effects. Even though women might hold an NRC, this article demonstrates that several dynamics of discrimination restrict women’s ability to exercise equal citizenship rights. We can see what kinds of information need to be described in the NRC. For example, women’s employment status in the NRC and family registration list is typically listed as “dependent.”[9] Even though the female applicants wanted to be described as “household head”, the immigration officers did not accept that request. For example, one of the interviewed participants wanted to change her role to a household head on the family registration list while her father was paralyzed. But the officer told her she was not allowed as long as her father was alive. When her father died, she tried again. But the officer only recognized that her younger brother should take that role even though he is the youngest in the family, as he was the only man. Also, in some areas, women’s names were rarely recognized in land ownership documents. According to one of the participants in Kayin State, her name was allowed to be put in the land document only along with her husband’s name, even though her husband was living away and she was leading a farming business. Despite not being legally defined, the practices of favoring male household leaders are used as unwritten rules by officials. The dependent status in the NRC is always reflected in the status written in the family registration list. Thus, there are direct impacts on women’s economic and social lives and an indirect impact on their voting rights. For example, in the selection process of 10 household leader positions in 2012, only the heads of each family, mostly men, were invited to vote. So, when voting practices show a preference for one gender over another, women can essentially lose their right to vote, which could indirectly affect female candidates. Most voters were still men, even though the rules were altered in 2015 to allow one representative over 18 from each household to cast a ballot, whether a head of the family or not. That demonstrated how the state documents supported the idea that males should be the head of the home and women should be submissive in society. Additionally, although the dominant Bamar ethnic group does not require women to embrace their husband’s family name upon marriage – a custom long-cited as evidence of gender equality in Myanmar – women cannot be considered to enjoy equal rights with men.[10] For example, some ethnic groups, such as the Kachin, must still adopt the husband’s clan.[11] Therefore, the children must adopt the name and clan of their father. Identifying and preserving the father’s ethnicity has an effect on determining the ethnicity of the offspring. The father’s ethnicity is listed first in the NRC for those of mixed ethnicity. For instance, the children are Mon+Kayin ethnically since their father is Mon and their mother is Kayin. Similarly, the offspring would be considered “Kayin+Mon” if the father is Kayin and the mother is Mon. This case indirectly impacted the process of voting for ethnic ministers. Ethnic minorities were given one vote under the 2008 Constitution for the position of ethnic minister in each state or region. Therefore, a person of mixed ethnicity was only allowed to cast one vote in favor of the ethnic minister who represented them as the group listed first on their ID card. As a result, it appears that only the father’s ethnicity is acknowledged when choosing ethnic ministers. However, some respondents then expressed concern that as only their father’s ethnicity is recognized, their ethnic population in the state’s official documents would decline. Consequently, regarding CEDAW Article 9,[12] this practice directly restricts the rights of women and children. The third concern relates to the father’s name being recognized in the NRC and giving his identity card and signature more weight when children apply for their NRC. The contribution and recognition of single mothers is discouraged by this policy. This practice supports patriarchal norms because only fathers are recognized in children’s enrollment in school and their medical records from private or public institutions. Participants in the interviews asserted that this practice of favoring a father’s name when enrolling children in school or creating any registered documents resulted in more serious social problems, such as challenges with allowing single women to adopt children and difficulties with having an unwanted or unplanned pregnancy, while a male partner refuses marriage or support to his child. Conclusion Card holders use their NRCs for the following purposes: traveling, applying for jobs, education opportunities, access to property, as well as a guarantee for security as a citizen. This study found that women faced more barriers than males in the NRC application procedure, even though men may have similar reasons for acquiring NRC, such as for jobs and educational purposes. For example, the Federation of General Workers Myanmar’s recent report in August 2022 indicated that the Zhejiang Tongli Clothing factory dismissed about 100 workers whose NRC registered Regional codes were 5 (for Sagaing Region) or 8 (Magwe Region), as these regions have been leading the anti-military armed resistance among the Bamar-majority regions since the coup.[13] The military junta has forced people not to employ or accommodate those coming from these regions. Men from those regions have encountered military tyranny, but women’s suffering is two-fold, including both limited job opportunities and security concerns. This trend has increased the likelihood that female garment factory workers from Sagaing or Magwe regions will need to pay to rent or ‘borrow’ NRC cards from women from other regions in order to work. In this regard, women’s barriers to access to citizenship documentation are not only concerned with the state’s patriarchal institutionalized practices but also intersectional challenges related to class, religion, and ethnicity. First, migrant female workers and marginalized women such as Hindu and Muslim women, as well as illiterate women, have more difficulties acquiring the national ID card. Secondly, the most challenging factors women have encountered in the NRC application process include lack of adequate capacity in dealing with government officials, lack of education, lack of adequate information and supporting documents. Furthermore, language barriers also create limitations for non-Bamar ethnic minority women. Third, the practice of recognizing only fathers’ names and fathers’ ethnicity discriminates against women, particularly violating CEDAW’s Article (9). In addition, single mothers are disempowered because they are not adequately recognized. The status of women defined as “dependent” on their ID cards thus has negative impacts on women’s social, economic, and political life. For example, women have some limitations in applying for land ownership, voting, or running in an election because they are defined as “dependent”. Based on the findings, the study puts forward the following recommendations with the objective of giving women the ability to fully enjoy full citizenship rights by eliminating all limitations. The state should establish a women-friendly system at government offices such as the immigration, police, and township administrative offices. A women-friendly system means appointing female staff and officers to assist the female applicants in a friendly manner. The state needs to recognize self-determination with regard to ethnicity. This would allow children who are of mixed ethnicity to have the choice of whatever ethnicity they would like to identify with. Everyone needs to determine which ethnicity they represent to cast a vote for the ethnic minister position. The practice of recognizing only the father’s name on the national ID card and different kinds of application forms (including job applications and school enrollment) should be eliminated. Occupational status should not be included on the national ID card, or on the family registration list; or women should be given the right to define their own occupational status. Women will have to overcome obstacles in obtaining an NRC as well as limitations to enjoy the same rights as males as citizens as long as institutional impediments and practices of legitimizing patriarchy through NRC are not eradicated. The democratic forces working to create a federal democracy after a dictatorship should also think about the best way to address the ethnicity issue on the NRC and the wider system that preferences the father’s ethnicity..."
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Source/publisher: "Tea Circle" (Myanmar)
2022-09-12
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "စာစောင်မှာပါဝင်တဲ့ အကြောင်းအရာများကို page မှာဝင်ရောက်ဖတ်ရှုနိုင်သလို စာစောင်အပြည့်အစုံကို အောက်ပါ link ကနေ ဝင်ရောက်ဖတ်ရှုနိုင်ပါတယ်..."
Source/publisher: Women Alliance Burma
2022-09-11
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-11
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Description: "We, the Women's League of Burma (WLB) and the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) along with World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) , International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), Mesoamerican Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders, Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) and FORUM-ASIA are calling for global attention to stop the Burmese military junta from executing democracy activists, who are on the death row in detention including 9 women human rights defenders (WHRDs) . We are greatly concerned about their fate following the execution of Phyo Zeya Thaw; Kyaw Min Yu, known as "Ko Jimmy," Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw, the country's first death sentences carried out in over 30 years. Despite the widespread international condemnation of the execution, the military junta spokesman stated at a press conference that they had proceeded with the executions to keep the stability of the country in line with the rule of law, and it would not hesitate to repeat the actions. Moreover, the statement of the junta's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said that they would continue to "take necessary legal actions against criminals" and tell foreign governments and agencies to stop interfering in the country's domestic affairs. All WHRDs were convicted after closed trials in the military court that fell far short of international standards. Alarmingly, reports revealed that death row detainees at Insein Prison have been separated from other inmates and a number of prisoners may be at especially high risk, as they have received more than one death sentence for their anti-regime activities. All has indicated that the illegitimate military junta is planning to continue the horrifying execution of political prisoners sentenced in death penalty. As of 30 August 2022, a total of 8 3 post-coup death row political prisoners including the following 9 women human rights defenders: 1. Myit Myit Aye 2. Moe Moe Myit Aung 3. Zin Mar Tun 4. Hla Hla Naing (Ka) Ma Naing 5. Khin Wint Kyaw Maung 6. Hsu Wai Hnin 7. Su Myat Thwe. 8. Cho Cho 9. Aye Aye Min These women were among other many fellow women, who actively and bravely participated in various activities using their professional skills, facing great personal risks to protest against the military coup, and to put an end to the brutal military dictatorship. It is high time to take decisive action against these serious violations of international law to preserve international peace and security and fulfil mandates contained in Resolution 1674 regarding the protection of civilians and Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. The international community, the United Nations bodies, the United Nations Security Council and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) must raise their voices for securing the human rights, safety, and welfare of the women of Burma/Myanmar. Women's League of Burma (WLB) and Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) calls the International Community to: Condemn the Burmese military junta for killing civilians and executing Human Rights Defenders in the strongest terms and take effective action to stop further executions and atrocities Reject the Burmese military and its proxies by supporting and standing with the people of Burma to topple the military dictatorship; Apply concerted and strongest actions against the junta for the immediate and unconditional cessation of military violence and the release of all arbitrarily detained, including human rights defenders and WHRDs. Immediately dispatch a well-equipped monitoring and intervention mission to Burma to end the military violence and terror campaign against the people, to prevent further atrocities; Enact targeted sanctions against the Burmese military and its proxies to effectively cut off financial flows; Institute a comprehensive global arms embargo, with robust monitoring and enforcement mechanisms, to end the direct and indirect supply, sale, or transfer of all weapons and other equipment that may be used for training, intelligence and military assistance; Refer the situation on human rights in Burma to the International Criminal Court for their crimes against humanity, which have been perpetrated against innocent civilians, including peaceful protests and ethnic groups..."
Source/publisher: Women's League of Burma and Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development
2022-09-01
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "ဖက်ဒရယ်စနစ် သန္ဓေတည်ဖို့ ပြည်နယ်ဖွဲ့စည်းပုံအခြေခံဥပဒေ အကောင်အထည်ဖော်စို့" စကားဝိုင်းဆွေးနွေးပွဲမှ ကောက်နုတ်ချက်အပြည့်အစုံကို WLB ၏ ဝဘ်ဆိုဒ်တွင် ယခု ဖတ်ရှုနိုင်ပါပြီ။.....Now you can access the Federalism Beyond Revolution: Panel Discussion’s Journal; Volume 2 on the WLB's website..."
Source/publisher: Women's League of Burma
2022-08-22
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "For the first time in the nation’s history, the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Burma/Myanmar has reached nearly 1 million people. The junta has torched 12,000 civilian homes across the country, in what can only be viewed as the military’s overarching strategy to intentionally displace the population, rather than a by- product of local level retaliation. The Burmese Army is actively preventing the delivery of lifesaving assistance to people affected by the conflict – blocking roads, destroying non-military supplies, imposing travel restrictions on international humanitarian workers and arresting local activists and people delivering lifesaving aid to IDP camps from Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). Despite the overwhelming evidence that the Burmese Army has committed grave crimes against humanity, and is the root cause of the humanitarian crisis, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and ASEAN’s humanitarian body (AHA), agreed to deliver humanitarian aid to Karenni/Kayah, Karen states, and Magwe, Sagaing and Bago regions in consultation with the work committee of the military junta . OCHA and AHA’s assessment and delivery of programs will provide the junta with access to areas it has directly targeted with airstrikes and on-ground offensives. The agreement not only legitimizes the regime; it places the Burmese Army in a position to weaponize humanitarian aid. People all over Burma/Myanmar are facing severe food insecurity with an estimated 25 million people now living under the national poverty line, and 6.2 million people in need of life-saving aid. The conflict, along with the impact of COVID-19 containment measures, super-charged economic instability, leading to a currency crisis, rising inflation rates and a collapsed banking system. Women have been most impacted by the economic crisis, not just experiencing significant job losses, but taking on more unpaid care and domestic work. Women are also more likely than men to make sacrifices to reduce the financial stress on households. Alongside the peaceful pro-democracy movement, various armed resistance forces have emerged across the country. Some of the most effective armed resistance forces are fighting junta soldiers in an area called the Dry Zone, west of Mandalay. Not being a traditional battle ground for the junta, they have recruited, armed and trained pro-military networks to provide back-up, intelligence and local geographic knowledge. The pro-military networks are referred to widely as Pyu Saw Htee. The Pyu Saw Htee are reportedly poorly armed and have failed to take control of the region. The clashes between the two forces has unleashed a self- sustaining cycle of violence with retributive attacks on both sides..."
Source/publisher: Women's League of Burma
2022-07-11
Date of entry/update: 2022-07-11
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Sub-title: The grisly video may have been purposefully leaked in order to terrorize civilians and deter them from supporting anti-regime resistance forces.
Description: "Among the latest of many distressing videos to emerge from the killing fields of Myanmar was one of a young woman being decapitated, allegedly by army personnel who suspected her of being involved with a resistance group. On July 1, the two-minute video went viral among some Myanmar communities that have taken refuge in neighboring countries after fleeing from brutal military raids. A resident belonging to the Chin community in a border state of India’s northeastern region claimed that the woman was apprehended in Magwe Region after days of tracking by a combined squad of the military and loyalist militias known as Pyu Saw Htwe. “What we have heard so far is that the woman was on the hit list of the army and its band of loyalists. She had been putting in efforts to convince a section of police personnel to join the People’s Defence Force (PDF). Apparently, one among them in the region had joined the PDF,” the resident said on condition of anonymity. “The information about the woman’s role seemed to have been leaked by some police personnel loyal to the regime.” The chilling two-minute video shows the woman with tied hands kneeling at the porch of a wooden house with a man wielding a sword and standing by her side. The sword then descends on her neck and what followed thereafter bore a horrific similarity to some of the beheading videos released by the Islamic State not long ago. The neck was not severed completely when the executioner seemed to have been instructed by his companion to complete the job. After it was finally separated with a few more blows, the sword was thrust three times into the stomach of the woman’s headless corpse. Another member of the Indian refugee community was of the opinion that the video was deliberately filmed and leaked as a deterrent against similar efforts by the PDFs in the future. Magwe, which lies in central Myanmar, is the second largest of the seven Bamar majority regions in the disturbed country. The resistance movement against the military regime has also been among the most potent in this zone, where conflict has historically been rare, compelling the military to adopt ruthless tactics to put an end to the rebellion that seems to have garnered wide support among the populace. The latest ambush took place on June 9, when as many as 20 regime troops were reportedly killed following an ambush by the Yaw People’s Defense Force in Magwe’s Gangaw township. Videos and photographs of unbelievable atrocities committed by the military against the civilian populace have also emerged intermittently from Sagaing Region and Chin State since last year, when the PDFs were formed in order to resist the military regime that seized power in February 2021. Along with Magwe, these two regions, which border India, are among the greatest hotspots of resistance in the country. One video which was circulated among a section of the refugee community in India showed a male teenager being left to die by the military after being burned alive. He was reportedly a member of the Kalay PDF, which has been among the most active resistance squads in the country. Videos of settlements being raided and bombed were more common from Mindat township and the adjoining areas in southern Chin State, where a movement against the regime has become unflagging and widespread. The military regime’s atrocities are reflective of its increasing desperation to retain power by any means necessary, in the face of a swelling resistance in a large part of the country. According to most estimates, its effective fighting strength is no more than 100,000-120,000 troops, who are currently battling a large number of PDFs, ethnic armed organizations, and other unidentified resistance groups. While many PDFs are in alliance with the EAOs and owe their allegiance to the National Unity Government that has been set up to coordinate the resistance against the junta, some have been carrying out attacks independently, making the regime’s task of defeating them extremely difficult..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Diplomat" (Washington, D.C.)
2022-07-06
Date of entry/update: 2022-07-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "On this Int. Day for the #EliminationofSexualViolenceInConflict, KHRG stands with all victims and survivors of sexual violence in Burma. The Burma Army has a long history of using sexual violence as a weapon of war against civilians. As the military continues its reign of terror, KHRG condemns all crimes committed under conflict, including sexual and gender-based violence. KHRG recognises the gendered dynamics and impacts of war, as well as the nexus between sexual violence during conflict and conceptualizations of masculinity. Systematic and widespread crimes of sexual violence have been committed by Burma Army officers and their troops, including the current junta, upon both women and men, and are used to support structures of military power and subjugate dissidents, as well as inflict terror and repression. One survivor from Doo Tha Htoo (Thaton) District, who was captured by Burma soldiers and forced to porter, explained in 1992: “All night long the soldiers would come and drag women away to be raped. They took turns and women were often raped by several soldiers in one night. […] While I was being raped or trying to sleep, I could hear the screams of other women all around. This went on all night, and then in the morning they’d make us carry our loads over mountains again.” She endured this violence for 22 days prior to escaping. Another survivor from Kler Lwee Htoo (Nyaunglebin) District recounted being repeatedly violated in 1992 by the officer in charge while being held captive as a porter: “He just kept threatening that he’d give me to his men who’d rape me to death, waving his knife and demanding sex. I kept fighting but he tied up my other hand, and then he pushed me down and raped me.” Such forms of violence have continued unabated under successive military regimes. Since the 2021 military coup, feelings of fear and insecurity are constantly reported to KHRG by villagers in Karen State, especially by women, as widespread sexual crimes continue to be committed with impunity. Just the presence of soldiers in and near their villages has triggered memories of past violence, leading many to send young women to hiding sites. One IDP from the Lay Kay area (Doo Tha Htoo District) highlighted that due to the presence of soldiers in her village, “I do not let my younger sister return [from the hiding site] because I am afraid [fear sexual violence against her].” Given the current difficulty of crossing international borders to seek refuge and protection, all villagers, including those facing displacement, are at increased and constant risk of sexual and other gender-based crimes at the hands of the military. Bearing this severe situation in mind, KHRG argues for strong and immediate action to be taken against the military junta. Sexual violence as a weapon of war will continue to be perpetrated by the junta as long as the military escape accountability for their crimes..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group
2022-06-19
Date of entry/update: 2022-06-19
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Description: "This interview describes events that occurred in Kaw T’Ree (Kawkareik) Township, Dooplaya District in March 2022. The SAC LIB #355 indiscriminately fired a mortar shell into Htee Moo Hta village, Noh Hpoh village tract, Kaw T’Ree Township, Dooplaya District on March 24th 2022. A 17-year-old girl was hit in the head by a fragment of mortar and died immediately. Additionally, one male and two female villagers were injured by the indiscriminate shelling. Local villagers’ property was also damaged.[1] Interview | Htee Moo Hta village, Noh Hpoh village tract[2], Kaw T’Ree (Kawkareik) Township, Dooplaya District (March 2022) Name: Naw[3] E--- Gender: Female Age: 47 Religion: Buddhist Ethnicity: Karen Family Status: N/A Occupation: Health worker Could you please start to explain what happened during the incident? In the early morning [of March 24th 2022], there was gunfire at the Asia Highway [fighting broke out between the State Administrative Council (SAC)[4] and Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)[5] on the highway between Kawkareik and Myawaddy towns]. I heard the sound of gunfire for just two or three minutes. We were getting ready to move out of [flee from] the house but just before we stood up, a mortar shell [fired by the SAC Light Infantry Battalion (LIB)[6] #355] was already falling down on my home and [a fragment of exploded shell] hit my niece. I did not even reach [manage to get] underground [to hide in the bunker]. What is the distance between the Asia Highway and your place? The distance from my village to the highway is only about two or three miles [3.2 to 4.8 kilometres]. So, did they literally fire into the village or did the fighting happen in the [surrounding] area? Yes, the fighting happened [between the SAC and KNLA] by the side of the Asia Highway [outside of the village]. After the fighting broke out, the brutal Burma [SAC] soldiers fired [a mortar shell] into the village. What time was it? It was early morning, just past about 5:00 am. She [the victim] had already cooked a rice meal by that time [normally consisting of rice with curry or soup]. After she cooked [her meal], she put the dirty plates in the washing place. Just as she went to put the plates [in the washing place], the shelling immediately fell and [a fragment] hit her. [The plan was,] once she put the plates away, we would go underground [to hide in the bunker]. Did anyone go underground [to the bunker under their house]? We hadn’t gone down yet. Our neighbours around here were about to go and hide in the bunker because of the gunfire. It [the gunfire] was heard [by the villagers] for just a moment, but it was not for long [so they did not make it to the bunker]. How many people were inside the house during the gunfire? During the gunfire, only two of us, my niece and I, were inside the house. As I do not have a husband, I adopted one of my nieces. So I consider her my child because she is my older brother’s child. I have looked after her since she was very little and I supported her in school until high school Standard [Grade] Ten. Due to the unstable situation at school [school closures due to the coup and COVID-19], she came back to stay at home. How did the mortar shell hit her? The fragment of mortar shell hit her directly on her head. When I looked at my niece, her skull was broken and her brain was falling out. How could I help her? Were you by yourself when you saw her get hit and fall down? Yes, I [was by myself when I] saw it all because it was just the two of us [in the house]. I immediately went to pick her up and hug her. As the shelling was still going on, our neighbours around us would not dare to come and help us. I was angry about that at first. I said to the other villagers that, “I was very helpful to you in the past. Even when you were sick and injured, I had to take you [to get treatment] and look after you at night. When the problem has turned to me, none of you even take a look at me”. A few minutes later, when the shelling stopped, two or three of the villagers came to [help] me. What is the name of your niece and how old is she? Her name is Naw Bleh Cho. She is 17 years old. She was born in 2005. She is still very young. Exactly, it has cost me a lot to support her at school. As it [the incident] happened so quickly, it has been unbearable for me. I do not feel normal yet when I think of her. Also, my house and my flowers and plants are very damaged. It will still cost a lot to repair the damage. The shelling fell on the roof, so the rooftop as well as the floors are all broken. What else is damaged? The other damaged property includes the rooftop of my rice barn and one of my concrete water containers for bathing; it did not break the water container itself but the cement floor around is broken into pieces. Are there any other damages or casualties in the village? Three other villagers were injured. They are U[7] N---, 45 years old and his wife, Naw L---, 38 years old. They are husband and wife. The other injured villager is Naw M---, aged 35 years old. Naw L--- got a minor injury to her lower calf but it was not severe. Her husband was injured in the stomach from the exploded fragment and fell down immediately, but the fragment did not go inside his belly. Naw M--- was hit in her waist and the shrapnel exited through her buttocks Is their house close to yours? Yes, their house is close to mine. Naw M---’s house is just on the other side of the road from my house. She was chopping firewood underneath the house [raised house] during the shelling. Where are they undergoing treatment now? We did not know where to transfer Naw M----, so we just took her to the public hospital at Thingannyinaung Town. For the husband and wife [U N--- and Naw L---], they were not severely injured so they just underwent treatment in the village [from a health worker] and then came back to stay at their house. Has Naw M--- been discharged from hospital? She has not been discharged yet as her condition is very severe. She might have to stay there for more than 10 days. Who took her to hospital? Just the villagers from here, Htee Moo Hta village. After she was hit [by the fragment of mortar], was she still conscious? She, the woman who was transferred to the hospital, was still conscious after she was hit. But she felt dizzy and did not dare to look around. She was not unconscious. Did anyone provide support to pay for the expenses for the treatment [of all the injured villagers]? I do not know anything about that. They have to pay for everything by themselves. For my niece, one of the KNLA officials provided a donation of over 300,000 kyats [USD 162.03][8]. I do not remember his name. Do you know which armed group fired the mortar shell? It might be the Burma soldiers [KHRG’s researcher confirmed that it was SAC LIB #355]. I do not think that the Karen [KNLA] soldiers have that type of artillery. After the incident happened [the shelling], how did you arrange the funeral [for your niece]? I kept her for one night at my house, and yesterday [March 27th 2022] we took her and buried her at a cemetery [according to Buddhist practices]. Were there any other damages due to the shelling? The car of U N--- [one of the injured villagers] was damaged. The mirror of the car was hit by a fragment from the exploded mortar. So, how many mortar shells fell on your house? One mortar shell fell on my house but exploded into many fragments. If two or three shells had fallen on us, we would have all died. Even though just one fell, the fragments injured people horribly. It was only one shell [that was fired into the village]? Yes, it was just one. U N--- and his three or four children [who were at home with him at the time] were shielded by the bathroom. If the bathroom had not been there, it would be terrible to imagine. I have to thank God for the protection. Are there any authorities from armed groups or the village head who have come to provide support and look after you? I do not see such things. Did they [the SAC] give any warning before firing the mortar? We had heard from the village head that they [SAC soldiers] said, “If anyone fights against us, we will fire mortars into the village.” So they [village authorities] warned us to be cautious when staying in the village. After the incident happened, did any of the Burma [SAC] soldiers enter to check the situation in the village? No, they did not come. How would you like to express your feelings on this incident? If I have to say something about it. It gravely affects my life. You can imagine that I supported my niece in attending school so that she would become an educated person. I am not a wealthy person so I have had to try very hard for her to get a chance to attend school. To get an education today, the priority is money. I am not rich because I just farm and sell rice. Then, I sent my niece to school with the income that I get from farming. I supported my niece from Standard [Grade] Five until Ten. The [school] expenses cost a lot. How much do you think it would cost if you have to repair all the damaged materials in your home? Umm, nowadays, everything is valuable and expensive. The zinc roofing of my barn alone already cost over 100,000 kyats [USD 54.01]. If I have to repair all the damaged materials, I think it would cost up to 1,000,000 kyats [USD 540.10] or much more. How do you feel about this incident? It put us in a state of fear and anxiety. The villagers are more concerned for their security because of the shelling into our village. As there are many villagers here, someone will [undoubtedly] be hit if a mortar falls into the village. If they [the SAC] still continue activities like this in the future, it would cause a lot of suffering to the villagers. They do not tell us when they will start fighting. Sometimes, we are in bed at night [when they start fighting]. How can you stay alert to the shelling while you are sleeping? That’s why. There will be much more difficulty if the situation continues like this. How do most villagers here secure their livelihood? My village is in a mountainous area close to [Myawaddy] town. Most villagers farm (work on hill farms or plantations). Villagers will not go to Bangkok or move to another village to find other work. We just stay in our own homes. What do you do to earn a livelihood? For me, I just farm and serve as a health worker with my experience and knowledge from attending a medical training offered by the Myanmar government [prior to the coup]. What would you like to tell the local authorities including the village head and soldiers, about taking action and responsibility? I do not want to put more of a burden on them [local authorities]. Even if they take action [against armed groups] for the situation today, such situations can [are likely to] keep happening in the future. If it continues like this, the village leaders will have more concerns. That’s why I do not want to put a burden on them. I also work for the community. I have been working as a medic for over 20 years. I know everything about the villagers’ concerns, from my experience [as a health worker]. How has this incident impacted the villagers’ movements outside the village? Are they afraid to go out? The night after the shelling, the village head called a meeting about whether the villagers wanted to move out [displace] or not. But how can the villagers move if they do not have [cannot bring] food supplies with them? Healthcare is also important because there are a lot of elders and children in the village. So the villagers responded to him by saying that they would not move. We will just stay like this until we die. We will just carry on with our livelihoods and stay [in the village] as long as we can. Is it also hard to move? Yes, it is extremely hard to move. Where can we move to in the [local] area? Even if we move to the mountains, we will have to bring our food with us and then the weather is also unstable. If the medicine supplies are not sufficient for healthcare, especially for children and elders, you cannot hide in the mountains, can you? That’s why if we move, we will suffer more. What are the other villagers’ perspectives about this incident? Regarding the shelling, some of the villagers also feel angry because the people who fight are soldiers, but the shelling affects the villagers. This upsets them. The Karen soldiers fight against Burma [SAC] soldiers. If the Burma [SAC] soldiers were humane, they might fight the soldiers directly. Instead, they oppress the villagers by shelling into the village, so villagers are affected the most. What will you do with your life now? I am not sure about the rest of my life as I am growing old. I will just continue to do my work as much as I can. What else do you want to express or share? With today’s situation on my mind, I do not want such things like shelling into our village to affect us. If possible, we also do not want to see our villagers injured like this. But we cannot prevent the activities of soldiers, can we? As we cannot prevent [military activity], we just have to suffer when it happens. It is very bad to be a civilian. If the authorities [any of the authorities, whether the SAC or ethnic armed groups] do not permit travelling, we cannot do anything and we just have to stay under the control of the authorities. Right now, do the villagers feel secure to travel? We do go to buy things from Thingannyinaung Town, but if the sun is rising higher [it is during the day] we have to travel with caution. Are there any soldiers who check you when you travel along your way? There has been no checking so far. It is only three miles to Thingannyinaung Town. It is quick to reach there. The villagers do not go further than that. They just shop there for a bit and come back. Previously, where did you usually shop? We used to buy [products] from Ra M’Tee [Myawaddy] and Kaw T’Ree [Kawkareik] towns before. If the villagers wanted to buy products from Myanmar they went to Kaw T’Ree Town, while some purchased products from Thailand from Ra M’Tee Town. Due to the unstable situation today, prices are getting higher and higher. Villagers are struggling the most with this situation. In your village, are there any bunkers that you have made for hiding? Yes, some villagers have made them recently but some of the bunkers were dug a long time ago and have now been fixed. Did you recently make a bunker for hiding? Yes, we made a bunker at the beginning of 2022 when we heard about the incident [airstrikes and attacks] in Lay Kay Kaw Town.[9] Has almost every individual made a bunker? Yes, almost everyone has made a bunker. But some, two or three families, share the same bunker. Currently, some villagers do not even dare to sleep inside their house at night. They just sleep at the entrance of the bunker. Are people still sleeping in the bunker since the recent shelling? Yes. [However,] after the incident [shelling on March 24th], there has not been anymore shelling into the village. Even when there was shelling, it landed outside of the village. So the situation is a bit better than before. Further background reading on the situation of fighting and indiscriminate shelling Dooplaya District in Southeast Burma can be found in the following KHRG reports: “Southeast Burma Field Report: Intensification of armed conflict, air and ground attacks, and widespread human rights violations, July to December 2021”, March 2022. “Dooplaya District Short Update: A woman was killed by mortar shrapnel during indiscriminate shelling by armed groups, February 2022”, March 2022. “Dooplaya District Situation Update: Indiscriminate shelling, fighting, forced labour, peace talks, and the COVID-19 pandemic, August to September 2021”, February 2022..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group
2022-05-18
Date of entry/update: 2022-05-18
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Description: "Dearest brave mothers of Myanmar, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for being amazing and wonderful mothers to all of us your children. On this special occasion of Mother’s Day we pray and send our best wishes and prayers to you all, specially to our dearest Amay, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, elected leader and the State Counsellor along so many brave mothers who remain in uncommunicable conditions under the brutal and bloodstained hands of the genocidal military generals in Myanmar. They are and you are not only the light of hope but truly our heroes, you carried us in your wombs, and you nurtured all these brave and peace -freedom loving children, sons, and daughters of Myanmar. As sons and daughters of yours, children of Myanmar, we once again made our commitment and promise you that we will do everything we can to free your beloved children the people of Myanmar from darkness to light, from injustices to justice, from un-righteousness to righteousness, from despair to hope, from hate to love, from a reign of terror to a reign of peace, from genocidal military dictatorship to a flourishing federal democracy, and from tyranny to freedom. Dearest mothers, thank you so much indeed for holding that unshakeable hope with us that justice is coming to our people, freedom is coming to our country, light is defeating the darkness in front of us, and righteousness is wiping out un-righteousness, love is prevailing over hate, truth is defeating the lies, and peace is winning over war. Dearest mothers, we cannot wait to celebrate a Happy Mother’s Day with you in the new Myanmar, free Myanmar, true federal Democratic Myanmar. All these tears and pain we endure today will fruit tomorrow as peace, freedom, human rights and federal democracy for ALL the people of Myanmar regardless of race, religious, culture, languages, gender, background, ethnicity and the rights of ALL will be respected, protected and promoted including the women’s rights . Today, we are weeping because of the unspeakable pain, suffering, death and destruction caused by this cruel and brutal genocidal military dictatorship, but all these tears will become joy and happiness in tomorrow’s new and free Myanmar. Lastly, I would like to reflect with gratitude to our countries “Democratic Mother” Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who has worked tirelessly to nurture our democracy into a mature force for good in our nation..."
Source/publisher: Dr. Sasa via Ministry of International Cooperation Myanmar
2022-05-08
Date of entry/update: 2022-05-08
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Description: "This year's theme for Myanmar’s International Women’s Day is “Break the bias, Reject Dictatorship”. On this day, we would like to celebrate all women and girls fighting for democracy, human rights, justice, and peace not only in Myanmar but across the world. We also would like to honor those women and girls who have sacrificed their lives during our revolution. Since the coup in Feb 2021, more than 107 women have been murdered by the junta. And many women and girls have reportedly been tortured and some even sexually assaulted during their detention and interrogation by the fascist military. Successive military generals in Myanmar have used bias against women for decades, discriminating against them in all aspects of life. The history of Myanmar under military generals and their brutal dictatorship is filled with evidence of this bias, and rampant violence against women in particular. The world knows these inhuman generals have used not only bullets and fighter jet as weapons but also raped and other forms of gender-based abuse, causing women to suffer for the rest of their lives. There has been not only intimidation, torture, and discrimination against women in general, but they have imprisoned and insulted our elected leaders, like the State Counselor of Myanmar, Daw Aung San Su Kyi. In fact, the first victim of the Military coup was a young woman student, just 19 years old – Mya Thwate Thwate Khine. It is very telling that the first victim of the junta's “shoot to kill” policy was a woman. The testimony of the junta's victims, whether Rohingya, Kachin, Chin, Karen, Kareni, Rakhine, Shan, Mon or Barma were shocking and there seems to be no end to the litany of crimes the junta is responsible for. Mountains of evidence are even now being collected by UN bodies such as the Independent Investigation Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM). These Military generals will be held accountable for their terrorism, and in this pursuit, no stone will be left unturned. We will bring these perpetrators to justice through national and international justice mechanisms. Even as we were preparing this statement for international women’s day, it was reported that a woman was raped and killed together with her 3-year-old daughter by the military terrorists in Pauk, Magway division. There are many similar events committed by the fascist junta, both in the past and at the present. We will never forget their crimes and we will continue to fight to dismantle the military dictatorship and fight for a country where we can end all forms of discrimination and dismantle the military dictatorship. We will fight for a country free of bias, stereotypes, gender violence, and sexual discrimination. To all the women and girls in our country, keep fighting for the revolution, and to all the women and girls whom we have lost during our revolution, we promise you all that your sacrifices are not in vain, and together we can build a country that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive. Together we can all BREAK THE BIAS and END DICTATORSHIP..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of International Cooperation Myanmar
2022-03-08
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-09
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Description: "Myanmar regime forces raped a mother before killing her and her two daughters last Saturday in Magwe Region’s Pauk Township. Junta troops also detained 29 villagers as potential human shields. Some 70 Myanmar military soldiers, police and pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia raided Inn Nge Htauk Village in Pauk Township on Saturday, forcing villagers to flee their homes. Daw Aye Aye Win, 42, was caught trying to escape and was then raped and killed. Her four-year-old daughter was also stabbed to death, according to local residents. Daw Aye Aye Win was raped in a wayside public rest house near her home. A volunteer doctor from a local resistance group carried out a post-mortem on her body and confirmed that she had been raped, a resident told The Irrawaddy. “Junta troops raided Inn Nge Htauk on March 5, firing heavy guns. All the villagers fled and so did Daw Aye Aye Win’s family. The husband and wife fled separately and the wife and the daughter were caught. She was raped at a public rest house not far from her home,” said the resident. Junta troops also detained 29 villagers, including nine children, as potential human shields. Among the young detainees was another of Daw Aye Aye Win’s daughters, an 11-year-old, whose dead body was found three days later by a creek near the village, according to locals. Some detainees were reportedly killed in junta custody. The Irrawaddy, however, was unable to verify those reports independently. Fighting took place in Inn Nge Htauk from last Saturday to Tuesday. Five resistance fighters were killed by junta soldiers in the clashes and their bodies were subsequently set on fire, local sources said. Military regime forces and Pyu Saw Htee militia are deployed in Wun Chone Village, Pauk Township. The village is reported to be a Pyu Saw Htee stronghold and junta soldiers have used it as a base to raid the surrounding villages of Lelyar, Letpan Hla and Inn Nge Htauk. Lelyar Village, which has 252 households, was raided on March 3. Regime troops torched 210 houses. Letpan Hla Village was raided the following day, and half of the village’s 120 households were burned down, said locals. One resident said: “With their [junta forces] megalomaniac streak, they view anyone unlike them as their enemy, kill and intimidate them, torch their houses and loot their possessions. The higher-ups turn a blind eye to these acts to demoralize the people so that they never dare to hold up their heads, speak the truth and demand a different system.” Since early March, people from at least 12 villages in Pauk have been forced to flee junta raids. Over 6,100 civilian houses have been destroyed in the 13 months since the military’s coup, according to a report by Data for Myanmar, an independent research organization..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2022-03-09
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-09
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Description: "HURFOM: On this International Women’s Day, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) wishes to extend our support and appreciation for the women of Burma, who continue to show great strength and resilience during these challenging times. Against the backdrop of the military junta’s deplorable actions, women of all ages and backgrounds have stood tall in the face of adversity, and used their courage to conquer the patriarchal entity that is the Tatmadaw. No revolution has ever been successful without the participation and leadership of women and girls. This is all the more true in Burma, where hundreds have been killed and thousands detained by the military junta. Despite widespread oppression of their rights and freedoms, women have continued to show their commitment to the Spring Revolution on the frontlines as medics and soldiers with allied opposition forces and through joining various pro-democracy causes such as the Civil Disobedience Movement. Over the last year, HURFOM has documented a notable increase in the targeting of young women in Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi region by the junta. Students in particular are regularly abducted for organizing pro-democracy activities and providing moral or monetary support to the various resistance movements. Female students are regularly abducted by the security forces where they face even more risks in junta custody, as the regime has a reputation of sexually harassing and raping women in prison. As a result of the instability, young people have attempted to flee to neighboring countries but have regularly been denied asylum and sent back to Burma. A majority of them are young women who are being deprived of their fundamental protection rights. Indiscriminate firing and shelling have also led to violence being deployed against women and resulted in them being killed or injured in the crossfire of violence. There are an estimated 20,000 new internally displaced people in southern Karen and Tanintharyi region, with the majority being women and children. The targeted gendered violence and abduction of young women and girls is symptomatic of a wider problem of impunity, which incites further violations of human rights. The junta has created systems which shield soldiers from accountability and embodies a deeply flawed entity which lacks moral consciousness and compassion of the harm they are willingly perpetrating. They have also long denied and dismissed the lived experiences and trauma of ethnic women who have been violated by the Burma Army. HURFOM envisions a future for women in Burma where they are safe from all forms of violence, and are recognized as true equals across all sectors. HURFOM is regularly inspired by the advocates and young women leaders in our community, and we look proudly to their leadership in the current context, and future challenges which lay ahead..."
Source/publisher: Human Rights Foundation of Monland
2022-03-08
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-09
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Description: "This International Women’s Day, we, Women’s Peace Network, would like to express our gratitude to all the women across the world who stand up for their rights and fight for equality, peace, justice, and freedom. For a more just world, these women have risked their lives to dismantle the system of patriarchy and oppression underpinning our society. We take this day to remember them and remind ourselves of their legacy. Today also marks over a year since the Myanmar military toppled an elected government, intensifying its decades-long campaign of terror against our country’s people. Despite losing more than 90 women to the junta, at least 1600 to arbitrary arrest and detention, and hundreds of thousands more to forced displacement, we continue to risk our lives for full equality and self-determination. Ethnic minority communities know the Myanmar military’s hatred of us all too well: for generations, its forces have committed mass atrocity crimes, including the most egregious forms of sexual and gender-based violence, across our homelands. Amid its genocide against Rohingya, the military has weaponized sexual violence to strategically destroy our country’s ethnic minority and indigenous group. The victims and survivors of such atrocities await justice to this day. We are thus working tirelessly to defeat this patriarchal regime that only serves to subjugate us. In Myanmar and beyond, many of us know that our collective future rests upon a truly inclusive and democratic system that holds perpetrators of all forms of injustice accountable. This International Women’s Day, we ask you to remember and celebrate these brave women not just today but every day. At Women’s Peace Network, we stand in solidarity with our fellow women and fight to ensure that the Myanmar military is held accountable for its heinous crimes. When this justice is served, we will embrace our victory. Until then, we ask you to join our fight. We will never be free until all of us are free..."
Source/publisher: Women's Peace Network
2022-03-08
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-09
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Description: "Today, on International Women's Day 2022, the Women's League of Burma condemns the coup d’etat committed by the militaristic Tatmadaw that obstructs our efforts to achieve our equality objectives by actively reinforcing the patriarchy. On February 1, 2021, the Tatmadaw staged a coup to revitalize military dictatorship, and coup has not only violated democratic principle, but it has also taken away the opportunities to promote the participation and leadership role of women in politics as well as in every other level of decision-making. Furthermore, the institutionalization of male dominance is not only strengthening the systems that favor men and traditional practices that treat women as a subordinate class who are weak and dependent, but it is also leading to an increase in violence against and oppression of women. With the intention to aggravate fear among the public, the Tatmadaw has been using different forms of sexual violence including rape as weapons of war in non-Bamar ethnic areas for more than 70 years. Since the military coup, the strategic use of sexual violence has been rising substantially. Women have become targets of gender-based human rights violations and war crimes including murder, unlawful detention, imprisonment, and hostage-taking since the coup. And the military's continued commitment of these crimes with impunity have led to a total of 107 women killed and 1527 women imprisoned. So long as the Tatmadaw remains in power and continues to bolster the entrenchment of patriarchy, they will continue to enjoy impunity for committing war crimes. Therefore, we, the Women's League of Burma, would like to reiterate that now is a crucial time to eradicate the Tatmadaw and all the other institutions that are based on patriarchy. Therefore, to build a peaceful federal union in which we want to reside, Women's League of Burma hereby urge young people, women and all revolutionary forces including Spring Revolution forces to join our efforts in collectively abolishing not only the military dictatorship but all forms of dictatorship that are underpinned by patriarchy alongside the slogan, "For equality, end patriarchy"..."
Source/publisher: Women's League of Burma
2022-03-08
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-08
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Description: "As today, March 8th, marks International Women’s Day, KHRG would like to honor all the women who have defended human rights and continue to do so in this critical time. We extend our appreciation for their contributions, dedication and achievements now and in the past. This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is “Break the Bias” meaning that all of us, collectively, must work together to break gender bias and ensure women’s equality. Whether deliberate or unconscious, bias makes it difficult for women to move ahead. Bias against women exists at every level of our communities and can only be broken if each of us is active in fighting against it. Since the military coup on February 1st 2021, women have actively led and participated in the fight for human rights and democracy. Women led the first anti-coup protests and the first person to be killed in anti-coup protests was a woman. Since then, countless women have made unspeakable sacrifices in the fight for democracy and human rights. As the situation in Burma/Myanmar has become increasingly dangerous and unpredictable, more and more women have become victims of killing, torture, rape and detention. However, women are choosing to fight back at whatever cost to regain their rights and the rights of all people in Burma/Myanmar. During past periods of armed conflict in Burma, women often assumed positions of authority within their communities, despite the risk to their own security. Due to fighting and human rights abuses, many men fled their villages or went to fight on the frontlines, leaving women to take on leadership roles traditionally occupied by men. Following ceasefire agreements in 2015, men have taken back positions of authority. Women in Burma, however, continue to actively fight for human rights and a better future for their children, yet often in the margins. As armed conflict has resumed, women are once again taking on risky positions within their communities. Women’s voices and their leadership need to be recognised and promoted in this critical time, but also ensured into the future. In Southeast Burma where armed conflict is escalating, thousands of civilians have been displaced, including women and children. Displaced mothers and pregnant women are living in conditions unsafe for childbirth and adverse to the caring of young children. Displacement sites leave women subject to physical security, food insecurity, poor sanitation, COVID-19 infection and other illnesses, inclement weather, and other unforeseeable threats. The defence of human rights is thus critical to the defence of women’s rights in such situations. Today, we would like to honour all the women who have given or dedicated their lives for others, women who have fallen victim to atrocities and chose to fight, and women who take care of and protect their communities. As we recognize these women and their courage, all of us must continue fighting for a more equal world where there is no more bias, stereotypes and discrimination..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group
2022-03-08
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "New UN study says fear, violence, and isolation prevents Myanmar women from accessing income and healthcare Bangkok -- Rising violence and insecurity are forcing women in Myanmar to stay away from jobs and healthcare services, says a new UN survey of over 2,200 women, which signals a deterioration of development gains in the country. "Regressing Gender Equality in Myanmar: Women Living Under the Pandemic and Military Rule", which launched today on International Women's Day, finds that women are losing ground on development gains, due to fear of violence. The survey conducted in December 2021 found that one-third of women are afraid of walking in their neighbourhoods, even during the day. This is a sharp departure from what women in Myanmar said in 2019, when only 3.5 percent of women reported feeling unsafe during the daytime, in their communities. Half of the women surveyed said they do not feel safe outside their neighbourhoods, and a full third reported feeling unsafe in their own homes, at night. "The survey sends a clear and chilling message that the fear of violence is preventing the women of Myanmar from living a normal life. This must be addressed right away," said Kanni Wignaraja, UNDP's Director for the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific. The pandemic and heightened insecurity from the military takeover has gravely impacted women's finances and health. Without investments in their safety, agency, and capacities, women will be unable to take ownership of their lives and take care of their families. This will have a direct adverse effect on future generations and on the overall prosperity of Myanmar." The survey also paints a bleak view on the economic front. Nearly seven out of 10 women report that household income has fallen since the coup, exacerbated by the pandemic. Women living in rural areas are experiencing a continual decline in their incomes. With shrinking household incomes, women report skipping meals, taking out loans, and selling off anything valuable to make ends meet. This drastic fall in economic prosperity for women must immediately be halted and the wider health and welfare of women in Myanmar must be prioritized for the country to rebound following COVID-19. "The women of Myanmar have played a key role in the development of their country," said Sarah Knibbs, Officer-in-Charge for UN Women Asia and the Pacific. "Women drove the response to Cyclone Nargis in 2008 and the transition to democracy after 2012. They rushed to the front lines to help battle waves of COVID-19, and now they have been leading the peaceful movement demanding a return to democracy. They are the future of this country, as this report shows, and we need to give priority to their needs and concerns." Women's health is also affected by the rising insecurity in Myanmar. Half the women reported that access to healthcare services is becoming more difficult. One out of ten pregnant or breastfeeding women had a pregnancy or childbirth issue for which public or private health services could not be accessed. This is an extremely troubling statistic for infant mortality and maternal health in Myanmar. The report adds that the compounding effects of COVID-19 and the political unrest on women's security, finances, and health will not disappear quickly. Women are likely to face setbacks for years to come. It is important to reverse this trend quickly to recoup the gains that were being made towards gender equality..."
Source/publisher: UN Development Programme and UN Women via Reliefweb (New York)
2022-03-08
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Women in Myanmar have shown their strength over decades of armed conflict. They have also reshaped a landscape of patriarchal values that have long attempted to shape the country. Advocates have been calling for stronger legislation to protect women from physical and emotional violence, but there has been a disappointing lack of desire to pass laws which would protect survivors and ensure access to justice. The malice exhibited by the Myanmar junta includes many years of sexual violence perpetrated during internal conflict. Under these harrowing circumstances, women and girls bear the burden. They are targeted by soldiers while trying to escape raids, and flee organized violence. Those who survive are left traumatized and often without adequate access to psychosocial counseling. Their lives, along with their families, are forever marred by the regime’s vehemence. Pathways to justice are filled with roadblocks, including costly trials and protection granted to soldiers. The junta has been able to evade accountability and increase the likelihood of repeat offenses. Years of impunity has reinforced a deeply flawed legal system that denies the dignity, safety and security of victims. Since the failed Myanmar coup on 1 February 2021, civilians have come under fire as soldiers have attempted to squander resistance movements through any means necessary. Over 1,500 people have been killed and hundreds more injured, according to local documentation groups. Against this backdrop of unyielding violence, women’s resistance movements have prevailed under the darkest of circumstances. Pro-democracy campaigns have taken place in spite of the threats and risks to their physical and digital security. In the presence of the Myanmar military, women have never been safe. Nevertheless, women’s voices for change continue to persevere. Against all odds, indeed, they continue to resist..."
Source/publisher: Network for Human Rights Documentation - Burma
2022-03-08
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "On International Women’s Day, the UN in Myanmar reaffirms its solidarity and commitment to the women and girls across Myanmar. As we mark the occasion of International Women’s Day, the United Nations in Myanmar reiterates its commitment to put women and girls at the centre of its development and humanitarian work in response to the ongoing crises in the country, to ensure that their needs are met, and to support their role and agency in shaping a future path for their country. The theme for 2022 is “gender equal today for a sustainable tomorrow”, recognizing that gender equality and women's rights are fundamental to global progress on peace and security, human rights, and sustainable development. Throughout history, the women of Myanmar have played a key role in the development of their country. In the past two years, they have both assumed a leading role in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and been at the forefront calling for a return to democracy and respect of human rights while being disproportionally affected by the compounded crises that the country is going through. According to the latest humanitarian update from the United Nations in Myanmar, as of 28 February 873,000 people are displaced in Myanmar, including 502,600 people who have fled their homes since 1 February 2021 and 370,400 people from previous conflicts. The majority of IDPs are women and girls. Both the World Bank and International Labour Organization analyses show that the socio-economic impact of the crisis has disproportionally affected women and girls. According to the ILO, 580,000 women were estimated to have lost their employment in just the first six months of 2021. A recent Study by the UN Development Programme and UN Women reveals that women are bearing the brunt of the impact of COVID-19 and the military takeover with its unprecedented impact on the economy. Women have adopted drastic coping mechanisms to deal with falling incomes and nearly half of women report a significant increase in their unpaid care and domestic work, reducing their chances to earn a livelihood. Women are also reporting increased difficulty in reaching services including maternal health services. To address this reality, the members of the United Nations Country Team have worked tirelessly with local women civil society organizations and their partners to prioritize the need of women and girls in their response to the crises. In 2021, the United Nations delivered sexual and reproductive health services for 46,158 women and gender-based violence services for 28,611 women across the country and supported 6,502 maternal emergency referrals, helping women in hard-to-reach and conflict-affected areas to receive essential health care. The UN also delivered food and nutrition assistance including school feeding and resilience building support for about 1.5 million women and girls across the country, reached more than a quarter of a million women and girls with critical water, sanitation and hygiene supplies and provided more than 120,000 conflict-affected women and girls with access to safe water. Together with partners, over 14,000 girls and 3,500 women were also provided with mental health and psychosocial support services, delivered in communities and through child-friendly spaces. With support from donors, the UN has provided the equivalent of 1.7 million USD in cash transfers to 39,042 vulnerable garment workers, overwhelmingly women. Financial inclusion partners also provided loans totaling more than 498 million USD to 2.4 million clients, 91 per cent of whom were women, in the first half of 2021. In additional 5.2 million USD in loans were disbursed to more than 257,000, 93 per cent women, in conflicted-affected areas. On International Women’s Day, the UN in Myanmar reaffirms its solidarity with women and girls, and its commitment to stand by their side as they forge the future of their country. We also echo the words of the UN Secretary-General in recognizing the contribution of women and girls, their ideas, innovations, and activism that are changing our world for the better, and their leadership across all walks of life. Without gender equality today, a sustainable future, and an equal future, remains beyond our reach..."
Source/publisher: UN Country Team in Myanmar via "Reliefweb" (New York)
2022-03-08
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "ဆယ်စုနှစ်များနှင့် ချီသည့် ပဋိပက္ခ စစ်ပွဲများအတွင်း မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ အမျိုးသမီးများသည် ၎င်းတို့၏ ကြံ့ခိုင် သန်မာမှုကို ပြသခဲ့ကြသည်။ တိုင်းပြည်တွင် နှစ်ပေါင်းများစွာ အမြစ်တွယ်နေသည့် ဖိုဝါဒ ကြီးစိုး မှုကိုလည်း ပုံစံပြောင်းပစ်ကြသည်။ အမျိုးသမီးများအပေါ် ရုပ်ပိုင်း၊ စိတ်ပိုင်းဆိုင်ရာ အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများ မှ ကာကွယ်ရန် ခိုင်မာသည့် ဥပဒေများ ပြဌာန်းပေးရန် တောင်းဆို စည်းရုံးလှုံ့ဆော်ကြသည်။ အသက် ရှင်သန် ကျန်ရစ်သူများအား အကာအကွယ်ပေးရန်နှင့် တရားမျှတမှု ရရှိစေရန် အာမခံမည့် ဥပဒေများ ပြဌာန်းရန် ဆန္ဒမရှိသည်မှာ စိတ်ပျက်ဖွယ်ဖြစ်သည်။ မြန်မာစစ်တပ်၏ ရန်လိုသော သက်သေအဖြစ် ပြည်တွင်းပဋိပက္ခအတွင်း နှစ်ပေါင်းများစွာ လိင်ပိုင်းဆိုင် ရာ အကြမ်းဖက်မှု ကျူးလွန်ခြင်းဖြစ်သည်။ ထိုသို့ မချိမဆန့် ခံစားရသည့် အခြေအနေအောက်တွင် အမျိုးသမီးနှင့် လုံမပျိုများမှာ ဝန်ထုတ်ဝန်ပိုးကို ထမ်းထားရသည်။ တိုက်ခိုက်မှုနှင့် ကြံစည်ထားသည့် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများမှ လွတ်မြောက်ရန် ကြိုးပမ်းသည့် အမျိုးသမီးများမှာ စစ်သားများ၏ ပစ်မှတ်ထား ခြင်း ခံရသည်။ အသက်ရှင်ကျန် လွတ်မြောက်လာသူများမှာလည်း စိတ်ဒဏ်ရာများ ရရှိထားပြီး လုံလောက်သည့် စိတ်ပိုင်းဆိုင်ရာ နှစ်သိမ့်ဆွေးနွေး ပညာပေးမှုများ မရရှိပေ။ စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့၏ လုပ်ရပ်ကြောင့် ၎င်းတို့၏ ဘဝ တသက်တာလုံး မိသားစုနှင့်အတူ အရှက်တကွဲ အကျိုးနဲမှုကို ခံစားကြရ သည်။ တရားရုံးတွင် ဖြေရှင်းသည့် ကုန်ကျစရိတ် ကြီးမြင့်မှုနှင့် စစ်အာဏာရှင် တပ်သားများအား အကာအ ကွယ် ပေးထားမှု အပါအဝင် တရားမျှတမှု ရှာဖွေရေး လမ်းကြောင်းများကိုလည်း ပိတ်ဆို့ထားသည်။ စစ်အာဏာရှင်များသည် တာဝန်ယူ တာဝန်မှုကို ရှောင်ကွင်းပြီး အကြိမ်ကြိမ် ထိုးစစ်ဆင်နေသည်။ နှစ် ပေါင်းရှည်ကြာ ကျင့်သုံးနေသည့် ပြစ်ဒဏ်ကင်းလွတ်ခွင့်ဓလေ့ကြောင့် တရားစီရင်မှု စနစ်ကို အားနည်း သွားစေပြီး နစ်နာသူများ၏ ဂုဏ်သိက္ခာကို ချိုးနှိမ်ငြင်းပယ်ရာ ရောက်သည်။ ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် ဖေော်ဝါရီ ၁ရက် အာဏာသိမ်းပြီးချိန်မှစ၍ စစ်သားများက ၎င်းတို့အား ဆန့်ကျင် ခုခံသူ များအား နည်းပေါင်းစုံဖြင့် ဖြိုခွဲခဲ့ရာ ပြည်သူလူထုမှာလည်း နှိကွပ်မှုပေါင်းစုံ ခံနေရသည်။ စစ်တပ်၏ အကြမ်းဖက် ဖြိုခွဲမှုကြောင့် ပြည်သူ ၁၅၀၀ ကျော် သေဆုံးခဲ့ပြီး ရာနှင့်ချီ၍ ဒဏ်ရာရသည်ဟု မှတ်တမ်း တင်သည့် အဖွဲ့အစည်းများက အစီရင်ခံကြသည်။ ထိုသို့ တင်းမာပြင်းထန်သည့် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများ နောက်ခံတွင် အမျိုးသမီးများ၏ ခုခံတွန်းလှန် လှုပ်ရှားမှုမှာ နေရာအနှံ့အပြားတွင် ပေါ်ပေါက်လာသည်။ စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့အား ဆန့်ကျင် တွန်းလှန်နေသူများ၏ ရုပ်ပိုင်း၊ အသုံးပြုသည့် မိုဘိုင်းဖုန်းနှင့် အင်တာနက် ဆက်သွယ်မှု လုံခြုံရေး ခြိမ်းခြောက်ခံနေရသော်လည်း ဒီမိုကရေစီရေး စည်းရုံးလှုပ်ရှားမှု များ ဆက်လက်လုပ်ဆောင်နေသည်။ မြန်မာစစ်တပ်များ နေရာယူ တပ်စွဲထားသည့်နေရာများတွင် အမျိုးသမီးများ၏ ဘဝမှာ လုံခြုံစိတ်ချရမှု မရှိပေ။ မည်သို့ပင်ဆိုစေကာမူ အပြောင်းအလဲအတွက် အမျိုးသမီးများ၏ အသံမှာ မဆုတ်မနစ် ထွက် ပေါ်နေပြီး ဆန့်ကျင်တားဆီးမှုများကို ကြံကြံခံလျှက်ရှိသည်မှာ အမှန်ပင်ဖြစ်သည်။ ယခုပူးတွဲအစီရင်ခံစာကို လူ့အခွင့်အရေးမှတ်တမ်းကွန်ရက် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ (ND-Burma), မွန်ပြည်လူ့အ ခွင့်အရေး ဖောင်ဒေးရှင်း (HURFOM) နှင့် ကချင်အမျိုးသမီးအစည်းအရုံး ထိုင်းနိုင်ငံ (KWAT) မှ ပြုစုထားပြီး မြန်မာပြည်ရှိ အထူးသဖြင့် ကချင်ပြည်နယ်၊ ရှမ်းပြည်မြောက်ပိုင်း၊ ကရင်ပြည်နယ်၊ မွန်ပြည်နယ်နှင့် တနင်္သာရီ တိုင်းဒေသကြီး ရှိ အမျိုးသမီး နှင့် လုံမပျိုများမှာ လွန်ခဲ့သည့် နှစ်အတွင်း စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့၏ ခြိမ်း ခြောက် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုကို မည်သို့ ခံနေရကြောင်း ဖော်ပြထားသည်။ အစီရင်ခံစာတွင် အမျိုးသမီးများ ကြုံတွေ့နေရသည့် စနစ်တကျ ခြိမ်းခြောက်၊ အကြမ်းဖက်ခံရမှုများကို လည်း မည်သို့ ကျော်လွှားခဲ့ကြသည်ကို ဖော်ပြထားသည်။..."
Source/publisher: Network for Human Rights Documentation - Burma
2022-03-08
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 1.18 MB
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Description: "INTRODUCTION: Member States of the United Nations endorsed gender mainstreaming as the global strategy for gender equality and women’s rights and empowerment at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in September 1995 and called for its implementation in all areas of development. In the 25-plus years since the Beijing Conference (Beijing +25), Member States of the United Nations have consistently reaffirmed the importance of the strategy and have noted the need for accelerated implementation of the gender mainstreaming strategy. Most notably, the transformative potential of gender mainstreaming was reaffirmed in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with its call for accelerated implementation. This was complemented by an explicit acknowledgement by Member States that sustainable development cannot be achieved in any area without gender equality and women’s rights and empowerment. There were great expectations for the potential of gender mainstreaming to achieve the goals of gender equality and women’s rights and empowerment when the strategy was globally endorsed at the Beijing Conference. This new strategy was perceived as a way to move beyond the earlier, fragmented “women in development” project-based approach towards a deeper and more sustained impact on development policy and practice. Since Beijing, assessments of the status of implementation indicate that some progress has indeed been made. There have been significant efforts to implement gender mainstreaming in many sectors and policy areas by Member States and organizations at national, regional, and global levels. And there have been notable improvements in promoting and protecting the rights of women and girls, in facilitating their empowerment and attaining substantive equality between women and men. This Handbook on Gender Mainstreaming for Gender Equality Results has been developed with the aim to encourage and support more systematic and effective mainstreaming implementation for the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment throughout the United Nations system and within all sectors. It is intended for use by practitioners, policymakers, gender focal points and technical managers with varying levels of awareness and knowledge of gender mainstreaming. It is also a resource for gender specialists and advisors, who play a critical role in guiding and mainstreaming for gender equality results. By consolidating knowledge on gender mainstreaming and by identifying promising practices and positive trends to strengthen its implementation, this publication can provide a powerful incentive to build on the gains that have been made in the Beijing+25 period..."
Source/publisher: UN Women (New York) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
2022-02-19
Date of entry/update: 2022-02-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
Size: 2.7 MB (Original version) - 101 pages
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Description: "The woman-comrades from ABFSU has been fighting for eradicating the military dictatorship long before their coup was staged. At the present of this Spring Revolution, the woman-comrades and womanactivists are still fighting magnificently along with the men to eradicate the military dictatorship. It has been learned that one detained woman-comrade, the member of ABFSU, captured by the juntatroops, has been tortured, abused sexually during the custody of interrogation by the Junta troops, and currently has she been locked up behind the bars in isolation. She has also been denied to receive any medical treatment. We have heard that other woman-comrades and activists detained nationwide have suffered much the same. We have learned that the sexual harassment have been suffered not only by the woman-comrades but also by the men and even the boys during their custody in Junta-interrogation centers. We have stated a case of sexual abuse upon the detained male political prisoners: the atrocities such as forcibly injecting bamboo poles into the victims' anuses. The Junta’s persecutions and oppressions leave us no words to describe. We, the ABFSU. urge all the internal and international human rights organizations and the revolutionary civil organizations to speak out; condemn to those sexual harassments and tortures; and demand the proper medical treatment for those injured and tortured. We, the ABFSU comrades, have been firmly committing ourselves to all absolute sacrifices since we started fighting against all forms of oppression as well as the Military Dictatorship. Accordingly, never shall our unwavering efforts in this revolution get relucted even for a second by all means of cruelties of the Military Junta..."
Source/publisher: All Burma Federation of Student Unions
2022-02-19
Date of entry/update: 2022-02-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 28.77 KB 78.14 KB 85.6 KB
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Description: "၂၀၂၁ နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေးမှာ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအဝှမ်း အလွှာပေါင်းစုံက အမျိုးသမီးထုရဲ့ တော်လှန်စိတ်ဓာတ်နဲ့ ရဲရင့်ပြောင်မြောက်စွာ ဦးဆောင်မှုတွေဟာ အာဏာလု စစ်အုပ်စုကို သွေးပျက်မတတ် ထိတ်လန့် တုန်လှုပ်စေခဲ့တာပါ။ မြန်မာ့သမိုင်းမှာ ပထမဦးဆုံးအဖြစ် ထမီအလံလွှင့်ထူပြီး ငါတို့ထမီ၊ ငါတို့အလံ၊ ငါတို့အောင်ပွဲ ဆိုတဲ့ ဣတ္ထိယ နွေဦးတေးဟာ နိုင်ငံနယ်နမိတ် အပြင်ဘက်ထိ တုန်ဟီးစေခဲ့တယ်။ ပြည်တွင်းသာမက ကမ္ဘာ့တဝှမ်းက ပြည်သူအပေါင်း မြန်မာ့အမျိုးသမီးထုရဲ့ တော်လှန်စိတ်ဓာတ်ကို လေးစားတန်ဖိုးထား အသိအမှတ်ပြုခဲ့ကြရပါတယ်။ အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်အုပ်စုဟာ စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့ရဲ့ ထုံးစံအတိုင်း ဆန့်ကျင်သူတိုင်းကို လက်နက်အားကိုးပြီး ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်စွာ ဖြိုခွဲခဲ့တယ်။ အကြောက်တရားနဲ့ အုပ်ချုပ်နိုင်အောင်ကြိုးစားခဲ့တယ်။ သို့သော်လည်း ပြည်သူလူထုတရပ်လုံးက နောက်မဆုတ်စတမ်း တိုက်ပွဲဝင်လာတာဟာ ဖေဖေါ်ဝါရီလ ၁ ရက်နေ့ဆိုရင် တစ်နှစ်တင်းတင်းပြည့်ခဲ့ပေမယ့် တော်လှန်စိတ်ဓာတ်ဟာ ပြင်းသထက် ပြင်းထန်ပြီး ခိုင်မာသထက် ခိုင်မာလာတာကို တွေ့မြင်နေတာပါ။ ဒီအထဲမှာ အမျိုးသမီးတွေဟာလည်း ရှေ့တန်းက အားကောင်းစွာ ပါဝင်တော်လှန်နေဆဲပါပဲ။ တနှစ်ပြည့်တဲ့အချိန်မှာ အကြမ်း ဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုဟာ ထောင်ချီတဲ့ အမျိုးသမီးများကို ထောင်သွင်း အကျဉ်းချထားခဲ့တယ်။ ရာချီတဲ့ အမျိုးသမီးများဟာ အကြမ်း ဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုရဲ့ ညှဉ်းပန်းနှိပ်စက် ပစ်ခတ်သတ်ဖြတ်ခြင်း ခံခဲ့ရတယ်။ ယန္တရားမျိုးစုံကို အသုံးပြုပြီး ညှဉ်းပန်းနှိပ်စက်မှုတွေ ပြုလုပ်နေဆဲဖြစ်တယ်။ သို့သော်လည်း အမျိုးသမီးထုဟာ စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ် အကြွင်းမဲ့ ကျဆုံးရေး၊ ပြည်သူ့လွတ်မြောက်ရေးနဲ့ ဒီမိုကရေစီအခွင့်အရေးအပြည့်အဝ ရရှိရေးအတွက် ဘဝတွေ၊ အသက်တွေကို ပေးဆပ်ရင်း ရှေ့တန်းက ရဲ့ရင့်စွာ တိုက်ပွဲဝင်နေတုန်းပါ။ ဒီအစီရင်ခံစာဟာ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအဝှမ်း တိုင်းရင်းသားလူမျိုးပေါင်းစုံ ပါဝင်တဲ့ အမျိုးသမီးထုရဲ့ စွန့်လွှတ်အနစ်နာခံမှု၊ ပေးဆပ်မှုနဲ့ တော်လှန်စိတ်ဓာတ်ကို ဂုဏ်ပြု မှတ်တမ်းတင်ရင်း နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေးအတွင်း အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုလက်ချက်နဲ့ ကျဆုံးခဲ့ရတဲ့ အမျိုးသမီးသူရဲကောင်းများအား အလေးပြု မော်ကွန်းတင်လိုက်တဲ့ အစီရင်စာတစ်စောင်ပဲ ဖြစ်ပါတယ်။..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
2022-01-31
Date of entry/update: 2022-02-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 10.65 MB (Original version), 4.73 MB (Reduce version) - 74 pages
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Description: "In this Spring Revolution, the revolutionary vigor and decisive leadership of the women of Burma, belonging to all classes and ethnicities, has shaken the military junta to their very core. For the first time in the history of Burma, women were able to unfurl their Hta-Mein [female skirt/Sarong] as flags; proclaiming “Our Hta-Mein! Our Flag! Our Victory!”. This heroine chant of the Spring Revolution resonated across the country and beyond. The valiant spirit of the women of Burma was acknowledged not only domestically but all around the world. The terrorist-like military tried to mercilessly crush any kind of opposition with excessive force using heavy weaponry. They carry out tactics of terror to scare the population into submission. Yet, the spirit of the people has not faltered, and their unwavering resolve is just getting stronger after a year, with February 1, 2022 marking one year after the military unsuccessful coup in the Burma. From the very start, women have continuously put up a vigorous fight in the frontlines. To punish and suppress them, in the span of this past year, the military junta has imprisoned thousands of women and tortured many of them horrendously in numerous ways. These heinous acts are still being perpetrated by the military all throughout the country. Regardless, women in Burma are resolute in their goal to end the military dictatorship, liberate the masses, and obtain full democracy within the country. And it is with that determination that they keep fighting in the frontline, risking their lives and futures for this cause. This report tries to acknowledge and commemorate the revolutionary spirit and sacrifice of women of all ethnic groups of Burma, and those fallen heroes who perished at the hands of the terrorist military junta..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
2022-02-16
Date of entry/update: 2022-02-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 9.85 MB (Original version), 3.97 MB (Reduce version) - 67 pages
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Description: "Amid worsening hostilities in Karen State, the lives of innocent civilians are increasingly at risk as thousands continue to flee in search of safety. The Karen Women Organization (KWO) strongly condemns the ongoing, systematic human rights abuses being perpetrated against villagers who have been indiscriminately targeted in a series of unrelenting attacks by the military junta, including the murder of Naw Khee, a 56-year-old woman killed on 21 December. Naw Khee was working on Robin Farm in Yar Khee Klo early in the morning with her husband when fighting between the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and the Burma Army broke out. The clashes were with Burma Army Battalion, LIB-101 along with five Border Guard Force (BGF) soldiers, led by BGF Commander Bo Maung Soe. As the junta troops approached Naw Khee, her husband fled. Terrified and alone, she was violently interrogated. When she responded that she did not know where the KNLA soldiers were, the soldiers broke her nose. A gun was then put in her mouth and she was shot to death. Her body was found by local villagers on 22 December who dared not retrieve her until the junta soldiers had left the area. Burma has become a battlefield as the junta plunges the country further into armed conflict. Women, children and the elderly are being subjected to frequent bombings, artillery strikes and indiscriminate firing. With violence increasing, ongoing attacks against women and girls are a reoccurring crime being perpetrated with impunity by the junta. Every day, there continues to be more incidents of torture and killings. The military's expanding offensives in ethnic areas and unrelenting air and ground strikes has forced thousands to flee and seek safety. Dozens have been killed, arrested and disappeared. As a result of the increasing offensives, the number of internally displaced persons and refugees are steadily rising on Burma's borders of Thailand, China, India and Bangladesh. Limited access to areas where the military has established bases has only heightened the level of concern KWO has for the many who are displaced and living in fear without protection. Justice has been denied and dismissed for victims of the regime's attacks. Women across the country are facing a multi- burden: a lack of human security, a loss of civil liberty rights due to the military's attempted seizure of power. Accountability for the mass crimes committed by the Burma Army, including genocide, are long overdue..."
Source/publisher: Karen Women's Organisation
2021-12-24
Date of entry/update: 2021-12-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 92.01 KB 411.17 KB
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Description: ":ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်တွင်းက ကျေးရွာတချို့မှာ ဒီဇင်ဘာလအတွင်း ထူးခြားဖြစ်စဉ်များ ဆက်တိုက်ဖြစ်လာပြီး လူမျိုးရေး ပဋိပက္ခပုံစံ ဦးတည်တဲ့ အခြေနေမျိုးတွေ ဆက်တိုက်ဖြစ်လာတာတွေ့နေရတယ်လို့ ရက္ခိုင်အမျိုးသားအဖွဲ့ချုပ် ထုတ်ပြန်ချက်မှာတွေ့ရပါတယ်။ ဒီဇင်ဘာလ ၉ ရက်နေ့ မြောက်ဦးမှာ ညအချိန် မီးတိုက်ဖျက်ဆီးခဲ့ပြီး အဲ့ဒီနေ့မှာပဲ မြောက်ဦး လောင်းကြက်ရွာနား ရိတ်သိမ်းထားတဲ့ စပါးတွေကို တမင်သက်သက် မီးရှို့ဖျက်ဆီးတာတွေ ပြုလုပ်လာတယ်လို့ဆိုပါတယ်။ ဒါအပြင် ဒီဇင်ဘာလ ၁၁၊ ၁၂၊ ၁၃ နဲ့ ၁၄ရက်နေ့တွေမှာ ကျေးရွာတချို့ မုဒိန်းမှုနဲ့ မီးတိုက် ထူးခြားဖြစ်စဉ်တွေ ဆက်တိုက်ဖြစ်ပွားခဲ့တယ်လု့ိသိရပါတယ်။ ဒီလို ထူးခြားဖြစ်စဉ်တွေ ဆက်တိုက် ဖြစ်ပွားနေတာကြောင့် ကျေးရွာ မြို့များရှိ လူငယ်များအနေနဲ့ ပြည်သူ့အသက်အိုးအိမ် စည်းစိမ် လုံခြုံရေးနဲ့ မီးဘေးအန္တရာယ်ကင်းဝေးဖို့အတွက် လူစိမ်းအဝင်အထွက်များ သတိထားစောင့်ကြည့်ဖို့ ရက္ခိုင်အမျိုးသားအဖွဲ့ချုပ်က တိုက်တွန်းထားပါတယ်။..."
Source/publisher: United League of Arakan
2021-12-17
Date of entry/update: 2021-12-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
Size: 157.55 KB
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Sub-title: COUNTRIES OF CONCERN: MYANMAR AND AFGHANISTAN
Description: "Myanmar saw a rapid decline in fundamental freedoms following the February 2021 coup, with the arrest, detention and criminalisation of hundreds of activists, including HRDs, trade unionists, journalists, political and student activists, doctors, poets, people from ethnic minorities, LGBTQI+ groups and artists. The junta used excessive force and firearms against protesters and disrupted the internet. Journalists were hunted down and dozens were arrested and charged. A number of political prisoners were allegedly tortured and ill-treated and there have been reports of sexual violence against women in detention centres. At the time of writing, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, 1,244 people had been killed and 7,122 people are currently in detention. Another country of concern is Afghanistan, following the Taliban takeover in August 2021. There have been reports of activists facing systematic intimidation throughout the country. The Taliban are carrying out house-to-house searches for activists and journalists, particularly women, and interrogating them and their families. This has created a climate of significant fear and many have gone into hiding or have fled the country. The Taliban have also conducted raids on women-led CSOs across Afghanistan. Anti-Taliban protests, especially by women, in Kabul and other cities have been met with excessive force, gunfire and beatings to disperse crowds, leading to deaths and injuries of peaceful protesters. Journalists are at increased risk for covering the situation on the ground. Some covering the protests have been arbitrarily detained, tortured or ill-treated with impunity..."
Source/publisher: Civicus (Johannesburg)
2021-12-13
Date of entry/update: 2021-12-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Women in Myanmar have been tortured, sexually harassed and threatened with rape in custody, according to accounts obtained by the BBC. Five women who were detained for protesting against a military coup in the country earlier this year say they were abused and tortured in the detention system after their arrests. Their names have been changed in the following accounts to protect their safety. Warning: this piece contains disturbing descriptions of abuse. Since Myanmar's military seized power in February, protests have swept across the country - and women have played a prominent role in the resistance movement. Human rights groups say that although the military in Myanmar (also known as Burma) used disappearances, hostage-taking and torture tactics before, the violence has become more widespread since the coup. As of 8 December, 1,318 civilians have been killed during military crackdowns on the pro-democracy movement, including 93 women, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) non-profit human rights organisation. At least eight of those women died while in custody, four of whom were tortured to death in an interrogation centre. More than 10,200 people have been detained in total, including over 2,000 women. Democracy activist Ein Soe May was imprisoned for almost six months - the first 10 days of which were spent in one of Myanmar's notorious interrogation centres, where she alleges she was sexually assaulted and tortured. Soe May old the BBC that one morning, while making placards for a protest, she was arrested and bundled into the back of a van. "It was already night when I arrived [at an undisclosed location]. I was blindfolded and made to dodge imaginary objects as I made my way to the interrogation room, so they could make a fool of me," Soe May said. Her captors questioned her, and for every answer they didn't like they hit her with a bamboo stick. Soe May said she was also repeatedly pressed for details of her sex life. One interrogator threatened: "Do you know what we do to the women that end up here? We rape and kill them." She was then sexually assaulted while blindfolded. "They pulled down the oversized top I was wearing, they touched me as they did it, exposing my body," she said. Her blindfold was later removed, and she saw one of the guards take all but one of the bullets out of his revolver. When she didn't give them details of her contacts, they made her open her mouth and "forced the loaded revolver inside it", she said. Makeshift detention centres According to Manny Maung, Myanmar researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW), interrogation centres "could be anything from makeshift holding sites, a room in a military barrack or even an abandoned public building". This was corroborated by a lawyer in Myanmar who spoke to the BBC, but asked not to be named for her own safety. She said she represented several detainees who had also reported being tortured and sexually assaulted during interrogations. "One of my clients was wrongly identified but arrested anyway. When she explained she wasn't the person the authorities accused her of being, she was tortured with an iron rod which was rolled over her shins repeatedly until she lost consciousness," the lawyer said. The woman was then "sent to another interrogation centre where she alleges a male guard told her that if she slept with him, he would get her released", she added. The lawyer described a legal system in Myanmar as opaque, and where attorneys like her are sometimes powerless. "We try to challenge [arrests and interrogations], but we are told the processes are legal and that [interrogators] have been given orders." While it is impossible to verify Soe May's account, the BBC spoke to other female detainees who also said they had been tortured and sexually assaulted in interrogation centres. "They forced me to raise the three-finger salute [a symbol of resistance in Myanmar] for more than an hour as a guard stroked my hair to intimidate me," one detainee said. Another woman, who was taken to an interrogation centre in Shwe Pyi Thar township, said: "They pulled the girls out of the room. Some girls came back with some buttons on their clothes undone or missing." 'Fake news' The BBC put Soe May's testimony to Myanmar's Information Deputy Minister Maj Gen Zaw Min Tun, who denied any torture was being carried out by the military and dismissed it as "fake news". Earlier this year, the military broadcast an image of a female detainee. Her face had been beaten to the point she was unrecognisable. The image went viral. She is still in prison, facing weapons charges. The BBC asked Maj Gen Zaw Min Tun why the military did not hide the injuries. He said: "It can happen when arrests are made. They try to escape and we have to capture them." Solitary confinement Abuse does not just happen in secret interrogation sites. An activist in her 50s, who we are calling Ms Lin, described to the BBC how she was placed in solitary confinement for more than 40 days inside Yangon's Insein prison. Ms Lin didn't have anything in her cell but the clothes she was wearing - not even necessary medication. During her detention she grew increasingly weak. "I would lie in the dark and worry I was going to die," she said. "Sometimes, I heard shouting and crying from nearby cells. I kept thinking about who was being beaten." She recounts how one day a male officer entered her cell with several female officers. "When they were about to leave, I noticed the male officer was videoing me," she said. She made a complaint, but said it was "futile". HRW researcher Manny Maung told the BBC that often in prisons about 500 women would be crammed into rooms only big enough for, at most, 100 detainees. They would have to take turns to sleep, because they can't all lie down at the same time. They were also being denied basic sanitation, she said, adding such a step was "denying them a fundamental right". The woman who was taken to Shwe Pyi Thar interrogation centre also experienced this in prison. "The women who had just arrived from the interrogation centres had wounds that hadn't healed, whilst some were menstruating and were only allowed to shower after seven days in detention," she said. Soe May, who was released in an amnesty of more than 5,000 prisoners in October, said her activism was worth the fear of being re-arrested. "I understand there is always a possibility I could get arrested again and I might die, but I want to do something for my country," she said. "Although I don't feel safe, I want to continue to be part of this movement." Illustrations by Davies Surya and Jilla Dastmalchi..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: BBC News (London)
2021-12-09
Date of entry/update: 2021-12-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Today marks an important day on the International calendar. This is the special day when we ask people in the world to stand quietly for a moment and think about the violence perpetrated against women every day, and what we can do, all of us, to stop it. Today we are asking everyone to Have Courage to Speak Out about injustice and stop all forms of violence against women..."
Source/publisher: Karen Women's Organisation
2021-11-25
Date of entry/update: 2021-11-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Globally, nearly 1 in 3 women have been abused in their lifetime. In Myanmar, although data on Violence against Women is extremely limited, estimates are that at least 21 per cent of ever-married women have experienced spousal physical, sexual, or emotional violence and only 7.8 per cent of the 15-19 years old who experienced physical and sexual violence had sought help according to the Myanmar Demographic and Health Survey (2015-2016). In times of crises such as humanitarian crisis, conflicts, climate disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of gender-based violence increases. A new report from the United Nations, based on data from 13 countries since the pandemic, shows that 2 in 3 women reported that they or a woman they know experienced some form of violence and are more likely to face food insecurity. A state of emergency or COVID-19 restriction measures are not an excuse for violence against women and girls. The compounded crisis in Myanmar has disproportionally affected women and exacerbated the vulnerabilities of women and girls from marginalized groups; particularly, those living in conflict affected areas and in situations of internal displacement, women living with HIV/AIDS, women with disabilities, women migrant workers, and members of the LGBTQI community. In this context, there is an urgent need to take specific measures to ensure the protection of women and girls and to increase the availability and accessibility of quality, multi-sectoral services, including health care, justice, safety, protection and social services for GBV survivors, regardless of the political and security situation. In Myanmar this requires support for the many civil society organizations, women civil society organizations and health civil society organizations in particular, who are running prevention programming and delivering services day in and day out in often incredibly complex circumstances. Too often survivors of violence are blamed for being abused. Too often survivors of violence are stigmatized in the community. This must stop. Survivors must be heard and believed, and perpetrators must be held accountable for their actions. Every one of us, as a change agent, can do something to end violence against women and girls. Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and the beginning of the 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence. This year’s global theme for the campaign is “Orange the world: End violence against women now!”. On this day, UN Women and UNFPA as the co-chairs of the United Nations Gender Theme Group (UNGTG) in Myanmar re-affirm the commitment of the United Nations Country Team to remain on the ground and continue to support programs that promote gender equality and the empowerment of women, and respond to the needs of women and girls, including the provision of essential services to survivors of violence, leaving no one behind. Every woman and girl has the right to live a life free of violence and full of dignity. It is a fundamental human right. Together, we must keep to our commitments and take action to end gender-based violence now..."
Source/publisher: UN Women and United Nations Population Fund via United Nations Myanmar
2021-11-25
Date of entry/update: 2021-11-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "For Immediate Release DATE: 24 November 2021 Civilians in Myanmar have unjustly been subjected to systematic human rights violations perpetrated by the military junta for decades. A new briefing paper by the Network for Human Rights Documentation – Burma (ND-Burma), “Democracy Derailed in Myanmar,” details how the junta has curtailed attempts for democratic reform in Myanmar. A failed attempt at seizing control of the country by the Myanmar military on 1 February 2021 has left the country in desperate need of humanitarian assistance alongside worsening economic and social crises. With over 3 million civilians lacking critical life-saving materials including food, water and shelter in the midst of raging internal conflict, the Myanmar Generals have effectively left the most vulnerable in oblivion. Villages under martial-law, amid sweeping restrictions on movement and access to information, has made basic survival a daily challenge. Among ND-Burma’s findings, ongoing conflict in urban and rural areas, as well as the suppression of fundamental freedoms, including that of the press, and the mishandled COVID-19 response has led to the conclusion that the junta is on a war-path which includes the destruction and annihilation of anyone or anything that stands in their way. Using evidence collected by ND-Burma members including the Chin Human Rights Organization and the Human Rights Foundation of Monland, and desk-research, it is abundantly clear that long held impunity is emboldening the junta to commit state-wide atrocities. Any government which uses violence to suppress basic rights and freedoms must be condemned in the harshest possible terms. It is unacceptable that civilians are fearing for their lives in the midst of a brutal, militarized civil war. Longstanding calls for their protection must be heard, and freedom of expression must not be used to derail civilian rights.
Source/publisher: Network for Human Rights Documentation - Burma
2021-11-24
Date of entry/update: 2021-11-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် နိုဝင်ဘာလ ၂၄ ရက်နေ့ ဆယ်စုနှစ်များနှင့်ချီ၍ မြန်မာစစ်တပ်မှ စနစ်တကျ ကျူးလွန်ခဲ့သည့် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးချိုးဖောက်မှုများ ကို မြန်မာပြည်သူများသည် လက်မခံဘဲ ဆန့်ကျင်ခဲ့ကြသည်။ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးမှတ်တမ်းကွန်ရက် (မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ) (ND-Burma) မှ ထုတ်ပြန်သည့် “ဒီမိုကရေစီလမ်းကြောင်းပေါ်မှ လမ်းချော်ခဲ့သောမြန် မာ” အစီရင်ခံစာတွင် အာဏာသိမ်းစစ်အုပ်စုက မြန်မာ့ဒီမိုကရေစီ အကူးအပြောင်းအား မည်သို့ ဟန့် တားနှောင့်ယှက်နေသည်ကို တင်ပြထားသည်။ မြန်မာစစ်တပ်မှ ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလ ၁ရက်တွင် အာဏာသိမ်း၍ တိုင်းပြည်အာဏာကို မတ ရား ရယူပြီးနောက် အလွန်စိုးရိမ်ဖွယ် လူသားချင်းစာနာသည့် အရေးပေါ်အကူအညီများ လိုအပ်ခြင်း နှင့်အတူ လူမှုရေး စီးပွားရေး ချွတ်ခြုံချ ဆိုးရွားလာသည်။ ပြင်းထန်သည့် ပြည်တွင်းစစ်ကြောင့် ပြည်သူ ၃ သန်းခန့်မှာ စားရေ ရိက္ခာ၊ ရေနှင့် နေထိုင်စရာ အပါအဝင် လူ့ဘဝအသက်ရှင်သန်ရေး အ တွက် လိုအပ်သည့်အထောက်အကူပစ္စည်းများ ကင်းမဲ့ ချို့တဲ့လျှက်ရှိပြီး စစ်ဗိုလ်ချုပ်ကြီးများသည် ထိခိုက်နစ်နာ အလွယ်ဆုံးသူများအားလည်း မေ့လျော့ပစ်ထားကြသည်။ စစ်အုပ်ချုပ်ရေးဥပဒေအောက်ရှိ ရွာသားများမှာ ခရီးသွားလာခွင့်နှင့် သတင်းအချက်အလက်ရရှိမှု အပေါ် တင်းကြပ် ကန့်သတ်ခံရခြင်းကြောင့် နေ့စဥ် အသက်ဆက် ရှင်သန်ရေးအတွက် အခက်အခဲ များနှင့် ကြုံတွေ့ရသည်။ ND-Burma မှ တွေ့ရှိချက်အရက် ကျေးလက်နှင့် မြို့ပြများတွင် ဖြစ်ပေါ်နေသည့် တိုက်ပွဲများ၊ သတင်းလွတ်လပ်မှုအပါအဝင် အခြေခံလွတ်လွပ်ခွင့်များကို ဖိနှိပ်ခြင်းနှင့် ကိုဗစ်-၁၉ ကပ်ရောဂါကို ထိရောက်စွာ မကိုင်တွယ် မဖြေရှင်းနိုင်တို့က စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့သည် ကြမ်းကြုတ် ရက်စက်ပြီး ၄င်းတို့ရပ်တည်မှုကို ဆန့်ကျင်သည့် မည်သူ့ကိုမဆို သုတ်သင်ချေမှုန်း ဖျက်ဆီးမည်ကို ပြသ နေသည်။ မွန်ပြည်လူ့အခွင့်အရေးဖောင်ဒေးရှင်းနှင့် ချင်းလူ့အခွင့်အရေးအဖွဲ့အပါအဝင် ND-Burma အဖွဲ့ဝင်များမှ သက်သေအထောက်အထားများ မှတ်တမ်းတင် စုဆောင်းမှုအရ စစ်တပ်သည် ကာလကြာရှည် အသုံးပြုနေသည့် အပြစ်ရှိသူများအပေါ် အပြစ်ပေး အရေးယူခြင်းမရှိမှုကြောင့် နိုင်ငံနှင့်ချီ၍ ကျယ်ပြန့်သည့် ကြမ်းကြုတ်ရက်စက်မှုများကို ဆက်လက်ကျူးလွန်နေသည်မှာ ထင်ရှားသည်။ မည်သည့်အစိုးရမဆို အခြေခံအခွင့်အရေးနှင့် လွတ်လပ်ခွင့်များအပေါ် အကြမ်းဖက် ချိုးဖောက် လာပါက အပြင်းထန်ဆုံး စကားလုံးများဖြင့် ပစ်တင်ရှုံ့ချရမည်ဖြစ်သည်။ ကြမ်းကြုတ် ရက်စက်ပြီး စစ်အင်အား တိုးချဲ့ချထား တပ်လွှမ်းမိုးသည့် ပြည်တွင်းစစ်ကြောင့် ပြည်သူများသည် ၄င်းတို့ဘဝ ဘေးကင်း လုံခြုံစိတ်ချရရေးအတွက် စိုးရိမ်ပူပန်နေရသည်မှာ လက်ခံနိုင်စရာ အကြောင်းမရှိပေ။ ၄င်းတို့ဘဝ လုံခြုံစိတ်ချရရေးအတွက် ကာလကြာရှည် တောင်းဆိုနေမှုကို မဖြစ်မနေ နားထောင်ရ မည်ဖြစ်ပြီး လွတ်လပ်စွာထုတ်ဖော်ပြောဆိုခွင့်မှာလည်း နိုင်ငံသားအခွင့်အရေးမှ လမ်းချော်သွားရမည် မဟုတ်ပေ။..."
Source/publisher: Network for Human Rights Documentation - Burma
2021-11-24
Date of entry/update: 2021-11-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
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Description: "The Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) has presented the 2021 Sir Ronald Wilson Human Rights Award to The Women’s League of Burma. The Women’s League of Burma (WLB) is a national network of 13 ethnic women’s rights organisations working towards the advancement of the status of women for a peaceful, just and federal democratic union for over 20 years. In the immediate aftermath of the military takeover earlier this year, WLB closed its Yangon office and established an advocacy team to work underground in Burma/Myanmar and across the border in Thailand and India. They now produce a monthly situation report detailing human rights violations against women, which has become a key source of data used by journalists, global analysts and activists. Presenting the award ACFID President Susan Pascoe said “Throughout 2021, WLB has been at the forefront of challenging the military coup in Myanmar, demonstrating outstanding leadership in international advocacy promoting women’s human rights. “Members of the WLB risk their lives every day to defend and advance the rights of women of all ethnic identities in Burma. This award acknowledges their courage in the face of violence. Continuing on, Marc Purcell, CEO of ACFID, stated that “ACFID supports WLB’s call for urgent action to reject the military junta and support a transition towards an inclusive, federal democracy.” WLB has taken a strong public position in promoting the human rights of Rohingya women. It was one of the first civil society organisations in Myanmar to speak out against the military’s deadly crackdown on the Rohingya Muslims in August 2017, which resulted in more than 700,000 people fleeing across the border into Bangladesh. On receiving the award, the General Secretary of the WLB, Naw Hser Hser said, “Following the coup, the majority of the people of Burma, including democracy activists and women’s human rights activists, have felt let down by much of the international community. This award sends the message to women human rights defenders in Burma, including from the 13 member organizations of WLB, that the Australian community does recognise and support our struggle for justice and peace. The award motivates us, boosts us to withstand any obstacles and helps sustain us. “We hope through this award more people in the Australian community will understand the scale of atrocities committed by the military junta and will reject the military junta, and over 70 years of struggle of ethnic nationalities against the dictatorship. “We hope the international community, including the Australian Government, will join with other democracies to adopt targeted sanctions on military leaders and their business interests. [We hope that] “This award is dedicated to all heroines, both fallen and alive, especially ethnic women, who have dedicated their lives to our struggle for fundamental rights. On behalf of WLB, I would like to say thank you and express our most sincere gratitude and appreciation for presenting us with the Sir Ronald Wilson Human Rights Award from the Australian Council for International Development. We are humbled at the recognition of our work, and accept the award with grace and humility.”..."
Source/publisher: The Australian Council for International Development
2021-11-22
Date of entry/update: 2021-11-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "We, Women’s Peace Network, are horrified to hear that on November 11, a group of Myanmar military soldiers gang raped a 27-year-old ethnic Chin woman of Akllui Village, Tedim Township, Chin State in front of her husband, assaulted him, and plundered their home; and further gang raped her 30-year-old pregnant sister-in-law.1 We are distressed that the decades-long impunity continues to embolden the Myanmar military to use rape as a weapon of war. As reported by the United Nations (UN) Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), the Myanmar military and security forces have perpetrated the most brutal forms of sexual and gender-based violence -- including rape, gang rape, sexual mutilation, and sexual slavery -- against Rohingya and other ethnic minority groups for decades. Since the February 1 coup, the Myanmar military has continued to brutalize women with this violence, including by raping a 62-year-old woman in Namflom Village, Kutkai Township of Shan State on November 7, as well as a 14-year-old girl in Namphatka Village of the same township. For years, many women’s organizations, including Women’s Peace Network, have documented and reported about the Myanmar military’s use of sexual and gender-based violence in our communities. Despite our calls for accountability, the international community has continuously failed to take concerted action against this brutal military. We now fear that fueled by this impunity, the Myanmar military’s systematic use of sexual and gender-based violence will engulf the entire nation -- including Chin State -- without delay. Therefore, we call upon the international community to take swift action to provide protection and support to the women of Myanmar, and hold the Myanmar military accountable for its brutality. As urged by 521 Myanmar civil society organizations on November 4, the UN Security Council must immediately convene an urgent meeting on the crisis in Chin State, refer the situation of Myanmar to the International Criminal Court, and impose a global arms embargo on the country. The UN Member States must also impose economic sanctions and financial penalties against Myanmar military-owned and controlled businesses and conglomerates; further financial restrictions must be placed on the junta's private dealings with global conglomerates. It is past time for the international community to hold the Myanmar military accountable. Only when this vicious cycle of impunity ends can we achieve a truly inclusive and federal democracy..."
Source/publisher: Women’s Peace Network
2021-11-17
Date of entry/update: 2021-11-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Women's League of Burma (WLB) strongly condemns the gang-rape of a mother of four children from Akllui village of Tedim township in Chin state by three military junta soldiers at her home. She was assaulted between 11 P.M to midnight on November 11, 2021. Forty soldiers arrived in Akllui village on November 7, 2021. After their arrival, three junta soldiers entered the home of a mother of a one-month-old baby around 11 P.M on November 11, 2021. They interrogated and investigated her and her husband on allegations that they had ties to members of the People's Defense Force (PDF). Despite the couple's insistent denials that they had no affiliation to the civilian armed groups, the soldiers refused to accept their testimonies. They began to threaten them, and forced them to switch off the lights in their home. One of the soldiers took the husband to the back of the house and aimed a gun at his head before slamming his head on a glass table where he sustained injuries. The remaining two soldiers went into the bedroom and told the woman to put her young baby down, and forced her to lie on the bed. Guns were aimed at her and they threatened to kill her. She was raped repeatedly while she begged for mercy. After some time, two of the three soldiers came back. They threatened the husband and the other one raped the mother again in front of the husband and left. At midnight, the three drunk soldiers returned and forced the husband to watch while two of the soldiers raped the woman again. The soldiers confiscated the couple's phone, power-bank, and a cash amount of 18 000 Myanmar Kyats and gold earrings. They made the husband escort them on a motorbike to a local liquor shop; and beat and tortured the husband when they found out that the shop was closed. This case of a harrowing gang-rape against a post-partum mother in Akllui is further evidence that impunity still continues for the Burma military's systematic use of rape as a weapon of war and sexual violence against ethnic women. Since the coup on 1 February 2021, sexual violence has become more widespread. WLB calls for urgent action to hold the military junta accountable through international accountability mechanisms for their crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes..."
Source/publisher: Women's League of Burma
2021-11-19
Date of entry/update: 2021-11-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "It is an honour to join you today as the National Unity Government’s (NUG) Minister of Human Rights. It is a great pleasure to be with you in Parma and I join my colleagues in thanking you for the invitation. The Myanmar people have shown tremendous courage in opposing the military junta through civil disobedience and organised resistance. Tragically, this has come at the cost of lives and freedoms. Your support continues to give us strength. Human rights situation in Myanmar Myanmar is facing a human rights catastrophe. Since the military junta launched its failed coup d’etat on 1 February, it has committed some of the worst crimes against the Myanmar people. At 13 November 2021: • at least 1260 civilians had been killed, many of them children • at least 7251 people were in detention, with reports of deaths in custody, torture and mistreatment, sexual violence, and the denial of medical treatment • and a total of 65 people - including 2 children - had received death sentences. • Arrest warrants had been issued for another 1954 people. Furthermore, over the past 10 months: Children have been taken hostage with their family members, tortured, and killed in the street. Villages In Chin State, Karenni State, Sagaining Division, Magwe Division and Tenessarim Divisions have been targeted with air strikes and artillery, and set ablaze. Entire communities have been displaced, resulting in new waves of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), some driven into neighbouring countries. And COVID-19 has been weaponised by the junta, with medical treatment and COVID-19 vaccines withheld in an attempt to gain military advantage. Furthermore, these crimes have been accompanied by the military’s infamous “four cuts strategy”, which has cut off communities and presumed insurgents from funding, food, intelligence and recruits, including through internet blackouts. This has raised a genocide alarm in Chin State and Kareni State, and there is limited time for the international community to act. Left unchecked, we could see atrocities on an unprecedented scale in modern Myanmar. A determined international response is required. This is a perfect storm of violations. And, significantly, these acts comprise crimes against humanity because: • They are widespread and systematic • They have been directed against civilians • And they have been conducted with the knowledge and at the orders of the junta leadership. And, as we meet here today, there is every indication that these atrocities will escalate. The Special Rapporteur on Myanmar has also warned that the military’s tactics in the country’s north and northwest are “ominously reminiscent" of those it used before its genocidal attacks against the Rohingya in Rakhine State in 2016 and 2017. Crimes against humanity In September 2021, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights held the military responsible for a 'human rights catastrophe' that included widespread and systematic violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. Also in September, the Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) told the UN’s Human Rights Council that analysis of collected materials showed that the military's crimes were 'widespread and systematic in nature'. More recently, the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar confirmed to the UN General Assembly that the Myanmar military had engaged in probable crimes against humanity and war crimes. 1. Actions taken by the NUG The NUG has taken a series of steps to bring these crimes to the world’s attention and to pursue accountability. For instance: (a) The NUG continues to report on the human rights situation through public reports, statements, and by engaging with UN fora and experts, including the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, the IIMM, and the UN’s Human Rights Office (b) The NUG has submitted an Article 12(3) Declaration to the International Criminal Court (ICC). This Declaration accepts the ICC’s jurisdiction over international crimes committed in Myanmar since 1 July 2002 (c) The NUG is cooperating with the International Court of Justice in The Gambia vs. Myanmar hearing on the Genocide Convention (d) And the NUG has developed a Code of Conduct to ensure that all defensive actions respect international norms. 2. Recommendations Despite the scale and nature of the military’s atrocities and their clear threat to international and regional peace and security, an international response has been tragically lacking. There are three immediate steps that Italy, as part of the international community, can take in support of the Myanmar people: (1) NUG recognition The first step, also raised by the Minister of Health and Education, is NUG recognition. This recognition is a critical step to stopping the atrocities, to protecting civilians, and to holding perpetrators to account. Here, following efforts by the EU Parliament, the French Senate and the US Congress, the Italian Parliament could recognise the NUG as the official Government of Myanmar, and pressure the Italian Government to do the same. The General Assembly’s Credentials Committee is currently considering Myanmar’s representation. Italy also has a vital role to play at the General Assembly and in other UN fora. (2) Accountability The NUG continues to urge the Security Council to adopt a resolution that targets impunity, supports accountability efforts, and starves the junta of cash and arms. The Italian Government could publicly and politically support these efforts. (3) Humanitarian response As the Minister of Health and Education outlined, humanitarian assistance - including medicines and vaccines - is urgently needed. Conclusion As a final point, the Italian public and media also have incredibly important roles to play through awareness raising, keeping attention on the situation in Myanmar, and through encouraging their political representatives to act in support of the Myanmar people. I thank you again for your solidarity and support..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of Human Rights
2021-11-16
Date of entry/update: 2021-11-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
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Description: "In the eight months since the military coup of the 1st February 2021 Myanmar's economy and health care systems have been crippled and internal armed conflicts have been expending across the country. Since September 7th, the day the National Unity Government (NUG) announced a defensive war against the military junta by the National Unity Government (NUG), armed conflicts between local resistance forces and the military (SAC) have intensified in some states/ regions of Myanmar. Military arrests of civilians targeted women activists and youths, and the military has used artillery attacks on civilians during the armed conflicts. Within the armed conflict, the military is systematically suppressing women in their political resistance, including through the use of sexual abuse during detainments and interrogation. Women have to gamble with their lives under the military dictatorship and collapsed heath care system, there is a general lack of physical security in the country. Women can be arrested anytime, anywhere and could be taken as hostages, as well as the ever-present threat of being caught in active conflict. Despite the extreme risk of being imprisoned, tortured, or killed, the women's hunger for peace inspires them to continue this revolution by leading strikes and organizing support for members of civil disobedience movement, and even taking up arms. According to information from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) and Burmese Women's Union (BWU), from February 1 to September 30, a total of 1267 women were arrested and 57 women were sentenced. In addition, 78 women were murdered by the military (SAC). The information presented here comes from credible sources collected by the BWU. BWU accepts the facts that the actual death rate and eradication of public property likely to be significantly higher. Women in Political Conflicts In civil wars and situations of political uncertainty, women and children suffer the most. In the period following the military coup, countless civilians were killed and injured due to artillery attacks, abandoned military weapons, and land mines in the villages. Among these deaths and injuries, there are women and children as young as two years old Some deaths were due to the lack of health care services during detentions and imprisonment. A woman named Khin Mar Cho who suffered from diabetes was arrested There are reports that there are many cases where the military has informed family members that such deaths during detention, imprisonment and interrogation were due to covid-19. Family members have lost the right to accurate information and face difficulties when trying to meet their detained family members. One of the barbarous acts of military juntas is that a pregnant woman was arrested under the suspicion of being a member of a people's defense force (PDF). She gave birth at a village while under arrest, as soldiers were forcing her to walk to their station. As soon as she gave birth, she immediately had to carry on to the station; the soldiers forced the villagers to carry her.2 Ma Soe Mi Mi Kyaw who was arrested on September 20th tried to under the 505(B) law and detained by Minkin Police. During the detainment, she did not get permission to receive medical treatment and as a result, she died while in detention.1kill herself by drinking methylated spirit due to torture during the interrogation. By scrutinizing her case, it is impossible to even imagine the level of torture women experience at the hands of the military junta, to acquire information during the interrogation process. Through the observation of several cases, it is found that the military is violating fundamental human rights through using torture and denying health care to detainees..."
Source/publisher: Burmese Women's Union
2021-10-29
Date of entry/update: 2021-10-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "On 19 October 2021, the military coup council released over 5000 detainees, who were unjustly arrested and detained. Together with the family members and friends, Women's League of Burma (WLB) is very delighted for the release of Daw Thin Thin Aung, who was arrested on 8 April 2021. WLB would like to express our gratitude to all our friends and supporters, national and international organizations and individuals who painstakingly campaign for the release of Daw Thin Thin Aung & other women's human rights defenders, and the unjustly arrested. We acknowledge your support and solidarity efforts for us. Special thanks are to Asia Pacific Forum for Women, Law & Development (APWLD), Nobel Women's Initiative (NWI), Amnesty International (AI), Melanne Verveer, the executive director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security at Georgetown University & Human rights lawyer and author Nandita Haksar. WLB urges friends and supporters around the world, national and international organizations and individuals to continue your encouragement and solidarity campaigns for the release of the remaining detainees unjustly arrested, the elimination of all kinds of dictatorship including military dictatorship, and our movement to establish federal democratic union which guarantees self-determination, equality, peace and justice..."
Source/publisher: Women's League of Burma
2021-10-20
Date of entry/update: 2021-10-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf pdf
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Description: "This is the joint press release statement by the Ministry of Women, Youths and Children Affairs and the Ministry of Human Rights Affairs on the report which highlights the situation of violence against women committed by security forces of the State Administration Council in the period of eighth months (up to September) since the beginning of coup on February 1. Women of Myanmar are facing grave danger and violation of their rights under the military regime. The report aims to reveal the regime’s oppression against women, to hold SAC accountable for its inhumane abuses, and to promote and protect women rights..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of Human Rights and Ministry of Women, Youths and Children Affairs National Unity Government
2021-10-21
Date of entry/update: 2021-10-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Statement on the release of the report of the State Administration Council (SAC)’s security forces’ violation of women rights during conflict
Description: "စစ်တပ်မှအာဏာသိမ်းလိုက်သည့် ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ်၊ ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလ၊ ၁ ရက်နေ့မှ စက်တင်ဘာလထိ ၈ လတာ ကာလအတွင်း မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် အမျိုးသမီးများအပေါ် စစ်တပ်မှ ကျူးလွန်ခဲ့သည့် အမျိုးသမီးအခွင့်အရေး ချိုးဖောက်မှု အခြေအနေများကိုတင်ပြထားသည့် အစီရင်ခံစာကို အမျိုးသမီး၊ လူငယ်နှင့် ကလေးသူငယ်ရေးရာဝန်ကြီးဌာနနှင့် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးဆိုင်ရာ ဝန်ကြီးဌာနတို့ပူးပေါင်း၍ ယနေ့ထုတ်ပြန်လိုက်သည်။ စစ်အာဏာရှင်လက်ထက်တွင် အမျိုးသမီးထုသည် အသက်ဘေးရင်ဆိုင်နေရခြင်းများအပြင် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးချိုးဖောက်မှုအမျိုးမျိုးကိုလည်း ကျူးလွန်ခံနေရပါသည်။ နိုင်ထက်စီးနင်းပြုကျင့်ခံနေသည့် အမျိုးသမီးထု၏ ဆုံးရှုံးနစ်နာမှုများကို ဖော်ထုတ်တင်ပြရန်၊ အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်ကောင်စီ တပ်များ၏ လူမဆန်သည့်ကျူးလွန်မှုများကို ထိရောက်စွာအရေးယူနိုင်ရန်၊ အမျိုးသမီးထု၏ အခွင့်အရေးကို ထိရောက်စွာ ကာကွယ်စောင့်ရှောက်နိုင်ရန် ရည်ရွယ်၍ ဤအစီရင်ခံစာကို ပြုစုထုတ်ပြန်ရခြင်းဖြစ်သည်။..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of Human Rights and Ministry of Women, Youths and Children Affairs National Unity Government
2021-10-21
Date of entry/update: 2021-10-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "(CNN) - Five-year-old Su Htet Waing often wakes up crying for her mother and older sister. Hiding in the mosquito-infested jungles of Myanmar in a makeshift tent with her father, her young world has been torn apart. "I want to sleep with mummy, but the police have taken her," she said in an audio clip recorded by her father, Soe Htay, on his phone and sent to CNN in early August. Soe Htay was one of the early leaders of the pro-democracy movement against the military which overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government in a coup in February. He says his family is now paying the price for his activism. His wife and teenage daughter remain behind bars, and his youngest daughter says she was forced into a half sitting, half standing pose during the 18 days she was in detention -- a stress position that the United Nations Committee Against Torture views as a form of torture. The military has not responded to CNN's detailed emails and texts about the girl's detention and treatment. Soe Htay, left, and his daughter Su Htet Waing. But Soe Htay and his daughter are not alone. In the months since the coup, the junta has waged a bloody campaign against its opponents, shooting dead protesters in the street and detaining thousands of doctors, activists, journalists, artists -- anyone it deems an enemy. Sometimes, the junta isn't able to find its opponents. And increasingly, the military is going after another group of people to sow fear among the population and make them fall in line: the family members of dissidents, according to Tom Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar. "It's just horrific, it's horrific, it's outrageous, it's completely unacceptable and the international community should be up in arms," he said. "That's the brutal reality we're facing in this country and most importantly that the people of the Myanmar are facing." Cracking down on protests After the military took over, Soe Htay took to the streets in protest. And, like thousands of others in the country opposed to the takeover, Soe Htay became a target of the military junta. In June, months after he had stopped protesting for fear of being shot by the military, soldiers came to his home in Myanmar's central Mogok city to arrest him, Soe Htay told CNN from his jungle hideout. They raided his house four times, but he had already gone into hiding with his two sons, he said, leaving his immediate family behind. On the final visit in June, they arrested his wife and two daughters instead. "This is a hostage-arrest," he said. "Since they arrested my family when they couldn't arrest me ... my youngest daughter wasn't even 5 yet." Su Htet Waing spent 18 days in detention. Su Htet Waing spent her fifth birthday in detention, said Soe Htay. She was let out on June 30 after 18 days as part of a mass prisoner release. Her mother and sister remain behind bars, sentenced to three years in prison, Soe Htay said. Local media reported the pair were charged with incitement -- a common punishment leveled at pro-democracy activists. While Su Htet Waing was detained she was forced into the half-sitting, half-standing position, which caused her "mental trauma," said Soe Htay. Andrews, the UN special rapporteur, said he has heard of many similar cases of children being brutally punished for the political views of their parents in the months since the military junta took control. "The stress position is outrageous," he said. "I have seen reports of children being beaten, reports of children, of iron rods burning their legs, I've seen them detained for several days ... I'm speechless and outraged and truly angry at what despicable behavior we're seeing." The United Nations Committee Against Torture views stress positions as contrary to the Convention Against Torture. Innocent hostages Khaing Zin Thaw also tried to fight against the junta -- and like Soe Htay, it's her family that is paying the price. Khaing Zin Thaw's parents were arrested in April. She says they haven't done anything wrong. The 21-year-old used her role as a social media influencer to raise money for the Civil Disobedience Movement, which saw thousands of people leave their jobs to destabilize the coup and economy. She helped collect donations for those who had lost their jobs and were struggling to get by. Khaing Zin Thaw also made posts supporting the movement on Facebook, where she has about 700,000 followers. But that soon put her onto the radar of the military. Shortly after February's coup, she left home for safety and has been moving constantly ever since within Myanmar. But in April she got an alarming phone call. "One of my friends called me and told me there were military trucks outside my house. They called back half an hour later and said your parents have been arrested," she said. Her parents have done nothing wrong, she said, her voice wavering. Her father does not even know how to use Facebook. Her sister-in-law was also taken in her place, Khaing Zin Thaw said, but has since been released. "I heard that my father has been tortured and has not asked for his medication ... sometimes, my mind goes blank and I feel like I am losing my mind," she said, adding that both her parents have been charged with incitement. The military has not responded to CNN's detailed requests for comment. Taking 'hostages' At least 182 people, including children, have been detained in place of their family members since the coup -- and 141 of them remain in detention, according to advocacy group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). The group characterizes these arrests as hostage taking, and stresses the military's actions are in violation of international law. According to AAPP, when children are taken into detention, they are not sent to prisons, such as the notorious Insein where thousands of pro-democracy protesters are held. Instead, they are sent to interrogation centers, police custody, military barracks or junta administration offices. "The children who are detained as hostage are placed in the same cells as their family. But exact details inside detention are difficult to confirm," AAPP said in a written interview. "As far as we know, hostages are not being mixed with other pro-democracy detentions." AAPP said because the junta is making this distinction, it "clearly understands what it is doing is hostage taking." The group warns the practice is likely to increase. Myanmar has been brought to the edge of collapse since the coup, with the junta waging a bloody campaign against nationwide protests and strikes. The economy is in tatters, and a deadly Covid-19 wave is devastating the nation. Civilian insurgencies in the cities and border regions have declared a people's war on the military, with local militias carrying out guerrilla-style attacks on military forces. "(Hostage taking) is a strategy by the junta to inflict 'worry', it is part of the junta's wider campaign of terror waged against the population," the group said. "(It) will only get worse as the junta is increasingly losing on the front lines, with attacks in the cities like Yangon and Mandalay also escalating." The future The practice of detaining relatives is aimed at suppressing dissent, but it doesn't appear to be working. Far away from her happy childhood at their family home, little Su Htet Waing spends her days with her father, exposed to Myanmar's monsoon season, mosquitoes, and the risk of disease. Su Htet Waing is in hiding in Myanmar's jungles. Soe Htay says he believes the military is still hunting for him so he has to stay in a makeshift tent in the jungle. His daughter has her backpack ready in case they have to run again. He is determined to continue the fight for democracy in any way he can, despite his seemingly desperate situation. Soe Htay has been told by friends in the pro-democracy movement, who trickle information out of the prisons and during prisoner releases, that his daughter and wife were separated since their sentencing. He's also been told his daughter caught Covid-19, but has since recovered. "The way I see it," he said. "Their sorrow will only be healed after the revolution ... my only thought is to root out the dictatorship, for now I have to bury my bitterness and hatred in the revolution." Khaing Zin Thaw said she is now in "a safe place" but has to continue moving for fear of being tracked down by the military. "I am sad and dejected, and I am frustrated as I can't do anything for my parents in jail," she said..."
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Source/publisher: "CNN" (USA)
2021-09-24
Date of entry/update: 2021-09-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "1. It has been nearly eight months since entire Myanmar people staged Spring Revolution opposing Myanmar military's February 1 coup. The National Unity Government has also declared a nationwide state of emergency to wage a "people's defensive war" against the military. 2. The military regime has been continuously committing human rights violations since the coup, and evidence of its systematic, deliberate and widespread human rights violations points to international crimes. The oppressed are revolting in various ways against those atrocities. 3. The National unity Government has established military code of conduct and rules of engagement for People’s Defense Force to ensure they respect human rights and avoid inflicting harm on innocent civilians in the revolt. 4. Under no circumstances, violence shall be used against innocent civilians, particularly the vulnerable groups including women, children, the elderly and the disabled. It is clearly stated in international human rights laws that women and children must be given special protection during conflicts. Our ministry is working together with international community to document the regime's human rights violations including those against women and children, and to hold perpetrators accountable under the law. 5. Thus, ordinary civilians including the vulnerable groups such as women, children, the elderly and the disabled must be protected from harm anywhere, anytime and under any circumstances. Every armed unit and group has responsibility not to harm them. 6. We urge respective armed groups around Myanmar that are revolting in their own ways against the military regime to exercise due caution not to violate international human rights laws..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of Human Rights
2021-09-26
Date of entry/update: 2021-09-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
Size: 241.51 KB
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Description: "A woman detained by Myanmar’s military regime has been hospitalized in Dawei after she was beaten during her interrogation, according to sources close to her. Ma Soe Mie Mie Kyaw, a former English student at Dawei University, was detained on Monday night, along with three other people including a 13-year-old girl, in Dawei, the capital of Tanintharyi Region in southern Myanmar. “Ma Soe Mie Mie Kyaw has the records of donations made to People’s Defense Forces. She was beaten during her interrogation when she was asked about it. We are sure she is now in hospital,” said a member of the Dawei University Students Union who wished to remain anonymous. Initially, Dawei University Students Union said that Ma Soe Mie Mie Kyaw had attempted to commit suicide by drinking methylated spirts after being tortured, and was then taken to hospital. But the secretary of the Dawei University Students Union said he could not confirm those reports. “I am sure she is in the hospital. But I can’t confirm if she took methylated spirits,” said the secretary. Ma Soe Mie Mie Kyaw is now at Dawei Military Hospital. The man and woman detained alongside her – Ko Soe Pyae Aung and Ma Shar Pyae Khin – are being held at Dawei’s main police station. The 13-year-old girl was released by the regime. Last week, junta troops detained five people in Dawei, including three university students and a striking employee of the military-owned Myawaddy Bank and her husband. At least 1,120 people have been killed by the military regime since the February 1 coup and a further 6,698 detained, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Another 1,984 people are the subject of arrest warrants..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2021-09-24
Date of entry/update: 2021-09-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Crisis exacerbates gender inequalities and disproportionately affects women and girls. Naw Moh Moh Than has an ambition to become a teacher one day, however, there have been several disruptions in this journey as armed conflict forced her and her family to an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Kayin State when she was in secondary school which led to an abrupt halt in her education. With the help of one her teachers, she was determined to finish her schooling but the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping through Myanmar became another stumbling block for her. Yet, this has not deterred her determination. Naw Moh Moh Than was one of the many who joined the UN Women supported sewing training for women in the IDP camp where she lives. She was taught how to produce cloth masks which were then purchased by humanitarian actors and distributed to women in need across the State. “I was really happy to join the sewing training because if I can master this skill, I can also pass it on to the others in the village. When the schools reopen again, I will try to finish my matriculation but in the meantime, the sewing skills that I have learned during this training will really benefit me”, she said. Crises impact women, girls, boys and men of all ages differently. During crises, whether born of conflict or disasters, women often endure extreme hardships, such as increased violence and insecurity, restricted mobility and additional care, domestic and livelihood responsibilities. Women are girls are more vulnerable to crisis because pre-existing gender inequalities limit women’s and girl’s access to information and resources which makes it more difficult for them to be resilient and recover from disasters. According to OCHA, 77 per cent of the people living in IDP camps in Myanmar by the end of 2020 were women and girls and they constitute the majority of those who have been newly displaced since then. At the same time, women and girls have unique roles in resilience building, disaster response and recovery. They are often the first responders when disaster strikes, tending to the needs of their families and communities and coping with the adverse impact on their livelihood and possessions. Research also shows that when women are involved in prevention and crisis response, it leads to better outcomes and lowers risk. Daw Zin Mar Aye was a teacher and a stay-at-home mother in Kachin State, but she always felt there something more that she could do. Using her natural leadership skills, she decided to attend trainings – many of which were provided by UN Women – and learn more about women in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps, their economic challenges and vulnerabilities to various forms of abuse. She went on to form a network of women of various ethnic groups, promoting peace and women empowerment and prevention of gender violence. In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, and through a UN Women programme, she began to support women from IDP camps who were experiencing gender-based violence during the pandemic. In Myanmar, like in the rest of the world, UN Women has been working over the past few years with humanitarian actors to ensure that the emergency response takes into account the specific needs of women and girls; that women and girls are included in humanitarian response efforts and that women’s leadership is leveraged in that process; and that women civil society organizations are given the space and resources to participate in the response. Since the beginning of the year, UN Women has for instance worked with its local partners to distribute hygiene and dignity kits, and COVID-19 protection kits to over 20,000 women and over 3, 500 men with a particular focus on the most vulnerable households and women living in IDP camps and crisis affected areas in Kachin and Rakhine States. UN Women further currently supports over 10,000 vulnerable women including IDP women and women migrant workers with income generation and livelihood initiatives such as cash transfers, livelihood and handicraft training, entrepreneurship training, climate smart agriculture, and cash grants for the establishment of small businesses in Kachin, Kayin, Mon, Rakhine States and Tanintharyi Region. In Rakhine and Kachin, UN Women is also partnering with UNFPA in order to provide support for women and girls survivors of intimate partner violence, address the issues of domestic violence during the pandemic and mitigate and prevent gender-based violence in Myanmar, including through the provision of financial aid, legal counsel and psychosocial support. During the same period, and to promote civil society’s participation in response efforts, UN Women has further provided leadership training to close to 160 women community-based organizations and youth groups in Mon and Kayin States. “Throughout the history of Myanmar, women have proven to be active agents in responding to crisis and key to the promotion of peace. We must step up our efforts to place women and women’s organization at the centre of response to the current crisis”, explained Nicolas Burniat, Country Representative for UN Women in Myanmar. UN Women’s work in Myanmar is made possible thanks to the generous support of the governments of Canada, Finland, Germany, Japan and Sweden, as well as contributions from the Women, Peace and Humanitarian Fund and the OCHA Central Emergency Response Fund..."
Source/publisher: United Nations Myanmar
2021-09-23
Date of entry/update: 2021-09-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Karen Women’s Organization (KWO) and the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) strongly condemn the use of women as human shields by the Burma Army in Karen State and other ethnic areas. Women in particular face many risks in being used as human shields, being subjected to forced labour, to torture and sexual violence, and to assaults in military custody. This type of inhumane treatment by the Burma Army must end immediately and all soldiers responsible for subjecting women to this harrowing ordeal need to be held accountable without impunity. Rampant militarization throughout the country is threatening the stability and security of civilians who are living in fear amidst ongoing attacks. On August 19th 2021, at 1:00 PM, the Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) #341 and LIB #410 from Ler Toh army camp, based at Hkaw Poo village tract, Bu Tho Township, Mutraw district. When the soldiers arrived, they confronted and arrested three women villagers. The soldiers kicked and stepped on them and asked them many questions. These two military battalions forced three women to carry their materials and equipment and used them as human shields until they reached Kyaw Hta Loh River, where they were released after sustaining minor injuries. And on September 1st at 2:00 PM, after a skirmish between the SAC and the KNLA soldiers at Paing Kalan Done village tract, Kawkareik Township, Dooplaya District, SAC soldiers took Naw Mu Htee Kaung, 30 years old, and used her as a human shield by placing her in front of them as they marched farther into KNU territory. Using civilians as human shields is forbidden under international humanitarian law. The Burma Army’s use of sexual violence in conflict areas is nothing new. However, what is increasingly frustrating is that the crimes committed by the Burma Army remain unpunished. Rape and other forms of gender-based violence have been systematically used by the Burma Army as a weapon of war for decades. The cases mentioned are not isolated incidents. KWO and KHRG remain extremely concerned at the growing level of unrest in Burma. No one should ever be subjected to the terror of being used as a human shield. Throughout the country’s turbulent history, women have never been safe and this is yet another example of how their lives are at risk. Weak rule of law, which has been in place for decades, only undermines their struggle further, and pursuits for justice and accountability have been hijacked by the junta. Last month, KWO received reports from the ground about an increase in Border Guard Forces and Burma Army soldiers in Karen State. The state-backed regime is forcing villagers to go to their bases and use them as human shields. They also stayed in the villages and looted villagers’ properties such as money, jewellery, motorbikes, tractors, food supplies, livestock, and destroyed houses. Burma Army drones and airplane surveillance in Karen areas have caused fears among villagers of potential airstrikes. The increase in fighting is directly linked to the expansion of Burma Army operations. Since the coup, KHRG has documented an increase in militarization in Karen State. The increase in military presence, fighting, shelling, and airstrikes have caused mass displacement and civilian casualties. Women and girls are especially affected by mass displacement. According to KHRG’s documentation, women have been forced to give birth and to take care of their new-borns in the caves and jungles, without access to adequate maternal care. The international community must do more to act on behalf of the people of Myanmar. We call on the UN Security Council to refer the Burma/Myanmar situation to the International Criminal Court and to declare a no-fly zone in Karen areas. Humanitarian support must be provided for those fleeing from fighting. In addition, steps must be taken to refrain from all engagements with the junta and the so-called State Administration Council, and instead to recognize the National Unity Government, who represents the people’s voice. Further, human rights must be a priority at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly later this month where a pivotal decision will be made on who will be the chosen representative for Burma/Myanmar. UN bodies must recognize that the people of Burma/Myanmar overwhelmingly reject the junta and their unlawful attempts to seize democracy in the country. KWO and KHRG urge the protection of all civilians in the country and for the UN to act swiftly and with conviction to intervene in the declining state of human rights in Burma/Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group
2021-09-03
Date of entry/update: 2021-09-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Soldiers open fire on a couple in Paung Township, injuring a man and killing a 27-year-old woman who was five months pregnant
Description: "Junta troops opened fire on a couple returning to their home in Thea Ein village in Mon State’s Paung Township on Wednesday night, killing a woman who was five months pregnant and injuring her husband. Ei Thwe Moe, 27, died on the spot due to a gunshot wound to the thigh, a family member said. Twenty-nine-year-old Puu Day, who also goes by the name Min Nay Lwin, had to be hospitalised after suffering injuries to his eye and leg. The couple was reportedly returning from a farm outside the village, and had been gathering food in the area when they were shot at around 10pm. The family member who spoke to Myanmar Now said that the soldiers opened fire when the couple aimed their flashlights at them. A local claimed that the incident happened while members of the military were on patrol that night, and that he had heard around 10 gunshots before the soldiers fled the scene. “They just left them like that right after shooting them, it’s like they had total disregard for their lives,” the local said. The couple also have a four-year-old daughter. Locals were unable to provide further details concerning the incident and Myanmar Now was unable to verify their accounts independently. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, 1,041 people have been killed by the military council from the February 1 coup until September 1, and 7,742 people have been arrested..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
2021-09-03
Date of entry/update: 2021-09-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "To mark the 36th anniversary of KWO-Day, KWO addressed a formal letter to all KWO members and Karen people around the world. KWO call for unity, for us to continue to work together for our organization and nation – and to keep persevering in our work until we have achieved justice and equality for all..."
Source/publisher: Karen Women's Organization
2021-04-05
Date of entry/update: 2021-09-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
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Description: "On the day marking seven months since the Burmese military’s attempted coup, the Women’s League of Burma (WLB) reinforces our condemnation of the junta’s illegal and unjust seizure of power and categorically rejects the assault on civilian livelihoods including the infringement of basic human rights freedoms and protections by the Burmese Army, and in particular the targeting of women and girls through sexual violence as a weapon of war. WLB also condemns the junta’s efforts of using its controlled media and personnel to defame women who have joined resistance forces fighting against them, particularly the junta’s spokesperson shameful use of sexist and patriarchal language against these brave women. Since February the first, the whole country has been pushed back to living under constant threats and insecurity. The military has used all forms of violence including arrest, killing, torture and sexual assault to suppress any actions taken against the coup. Over 1,000 civilians have been killed by security forces, including over 73 women. More than 1,084 women were among 7,300 people arrested simply for their political views. Moreover, the junta has launched military offensives including airstrikes in Kachin, Karen, Karenni/Kayah, Rakhine and Shan State and Sagaing Region. As a result, more than 240,000 people have been internally displaced across the country adding to the already-existing numbers of IDPs. Among those, 80 percent, are women and children who face risks of malnutrition and sexual violence by the Burmese soldiers. Pregnant women have been forced to give birth while hiding in the jungle without proper health care. An increase number of rape and sexual abuse by the junta’s security forces against women has been reported daily. Besides its brutal attacks against the people, the Burmese military is blocking the routes to transport humanitarian aid to those in need, or even arresting relief workers. This humanitarian crisis unfolding across the country has heightened the needs of vulnerable communities against the backdrop of a raging pandemic. The COVID-19 has allowed the junta to restrict the movement of opposition forces and to limit civilian access to health care. WLB reiterates our commitment fighting against all forms of dictatorships in our country alongside with our alliances in the federal democracy movement as well as with various international and regional actors to raise awareness about the situation inside Burma, in particular highlighting the plight of women, girls including all human rights defenders. On this occasion, we urge international community to act as follows: To the International Community Categorically reject the military junta by supporting and standing with the people of Burma to topple the military dictatorship; To apply pressure on the junta for the immediate and unconditional cessation of military violence and the release of all arbitrarily detained protesters and political prisoners including female detainees as well as an end to the use of sexual violence by security forces against female detainees;..."
Source/publisher: Women's League of Burma
2021-09-01
Date of entry/update: 2021-09-01
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Description: "On 25 August, 2021, the Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day Organizing Committee and the Women’s Peace Network held an online panel discussion to commemorate the four years since the Myanmar military’s systematic use of sexual violence in its genocidal attacks against Rohingya. “The military has killed indiscriminately, slaughtered us like animals. Tens of thousands of Rohingya women were gang-raped by the Myanmar military. It was systematic and we consider it as part of the genocide. They were using rape as a weapon against women to force us out of Myanmar. There still is no justice for us,” explained Win Win Maw, a poet, cultural agent and writer at the Rohingya Cultural Memory Center in Bangladesh. Moon Nay Li, who has worked for the Kachin Women's Association for 18 years and currently holds the position of advocacy officer and spokesperson, highlighted that for decades, the military used rape as a weapon of war with impunity, and the international community’s failure to act emboldened them to continue this horrific practice to this day. “I think the lack of impunity emboldened them, the lack of punishment and the military immunity have made the situation worse,” she said. Khin Omar, human rights advocate and founder of a number of civil society organizations, including the Women's League of Burma, Burma Partnership, and Progressive Voice, then elaborated on the question of justice for survivors, stating that survivors and victims of sexual violence needed remedy, and that Myanmar as a country needs to hold the military accountable so that they would “stop raping women.” Another of our panelists, Naw K’nyaw Paw, a lifelong peace activist and General Secretary of the Karen Women’s Organization, explained the psychosocial consequences of sexual violence as follows: “The victims of sexual violence have suffered mental and physical trauma, they can’t focus on work tasks, they seek isolation, they become triggered and re-traumatized, and they face stigma. Sexual violence can also separate women from their social communities, but they need an income and social support. We need justice, but we also need to help victims to support their livelihoods and dignity.” As some of our speakers pointed out, sexual violence against ethinic minorities was long seen as something normal in Myanmar, mainly because ethnic minorities such as Rohingya were not perceived as Burmese citizens. Dr. Tin Mar Oo, a medical doctor and Rohingya women rights activist told us that these feelings of disunity are starting to dissipate under the current junta rule. “Myanmar is at war. The military is attacking everybody, in different parts of Myanmar. They are using sexual violence as a weapon, we have to understand that. It is important that we work together to find justice for all the victims of the Myanmar military,” she proclaimed. The fruitful discussion, moderated by former political prisoner and founder of the Women’s Peace Network, Wai Wai Nu, demonstrated the strong need for remedy and accountability. Hence, together with our panelists, the Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day Committee and the Women’s Peace Network call on the international community to provide financial and psychological support for the victims of the Burmese Military’s wide-spread use of sexual and gender-based violence. We also call on communities to provide social and psychological support for traumatized survivors. Further, we demand that the National Unity Government repeal the 2014 and 2015 Race and Protection laws, which discriminate against ethnic, racial, and religious minorities and render women and girls who are already a target to violence even more vulnerable. Moreover, as former Dutch ambassador, member of the Rakhine Advisory Commission, and author Laetitia van den Assum has put it, “without accountability, justice doesn’t stand a chance”. If we want justice for survivors, we cannot permit the junta to continue their campaign of terror with impunity. Thus, we call on the United Nations Security Council to refer Myanmar to the International Criminal Court or create a Special Tribunal to hold the military accountable for their crimes..."
Source/publisher: Women’s Peace Network
2021-08-25
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The lover of betel nut, music and painting is deprived of the freedom to be with her loved ones on what should have been a milestone in her life
Description: "Myanmar writer and journalist Tu Tu Tha is not known for hosting grand birthday celebrations. Most of her previous parties have been simple but memorable gatherings marked by singing and time shared with loved ones, laughing. This year she was deprived of such an occasion. On Saturday, she turned 50 after spending more than four months behind bars. Tu Tu Tha is not a criminal. She is an author of several books, a trainer of journalists, and a former editor with nearly two decades of experience in a range of newsrooms. She was arrested at her home in Yangon’s Thanlyin Township on April 24 along with one of her two sons, 18-year-old Nyan Lu Thit; her younger brother, Ye Naung; and a friend of her son’s, under the pretext that they failed to report themselves as overnight guests to the military authorities. Family and friends hoped that they would be freed shortly after they were detained, but all four remain jailed. Tu Tu Tha was sent to the infamous Insein Prison after spending three nights at the military’s Shwepyithar interrogation centre. She was later charged with incitement under Section 505a of the penal code, a violation that carries a three-year prison sentence if convicted. In the four months she has been in prison, she has not been allowed an in-person visit from any of her relatives. Tu Tu Tha’s trial initially commenced in a closed prison court but was suspended in late June, when all hearings were halted due to the Covid-19 outbreak both inside and outside the jail. She is one of thousands of people subjected to the junta’s arbitrary arrests that followed the February 1 military coup. The regime has detained nearly 6,000 people in prisons across the country, charging most of them with incitement and terrorism for participating in anti-coup activities. Compelled to write Tu Tu Tha initially trained as an engineer at the prestigious Government Technical Institute (GTI) in Yangon’s Insein Township. She attended the school as per the wish of her late father, well-known cartoonist A Naung whose works were featured in newspapers and magazines from the 1970s until his death in the early 1990s. Raised in a family that celebrated creativity and the arts, Tu Tu Tha found that she was not suited to a career in engineering, instead changing her pursuit to literature, a passion since her childhood. Still, her love of the more than 120-year-old GTI school and the years she spent there were reflected in her most recent novel, published in early 2020. The title of the book, Bandamar Lan Ka Alwan Chay Yar, is inspired by the tree-lined streets in front of the dorm where she once lived. “The inspiration [for that book] was always in my heart. But I lost my computer when I was writing the book and was already halfway finished with it. It took me two more years to rewrite it from the start,” Tu Tu Tha said in a media interview at her book launch in March last year. Her commitment to writing works inspired by real life events was also apparent in her first novel, A Phay Kyaung, or Father’s School. Published in 2015, it tells the stories of four Burmese migrants to Thailand and explores the struggles surrounding migrant children’s access—or lack thereof—to education. The inspiration for that book came from her experience working in exile as an editor for The Irrawaddy news magazine in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where she wrote under the pen name Aye Chan Myae. The book followed a film by the same name, for which Tu Tu Tha wrote the script. It was made in 2012 but released in 2016, directed by filmmaker Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi, who is also currently detained in the same prison as Tu Tu Tha after being arrested on the day of the coup. The lead actor, Ye Deight, is also detained in Insein. He was charged with the same offence as Tu Tu Tha and was arrested in early April. After five years in Thailand, Tu Tu Tha returned to Myanmar in 2013 with her colleagues when The Irrawaddy opened an office in Yangon. Ye Ni, the editor of The Irrawaddy’s Burmese edition described his former colleague Tu Tu Tha as a committed journalist and writer who should not be spending time in prison, and called for the immediate release of all political detainees including journalists, authors, poets and filmmakers. In 2016, Tu Tu Tha founded the Thanlyin Post, dedicated to and operating from her home township. She ran the publication for around two years until she could no longer afford to continue. Tu Tu Tha then went on to work as a part-time trainer at the Myanmar Journalism Institute. Lover of betel nut Friends, former colleagues and relatives of Tu Tu Tha have said they are worried about her health amid reports of widespread Covid-19 infections within Insein Prison. In a letter to her family dated August 20, she wrote that she indeed had fallen sick for a few days but had since recovered, according to a relative who asked not to be named for security reasons. "She brought her betel nut container with her even during a trip to Norway. She would be really sad if she could not have it while still inside Myanmar" Imagining her in detention, friends and relatives commented on Tu Tu Tha’s years-long addiction to chewing betel nut, once a health concern but now a simple pleasure that her loved ones hope she can still access. “She brought her betel nut container with her even during a trip to Norway. She would be really sad if she could not have it while still inside Myanmar,” her friend of nearly two decades, Tin Zar, told Myanmar Now. Humour and satire Friends say that Tu Tu Tha’s sense of humour and ability to create satire, two of her most celebrated qualities, are arguably best showcased in her 2015 collection of short stories—Phoot Din, a Burmese play on the English word “pudding.” “She always sees things in an artistic and loving way. Even when she faces hardships, she transforms them into witty satirical pieces of poetry and writing,” longtime friend Tin Zar said. US-based Myanmar poet and author Aung Way described Tu Tu Tha as one of the finest contemporary writers on the Myanmar literary scene since the early 2000s. “She contributed a lot [to Myanmar] from exile with her writings,” Aung Way told Myanmar Now. In addition to her writing, Tu Tu Tha’s relatives and friends also know her as a lover of music, painting and environmental conservation. “She is spontaneous and full of positivity. She loves people, especially children,” said another longtime friend and former colleague. If she were not imprisoned, the friend said, Tu Tu Tha’s 50th birthday would have certainly been a “joyful occasion” with close friends from across the Myanmar arts scene, and would have featured songs by her favourite singer Htoo Eain Thin. “She would be so happy and laughing out loud—her usual self,” the friend said, speculating that Tu Tu Tha may have even created and unveiled a piece of writing or a painting for the day. A former detainee at Insein Prison alongside Tu Tu Tha told Myanmar Now that the writer is being held in a shared group cell with around 60 female inmates. “She exercises there and encourages other people to do so, too. She keeps herself healthy and reads books at night,” the now released detainee said. Tu Tu Tha was sent and received several books by loved ones in the early days of her detention. But restrictions for inmates have recently tightened and her family reports that they are currently only allowed to send her one book each month. The military council has released thousands of detainees in recent months, including those who have been charged with incitement. Tu Tu Tha’s family and friends say they hope that she too will be among the released in the coming months. Another friend said that while his own hope for the imprisoned journalist on her 50th birthday would be that she would soon be reunited with her family for a proper party, he believes her own wish on the occasion would be different. “She would surely wish for only one thing—democracy,” he said..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
2021-08-28
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-28
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Description: "To Our Rohingya sisters, On this day commemorating the Rohingya genocide, the Karen Women’s Organization (KWO) wishes to express our solidarity for the pain and suffering Rohingya victims and their families have endured under militarized campaigns waged by the Burmese Army. KWO is all too familiar with the brutality of which the junta is capable of. Our communities have been devastated by scorched earth campaigns and a slow genocide of the Karen people for decades. The struggle of ethnic people is rooted in the military’s desire to preserve Bamar history and traditions. Their ruthless attempts to assimilate the population has come with destruction and force waged against the Karen, and other ethnic groups in the country. Our differences and diversity ought to be celebrated. But instead, the junta continues to attempt to aggressively eliminate our very existence. Women and girls in particular have been subjected to harrowing forms of gender-based violence and sexual assault. The Burmese military has long used rape as a weapon of war against ethnic women to intimidate, traumatize and silence their victims. These abuses weigh heavy, but they must not deter, distract nor disengage from our efforts to hold the Burmese military accountable. We are haunted by the junta’s unrelenting attacks which have taken loved ones from us too soon, and forced us to carry the weight of lives lost without justice. But we cannot let them win. We must be strong and carry on without fear. KWO offers our solidarity in the strongest possible forms and will fight for the day when our suffering is no longer in vain, and for long-lasting peace in Burma where we are all recognized as equals, regardless of our ethnicity, religion or gender. Until then, we are with you in our ongoing calls for justice..."
Source/publisher: Karen Women's Organization
2021-08-25
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-25
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Description: "On this 4th anniversary of the Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day, the Women’s League of Burma (WLB) would like to convey our message of solidarity to our Rohingya sisters and brothers. We share your sorrows, pain and demand justice in the name of all those who perished in the brutal crackdowns by the Burmese military and the survivors who remain. WLB condemns in the strongest possible terms the violence committed by the Burmese military, which forced more than 700,000 Rohingyas to flee from Rakhine State into Bangladesh. The WLB and its member organizations have also experienced the agony of being forced to flee our homelands all as well. For decades, the Burmese military has terrorized ethnic communities with their wide-spread campaigns of violence. Sexual and gender-based violence, especially rape has been systemically utilized by the Burmese military junta. Women and girls in ethnic areas have long suffered under the Burmese military junta's culture of impunity. Accountability for the crimes against ethnic women and girls is long overdue. Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians have been forced to flee for their lives. This humanitarian crisis has disproportionate impact on women and children. They face great risks ranging from including malnutrition to being sexually exploited. Since the military coup on February 1, the human rights situation in Burma is deteriorating day by day. Civilians of every gender, religion and socio-economic background have been killed and detained by the junta simply for demanding their basic fundamental rights and freedoms. The Burmese military junta perhaps think it is above the law and that there are no consequences for the atrocity crimes and human rights violations it committed in Rakhine state and continues to do so all over Burma. Impunity has emboldened them so the world must act to ensure that the harrowing ordeals faced by our Rohingya sisters, brothers and other ethnic community over the decades must never happen to others. We must put an end to sexual violence in conflict, extrajudicial killings, arrests of peaceful protesters and inhuman treatment in detention. WLB reinforces our repeated calls for an immediate referral of the Burmese military junta to the International Criminal Court and domestic courts with jurisdiction to bring justice for victims and survivors. And to our Rohingya sisters and brothers, we hold your pain close to our hearts and vow to work alongside you all to break free of the reins of injustice which have kept us chained for too long.....၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် သြဂုတ်လ ၂၅ ရက်နေ့တွင် အမျိုးသမီးများအဖွဲ့ချုပ် (မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ) သည် ရိုဟင်ဂျာညီအစ်ကို ညီအစ်မများ နှင့် တသားတည်းရပ်တည်ကြောင့် သတင်းစကားပါးခြင်း ဆိုသည့် ထုတ်ပြန်ကြောညာချက်ကို ထုတ်ပြန်ခဲ့သည်။..."
Source/publisher: Women's League of Burma
2021-08-25
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-25
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Sub-title: As part of an ongoing monthly analysis, WLB would like to share our July briefer on the situation of human rights amid the military coup in Burma/Myanmar and the recent outbreak of COVID-19.
Description: "Six months have passed since the Burmese Army seized power in a coup. Since that dark day, the people of Burma/Myanmar have continued to suffer the consequences. In the months following Feb 1, it has become abundantly clear that the terrorist junta has neither the political will nor the ability to govern with compassion and humanity. Something must be done to reverse the devastation. But dismantling the junta’s legacy of violence and impunity is not without its challenges. Yet, the on-going civil movements and growing calls for action alongside campaigns for accountability, signals that the struggle for freedom, equality and peace for the people of Burma/Myanmar will continue. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated an already devastating political, economic and social climate. At the time of this writing, the country has reported over 300,000 confirmed cases Ethnic areas are also seriously affected by the pandemic. Exploitation of the pandemic has led to countless preventable deaths. The junta’s negligence has been made clear in their hoarding of oxygen tanks for themselves as they threatened health care workers, forcing many to go underground. Pharmacies have been forced to close due to insufficient stock, and those that remain open are inaccessible to many due to price inflation. For displaced populations and refugees, their situation comes with a lack of direct access to healthcare facilities. Children and the elderly are facing many difficulties because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ‘war on health’ is the latest battle the people of Burma/ Myanmar are now facing. The military is moving backwards by arresting health care workers who share anti-coup views. According to recent statistics, the majority of health workers involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) are women, and they too are putting themselves at risk providing medical services to the infected. In this new struggle, women are disproportionately impacted. Across generations, women take on many responsibilities in the household, including being a primary caretaker. As they give their energy to their infected loved ones, they put themselves at more risk of catching the virus. Meanwhile, unlawful arrests and persecution of pro-democracy activists continues. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, 1,084 women have been arrested and 65 killed since Feb 1. Another 100 youth have been killed by the junta, including 75 children. Additionally, 1,000 young people between the ages of 10 and 19 have been detained. Of those arrested, 65 have been sentenced to death through military tribunals, including four women. Burma/Myanmar has not evoked the death penalty since 1988. These sentences are excruciatingly punitive and they lack legitimacy. Peaceful protest is not a crime, and yet under the junta’s control, those with different views are persecuted. Impact of the Military Coup: The junta continues to deny and dismiss the severity of the multiple crises unfolding within the country. International intervention to curb the rate of infections and carry out an effective humanitarian response is urgently needed. Women and children have suffered enormous consequences since the junta’s ruthless takeover. Surviving under an authoritarian regime has been immeasurably difficult for the most vulnerable. In Burma/Myanmar, women are unfairly recognized as the weaker gender. The military often treats them with severe disrespect, abusing and intimidating them to maintain their control. Since the military overthrew the democratically elected government, sexual harassment, rape, and arrests have increased. There is no compassion shown for the elderly, the sick, people with disabilities or young. To the Burmese Army, they are simply the threats to their new political order. Women have also been threatened by the junta for their pro-democracy activities. A weak legal system has undermined all prospects for justice and accountability. Women’s access to justice referral pathways is also limited by patriarchal and cultural stereotypes. Isolating civilians from life-saving services is another branch of the junta’s deceitful tactics. Many of the victims of their atrocities are from low-income communities who lack the financial capacity and legal literacy to access services. The junta has a long history of committing sexual abuse against young women and girls. The abuse leaves survivors traumatized, often without reparations for the crimes committed against them. In detention, prisoners are allowed limited access to water. Due to the unsanitary conditions, women in the prison often take contraceptives. Even though there may be consequences to their health, women political prisoners in Dawei Township have no choice but receive the contraceptive injections through the clinics in the prison. Inadequate access to sanitary conditions while unlawfully detained is yet another violation they are forced to endure. As tens of thousands of positive cases and hundreds of deaths from COVID-19 are being reported, prisons throughout the country are also affected by the coronavirus. Making it worse is the military’s unwillingness to contain the pandemic and provide proper medical care. Dr. Htar Htar Lin, the Director of the National Immunization Program and one of the leading experts on COVID-19 in Burma/ Myanmar, who was arrested with her family on June 20, is now infected with the virus. While two women reportedly died in Insein Prison in the month of July due to being denied medical care. One was Moe Thu, a 42-year-old anti-coup protest leader from Khayan Township in Yangon Region, whose colleagues believed she died of COVID-19. In response to the negligence of the prison’s management over the deteriorating COVID-19 pandemic and its discriminatory medical treatment within prison, women from the two female detention blocks in Insein Prison staged a protest in the morning of July 23 spreading across the prison. Young children are not exempt from this horrendous treatment. Ko Soe Htay, a Burmese human rights activist, says his five-year-old daughter was arrested and detained in his place with his wife and elder daughter. The family was forced to endure stress positions by the junta. Since her release, he says his young daughter has been traumatized. His eldest, who remains in prison, is suffering from life-threatening injuries..."
Source/publisher: Women’s League of Burma
2021-08-18
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The fatal fall of Wai Wai Myint—or “Apple” to her friends—was testament to her refusal to give in to injustice
Description: "In early August, 29-year-old Wai Wai Myint and her 35-year-old husband Soe Myat Thu decided to leave Yangon for a short trip to Mandalay and Pyin Oo Lwin. The couple, who had recently recovered from Covid-19, just wanted a break from the stress of life in Myanmar’s largest city, where post-coup political tensions and anxiety over the third wave of the pandemic seemed to be coming to a head. They took their much-needed vacation and were due to return to Yangon by plane on August 10. However, when they learned that their flight would be delayed until the afternoon, they decided to rent a car the day before so they could get back to Yangon by morning. It proved to be a fateful decision. Just hours after they arrived at their home on 45th Street at around 9am, Wai Wai Myint—known to her friends and family as “Apple”—would be lying dead in a nearby alleyway. After resting from their journey, Wai Wai Myint went out at around 3pm to meet with friends who lived a short distance away on 44th Street, according to her husband. “She took 10 or 15 thousand kyat with her to give to her friends. It was soon after she left that it happened,” he recalled. “I can’t help but blame myself. If only we taken the plane, we wouldn’t have arrived until 6pm,” he said as he tried to make sense of the tragic events of that day. Lost hope Soe Myat Thu learned about his wife’s death on social media. There were reports that five people had fallen from the rooftop of a three-storey apartment building on 44th Street. The details were unclear, but it appeared that they had been trying to escape from a raid by junta troops looking to arrest members of the anti-coup resistance movement. It was believed that the 50-foot fall had left at least some of the wanted activists dead. Photos shared on Facebook showed seemingly lifeless bodies lying in an alley behind No. 38, 44th Street, including one of a woman in a blue and yellow dress, like the one worn by Snow White in the classic Disney movie. It was the sight of this dress that shook Soe Myat Thu to the core. “I kept hoping that it wasn’t her, but at the same time, I could see that the woman in the photo was wearing the exact same dress as my wife,” he said. Even in the face of this evidence, he couldn’t quite bring himself to believe that it was Wai Wai Myint. He posted something on Facebook to see if he could get more information, and it slowly began to sink in that it was true: his wife was dead. But this did not end his quest for some glimmer of hope. The following morning, he contacted a doctor he knew at Yangon General Hospital to ask if she had been admitted there. When this failed to yield any new leads, he went directly to the hospital’s emergency department, only to be told that they hadn’t seen any patients fitting Wai Wai Myint’s description. "The Facebook post said there was one person barely alive at the hospital. I couldn’t help but hope it was my wife. She was always a lucky person." He then went from one cemetery to another, beginning with the Kyu Chaung Cemetery in Shwepyithar Township, where the military often takes the bodies of its victims. Next he went to the Kyi Su Cemetery in South Dagon, and then the Yay Way Cemetery in North Okkalapa. As his grim search continued, he read on Facebook that the five people who had fallen from the building the day before had all been taken to the 1,000-bed military hospital in Mingaladon Township, where one was said to still be clinging to life. “The post said there was one person barely alive at the hospital. I couldn’t help but hope it was my wife. She was always a lucky person,” said Soe Myat Thu. But the thought that he might see Wai Wai Myint alive again proved short-lived. Friends at the hospital confirmed that she had died. Four hours later, he would see this with his own eyes when he went to identify her. After making a futile request for permission to take her body, which was tightly wrapped in white cloth, for burial (she had often said that she didn’t want to be cremated), he was denied another last wish: to keep her ashes. “We couldn’t take her body home. And we couldn’t have her ashes,” he recalled sadly. “They said that they couldn’t make any exceptions—that everything had to be done according to the orders from the higher ups.” ‘A peculiar girl’ He still hasn’t told their five-year-old daughter, Nan Hteik Yati, what happened to her mother. A gemstone dealer by profession, Wai Wai Myint was often away on business. Perhaps that is where their daughter thinks she is now, Soe Myat Thu suggested, before adding that that may no longer be the case. “I think she found out about her death this morning while we were praying with the monks. She started crying while she was praying,” he said. Wai Wai Myint was a devoted mother who would only bend her will to please their daughter, Soe Myat Thu recalled, remembering his wife as the sort of person who would never give up in a fight. “When we argued, she would only start talking to me again if our daughter told her to,” he said. Wai Wai Myint had lost both of her parents—her father when she was just a child, and her mother while she was in university. Perhaps it was this that made her so fiercely independent, and at the same time protective towards those who had suffered some injustice, according to some of her closest friends. “Many people called her Apple. She was such a peculiar girl. She couldn’t stand injustice. She was fierce, and tall—she always wore high heels,” said Htet Arkar Kyaw, a former classmate. “By fierce, I don’t mean she fought with or bullied people. She was a brave girl. Everyone at school knew that. She used to fight with teachers known to act like dictators with students,” he recalled. "She always stood on the side of the weak." An honours graduate with a degree in English language from Dagon University, she always spoke up when she had to. “She would always ask the teachers questions, and never gave up until she got an answer that satisfied her. And she was never afraid to tell the truth,” said her close friend Soe Soe. Seen as “mouthy” by some, to those who really knew her, she was best known for being always ready to come to the aid of those in need, Soe Soe added. Her husband said this applied as much to strangers as to friends. “There were many times when she would yell at restaurant managers for scolding waiters,” he said. “She always stood on the side of the weak.” ‘No interest in politics’ Until the coup in February, however, Wai Wai Myint’s strong sense of justice never really extended to the political sphere. As relatively well-off members of Myanmar’s middle class, she and her husband had friends who supported both the now-ousted National League for Democracy and the army’s proxy party, and they felt no desire to pick sides. “We weren’t interested in politics at all before the coup. We weren’t on either side,” said Soe Myat Thu, noting that he and his wife both preferred to put most of their energy into their work, which in his case was running a private dental clinic. But that changed just over a week after the military takeover, when a young protester in Naypyitaw became the first casualty of the newly installed regime’s brutal efforts to crush opposition to its rule. Mya Thwe Thwe Khine was just 19 years old when she was shot in the head during an anti-coup demonstration in the capital on February 9. Her subsequent death a few days later made a deep impression on Wai Wai Myint. “It shattered her when Mya Thwe Thwe Khine died,” Soe Myat Thu said about the change in his wife’s political views. Over the ensuing months, she joined many protests, even when the junta was massacring dozens or even hundreds of civilians on a daily basis. She did so against her husband’s wishes, and eventually stopped telling him what she was doing, he said. Much of her activity involved cooking and donating food to protesters, according to her friend Soe Soe. In April, she was briefly detained for her involvement in the resistance movement. "She’d always say that she wanted to swap places with the people who died. She just couldn’t stand injustice." During her detention, she suffered a spinal injury after she was slapped and kicked by her captors. But more than that, it pained her that she was released while others were forced to remain behind bars. “She wasn’t happy, because only she and a few other people were freed. She felt guilty about that. She’d come to me and cry about it,” said Soe Soe. “She’d always say that she wanted to swap places with the people who died. She just couldn’t stand injustice,” she added. Through her work in the movement, she made many new friends, including those who were with her on the day she died. According to the junta, Wai Wai Myint was guilty of supporting a group of youths who were making explosives. Soe Myat Thu said he didn’t know any of the people she was with when the apartment she was in was raided. The four others who fell that day were all young men. In Soe Myat Thu’s mind, there is no doubt about who is responsible for his wife’s death. She herself had told him that she would take her own life before she allowed herself to be captured and tortured again. “I’m not the only one crying now. It’s all the system’s fault. My wife wouldn’t have had to die if it wasn’t for that,” he said, laying the blame for her death squarely on the shoulders of Myanmar’s military rulers..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
2021-08-18
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "ကျမတို့မြန်မာ့အမျိုးသမီးသမဂ္ဂ BWU က လစဉ် အမျိုးသမီးတွေနဲ့ ပတ်သက်တဲ့ သတင်းအချက်အလက်တွေ စုဆောင်းပြီး ပြင်ဆင်ထားတဲ့ လစဉ် သတင်းအနှစ်ချုပ်ကို ဖတ်ရှုလို့ ရပါပြီရှင့်။ ဒီ သတင်းအနှစ်ချုပ်က ဇူလိုင်လထဲမှာ အမျိုးသမီးတွေ ရင်ဆိုင်ခံစားနေရတဲ့ အခြေအနေတွေကို ကျမတို့ စုဆောင်းရရှိတဲ့ အချက်အလက်တွေအပေါ် အခြေခံပြီး ပြင်ဆင်ထားတာ ဖြစ်ပါတယ်ရှင့်။ ဒီအချက်အလက်တွေကို လိုအပ်သလို ပြန်လည်ကိုးကားနိုင်ပါတယ်။ အကြံပြုချက်တွေကိုလဲ ကြိုဆိုပါတယ်ရှင့်။..."
Source/publisher: Burmese Women's Union
2021-08-01
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "August 1, 2021 Joint statement from UNFPA and UN Women in Myanmar: impacts of the compounded political and health crisis on women and girls in Myanmar Yangon – Six months since the military takeover in Myanmar, the country faces a compounded political and public health crisis, on top of intensification of conflicts, putting the lives of even more women and girls at serious risk with the deteriorating socio-economic situation adding hundreds of thousands of people to those in need of humanitarian assistance in the country who were not previously targeted for humanitarian support. Since February 1, women and girls have been at the frontlines as leaders of civil society organizations, civil servants, activists, journalists, artists and influencers, exercising their fundamental rights to express their hopes for the future of their country. Even before the coup, women, who make up 75 per cent of Myanmar’s healthcare professionals, were at the forefront of the COVID-19 response. Now, during a tragic surge in COVID-19 cases, many women continue in their activism and serve their communities while also assuming significant responsibilities as caregivers for sick family members, and for their children’s home-based learning. Women and children are also expected to bear the heaviest brunt of the combined crises with those most at-risk including single women, pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls, ethnic and religious minorities, older persons, people with disabilities, children and people of diverse gender identities and sexual orientations. The impact on women workers has already been pronounced with 580,000 women estimated to have lost employment since February 1. Women and girls experience challenges to access sexual and reproductive health services due to the collapsed health system, with attacks on hospitals, financial barriers and movement restrictions further jeopardizing their health and well-being. Over 685,000 women are currently pregnant in Myanmar and it is estimated that nearly 250 preventable maternal deaths may occur in the next month alone if they are not able to access appropriate emergency obstetric care. Furthermore, the adolescence of over almost five million girls (10 to 19 years old) in Myanmar has been seriously disrupted by public-health, loss of school-year, and security-related restrictions and fears. LGBTIQ+ populations have flagged serious concerns about their mental health and wellbeing before the coup, and these concerns are now heightened. Moreover, with continued arbitrary arrests and detainment of women and girls and people of diverse gender identities and sexual orientations, serious protection concerns persist with continued reports of sexual harassment and of sexual violence perpetrated against activists and detainees. Conflict-related sexual violence remains a key risk given recent reports on top of evidence of widespread previous allegations. Non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations and women’s organizations/activists have been working very hard to respond to all these increasing safety, health and protection risks faced by women, girls, young people and people of diverse gender identities and sexual orientation. While the need to provide support to these population groups increases, the operational environment is becoming more and more challenging due to the ongoing conflict/insecurity as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to the banking crisis and the access restrictions. UNFPA and UN Women as co-chairs of the UN Gender Thematic Group in Myanmar stand in solidarity with the women and girls of Myanmar and urge all stakeholders in Myanmar and abroad to listen to their voices and uphold commitments to international human rights for all people. We reiterate the UN Secretary-General’s call to release all who have been arbitrarily detained and echo the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence to end all forms of violence against women and girls. We will continue to work with our partners to deliver life-saving social and health services to reach women and girls in Myanmar.....UNFPA နှင့် UN Women မှ ပူးတွဲ သတင်းထုတ်ပြန်ချက် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအတွင်း ပိုမိုဆိုးရွားလာသော နိုင်ငံရေးနှင့် ကျန်းမာရေးဆိုင်ရာ အကျပ်အတည်းများက အမျိုးသမီးနှင့် မိန်းကလေးများအပေါ် သက်ရောက်မှုများ ရန်ကုန် - မြန်မာနိုင်ငံသည် စစ်တပ်မှ အာဏာသိမ်းပြီးနောက် ခြောက်လတာကာလအတွင်း နိုင်ငံရေးနှင့် ပြည်သူ့ကျန်းမာရေးဆိုင်ရာ အကျပ်အတည်းများကို ဆိုးရွားစွာ ရင်ဆိုင်နေရသည်။ ပဋိပက္ခဖြစ်ပွားမှုများ မြင့်တက်လာမှု နှင့်အတူ အမျိုးသမီးများနှင့် မိန်းကလေးငယ်များ၏ ဘဝများသည် လွန်စွာစိုးရိမ်ရဖွယ်ရှိနေပြီး လူမှုစီးပွားဆိုင်ရာ အခြေအနေများ ယိုယွင်းပျက်စီးလာခြင်းကြောင့် ယခင်က လူသားချင်းစာနာထောက်ထားမှုဆိုင်ရာ အထောက်အပံ့ပေးမှု အောက်တွင် မပါဝင်ခဲ့သည့် လူပေါင်းသိန်းချီကာ လူသားချင်း စာနာထောက်ထားမှုအကူအညီများ လိုအပ်နေပါသည်။ ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလ (၁)ရက်နေ့ ကတည်းက အမျိုးသမီးများနှင့် မိန်းကလေးငယ်များသည် အရပ်ဘက်လူမှုအဖွဲ့အစည်း ခေါင်းဆောင်များ၊ ပြည်သူ့ဝန်ထမ်းများ၊ တက်ကြွလှုပ်ရှားသူများ၊ သတင်းသမားများ၊ အနုပညာရှင်များနှင့် လူထုကိုသြဇာလွှမ်းမိုးသူများအဖြစ် ရှေ့တန်းမှနေ၍ ၄င်းတို့၏ အခြေခံအခွင့်အရေးများကို ကျင့်သုံးကာ နိုင်ငံတော်၏ အနာဂတ်အတွက် မျှော်လင့်ချက်များကို ထုတ်ဖော်ခဲ့ကြသည်။ အာဏာမသိမ်းမီကပင် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ ကျန်းမာရေး စောင့်ရှောက်မှုဆိုင်ရာ ပညာရှင်များ၏ ၇၅ ရာခိုင်နှုန်းဖြစ်သော အမျိုးသမီးများသည် COVID-19 တားဆီးကာကွယ်ရေး တုံ့ပြန်ဆောင်ရွက်မှုများတွင် ရှေ့တန်းမှ ပါဝင်ခဲ့ကြသည်။ ယခု COVID-19 ဖြစ်ပွားမှုများ တဟုန်ထိုး များပြားလာချိန်တွင် အမျိုးသမီးများစွာသည် ၄င်းတို့၏ လှုပ်ရှားဆောင်ရွက်မှုများကို ဆက်လက်ဆောင်ရွက်ပြီး ၄င်းတို့၏ လူမှုအသိုက်အဝန်းကို အလုပ်အကျွေးပြုနေကြသလို နေမကောင်းသည့်မိသားစုဝင်များကို ပြုစုစောင့်ရှောက်ရေး၊ ကလေးများ နေအိမ်အခြေပြု ပညာသင်ကြားရေး စသည့် အရေးပါသော တာဝန်များကိုလည်း ဆက်လက် တာ၀န်ယူ လုပ်ဆောင်နေကြသည်။ အမျိုးသမီးများနှင့် ကလေးငယ်များသည် နှစ်ခုပြိုင် အကျပ်အတည်းရိုက်ခတ်မှုကို အဆိုးရွားဆုံး ခံစားရဖွယ်ရှိပြီး တကိုယ်ရည်တကာယ အမျိုးသမီးများ၊ ကိုယ်ဝန်ဆောင်မိခင်နှင့် နို့တိုက်မိခင်များ၊ လူနည်းစုဖြစ်သော တိုင်းရင်းသားလူမျိုးစု၊ ဘာသာရေးအုပ်စု၊ သက်ကြီးရွယ်အိုများနှင့် မသန်စွမ်းသူများ၊ ကလေးသူငယ်များနှင့် လိင်စိတ်ခံယူမှုကွဲပြားသူများ၊ လိင်စိတ်တိမ်းညွှတ်မှု ကွဲပြားသူများသည်လည်း ပိုမိုထိခိုက်ခံစားရမည် ဖြစ်သည်။ ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလ ၁ ရက်နေ့နောက်ပိုင်း အမျိုးသမီးအလုပ်သမားများအပေါ် သက်ရောက်မှုအနေဖြင့် ခန့်မှန်းခြေ အမျိုးသမီးဦးရေ ၅၈၀,၀၀၀ ခန့် အလုပ်အကိုင်ဆုံးရှုံးကြရသည်။ ကျန်းမာရေးစနစ်ပြိုလဲခြင်း၊ ဆေးရုံများအား တိုက်ခိုက်ခံရခြင်း၊ ငွေကြေးဆိုင်ရာ အခက်အခဲများ ကြုံရခြင်းနှင့် လှုပ်ရှားသွားလာမှု ကန့်သတ်ချက်များကြောင့် အမျိုးသမီးများနှင့် မိန်းကလေးငယ်များသည် လိင်မှုနှင့် မျိုးဆက်ပွား ကျန်းမာရေး ဝန်ဆောင်မှုများရရှိရန် စိန်ခေါ်မှုများစွာ ရင်ဆိုင်ကြရသည့် အပြင် တဆက်တည်းမှာပင် သူတို့၏ ကျန်းမာသုခကိုလည်း ထိခိုက်ပျက်စီးစေသည်။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် လက်ရှိ ကိုယ်ဝန်ဆောင်နေသည့် အမျိုးသမီးအရေအတွက် ၆၈၅,၀၀၀ ကျော်ရှိသည်။ ထိုအမျိုးသမီးများသည် သင့်တင့်လျောက်ပတ်သော အရေးပေါ်သားဖွားပြုစုစောင့်ရှောက်မှု မရရှိပါက နောက်လတစ်လထဲ၌ပင် ကြိုတင် ကာကွယ်နိုင်သည့် မိခင်သေဆုံးမှု ၂၅၀ ခန့်ရှိမည် ဖြစ်ကြောင်း ခန့်မှန်းထားသည်။ ထိုမျှသာမက မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ အသက် ၁၀နှစ်နှင့် ၁၉နှစ်ကြားရှိ ဆယ်ကျော်သက် မိန်းကလေးငယ်ပေါင်း ၅ သန်းနီးပါးမှာ ပြည်သူ့ကျန်းမာရေး ထိခိုက်မှု၊ စာသင်နှစ် ဆုံးရှုံးမှုနှင့် လုံခြုံရေးဆိုင်ရာ တားမြစ်ချက်များ၊ အကြောက်တရားများကို ဆိုးရွားစွာ ရင်ဆိုင်နေရသည်။ LGBTIQ+ များသည် ၄င်းတို့ ကြုံတွေ့နေရသည့် စိတ်ကျန်းမာရေးဆိုင်ရာ စိုးရိမ်မှုများကို စစ်အာဏာသိမ်းမှုမတိုင်မီကပင် ထုတ်ဖော်ပြောကြားခဲ့ပြီး ယခုအချိန်တွင်လည်း ပိုမိုစိုးရိမ်ဖွယ် အခြေအနေ ဖြစ်လာသည်။ ထို့အပြင် အမျိုးသမီးများနှင့် မိန်းကလေးငယ်များ၊ လိင်စိတ်ခံယူမှုနှင့် လိင်စိတ်တိမ်းညွှတ်မှုကွဲပြားသူများကို မတရားဖမ်းဆီးချုပ်နှောင်ခြင်း၊ ထိန်းသိမ်းခြင်းများအား ဆက်တိုက်လုပ်ဆောင်လာမှုနှင့်အတူ တက်ကြွလှုပ်ရှားသူများနှင့် ဖမ်းဆီး ထိန်းသိမ်းခံ ထားရသူများ အား လိင်ပိုင်းဆိုင်ရာ နှောင့်ယှက်ခြင်း၊ အကြမ်းဖက်ခြင်းများအကြောင်း ဆက်တိုက် သတင်းပေးပို့တင်ဆက်မှုများသည် အထူးအကာအကွယ်ပေးရေးကို လုပ်ဆောင်ရမည်ဖြစ်ကြောင်း အလေးပေးဖော်ပြနေပါသည်။ ယခင်စွပ်စွဲချက်များနှင့် ဆက်စပ်သည့် ထိပ်တန်းသက်သေခံ အထောက်အထားဆိုင်ရာ အစီရင်ခံစာများအရ ပဋိပက္ခဆိုင်ရာ လိင်အကြမ်းဖက်ခြင်း သည် အဓိက အန္တရာယ်တစ်ခုအဖြစ် တည်ရှိနေဆဲဖြစ်သည်။ အစိုးရမဟုတ်သောအဖွဲ့များ၊ အရပ်ဘက်လူမှုအဖွဲ့များ၊ အမျိုးသမီးအဖွဲ့များနှင့် တက်ကြွလှုပ်ရှားသူများသည် အမျိုးသမီးများနှင့် မိန်းကလေးငယ်များ၊ လူငယ်လူရွယ်များ၊ လိင်စိတ်ခံယူမှုနှင့် လိင်စိတ်တိမ်းညွှတ်မှု ကွဲပြားသူများ ရင်ဆိုင်ကြုံတွေ့နေရသည့် လုံခြုံရေး၊ ကျန်းမာရေးနှင့် အကာအကွယ်ပေးရေးတို့တွင် ဘေးအန္တရာယ်ဖြစ်နိုင်မှု များပြားလာသည့်အခြေအနေကို တုံ့ပြန်နိုင်ရန် အထူးကြိုးစားဆောင်ရွက်လျက်ရှိသည်။ အဆိုပါအုပ်စုများအား အထောက်အပံ့ပေးရန်မှာ ပိုမိုလိုအပ်လာသလို လက်ရှိဖြစ်ပွားနေသော ပဋိပက္ခအခြေအနေသာမက COVID-19 ကပ်ရောဂါ၊ ဘဏ်လုပ်ငန်း အကျပ်အတည်းနှင့် အသွားအလာ ကန့်သတ်မှုများကြောင့် လုပ်ငန်းဆောင်ရွက်မှုအခြေအနေမှာလည်း တစ်စထက်တစ်စ စိန်ခေါ်မှုများ ပိုမိုများပြားလာပါသည်။ UN Gender Thematic Group တွင် ပူးတွဲသဘာပတိအဖြစ် တာဝန်ယူထားသော UNFPA နှင့် UN Women အဖွဲ့တို့သည် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ အမျိုးသမီးများနှင့် မိန်းကလေးငယ်များနှင့်အတူ တသားတည်း ရပ်တည်လျက်ရှိသည်။ ၄င်းတို့၏ အသံကို နားထောင်ကြရန်နှင့် လူသားအားလုံးနှင့် သက်ဆိုင်သော အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ လူ့အခွင့်အရေး ကတိကဝတ်များကို လိုက်နာဖော်ဆောင်ရန် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအတွင်းနှင့် နိုင်ငံရပ်ခြားတွင်ရှိသော သက်ဆိုင်ရာ ဆက်စပ်ပတ်သက်သူများအားလုံးကို တိုက်တွန်းပါသည်။ ကျွန်ုပ်တို့အနေဖြင့် မတရားဖမ်းဆီးထိန်းသိမ်းထားသူများအားလုံးကို ပြန်လွှတ်ရန် ကုလသမဂ္ဂ အထွေအထွေအတွင်းရေးမှူးချုပ်၏ တောင်းဆိုမှုနှင့် အမျိုးသမီးနှင့် မိန်းကလေးများအပေါ် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုအားလုံးကို အဆုံးသတ်ရန် ကုလသမဂ္ဂ အထွေထွေ အတွင်းရေးမှူးချုပ်၏ လိင်ပိုင်းအကြမ်းဖက်မှုဆိုင်ရာ အထူးကိုယ်စားလှယ်ထံမှ တောင်းဆိုမှုကို ထပ်လောင်း ဖော်ပြလိုပါသည်။ ကျွန်ုပ်တို့သည် မိတ်ဖက်အဖွဲ့များနှင့်အတူ အသက်ကယ်ဆယ်ရေး လူမှုဘ၀ဆိုင်ရာနှင့် ကျန်းမာရေးဆိုင်ရာဝန်ဆောင်မှုများကို မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ အမျိုးသမီးများနှင့် မိန်းကလေးငယ်များ ရရှိစေရန် ဆက်လက်ဆောင်ရွက်သွားပါမည်။..."
Source/publisher: UNFPA Myanmar and UN Women Asia and the Pacific via United Nations Myanmar
2021-08-01
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The gender profile for humanitarian action in Rakhine, Kachin, and Northern Shan States, Myanmar was first developed in 2018. The profile was based upon collective inputs and consultations with humanitarian and gender stakeholders from national and subnational levels from United Nations, International and National NonGovernmental Organizations (INGOs and NGOs), and Civil Society Organisations, with technical and coordination support from UN Women in partnership with OCHA and UNFPA. The profile has since been updated annually, and in 2021 became a joint endeavour led by the Myanmar Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) Workstream, UNFPA and UN Women. The purpose of the GiHA profile is to provide a summary overview of the overall context for gender equality and empowerment of women and girls in humanitarian action in Myanmar and to highlight key sector-specific and crosssectional gender issues, needs, gaps, response efforts taken, constraints/challenges to address these, and finally recommend strategic goals and further action needed to strengthen gender mainstreaming. The profile is aligned with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Policy on Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women and Girls in Humanitarian Action (2017) and the IASC Gender in Humanitarian Action Handbook (2018). It serves as a consolidated snapshot of existing datasets, research, analysis, and assessments available. In 2020 and 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic further complicated the lives of people in humanitarian settings across the country, resulting in significant economic and health impacts. On 1 February, 2021, the Tatmadaw, also known as the Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF), seized control over the Government, declaring a year-long state of emergency and detained the country’s top representatives, along with civilian Government officials and prominent civil society members, journalists, as well as countless civilians. Prior to the coup, humanitarian needs in Myanmar were already vast due to protracted conflict, human rights violations, displacement and natural hazards resulting in 1 million people, of whom 33% women, 19% girls and 18% boys, in need of humanitarian assistance by the 2021 Myanmar Humanitarian Response Plan. This includes 336,000 internally displaced people (of whom 29% are women, 20% girls and 21% boys - overall 70% of displaced). The largest population of persons in need are in Rakhine State with 806,000 people, and the second largest population is across Kachin State with 167,000 people in need. Women make up 53% of those in need of humanitarian assistance in Rakhine, and 48% in Kachin. UN humanitarian actors in Myanmar have followed events in the country with concern, including reports of arbitrary detentions, arrests, use of excessive force, torture, sexual violence and harassment of protesters. The military coup has deepened humanitarian needs and conflict has intensified in multiple parts of the country, including areas that had not recently seen hostilities and triggering humanitarian needs in areas not previously targeted by humanitarian actors. UNDP has highlighted the compounding negative socio-economic impacts of the pandemic and political crisis, warning that nearly half of Myanmar’s population could be living in poverty by the beginning of 2022, with concerns that women and girls will pay the highest price. Economic disruptions from COVID19 and the consequent economic hardship increased risks of child marriage, while the closure of learning spaces disproportionately affected women’s ability to take up livelihoods as their care burdens increased. Humanitarian response efforts have faced significant operational challenges including restricted humanitarian access, disruptions to the financial system and resulting cash shortages, heightened safety and security concerns, imposition of martial law in some areas, disruptions to telecommunications, and disruptions to supply chains and logistics. The UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar have reaffirmed the commitment of the UN and its partners to stay and deliver humanitarian assistance and protection services to the affected populations. The 2021 version of the GiHA profile includes an analysis of the gender-related impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the coup. Principles approaches and continuous community engagement are critical as is careful management of security risks and adaptation to the specificities of local context. Channels for dialogues with the de-facto authorities on safe and unhindered access are being pursued with a focus on areas of most acute need and local dynamics are being carefully observed. Nevertheless, it is recognized that humanitarian actors in Myanmar are required to obtain travel authorization from de-facto authorities to transport and deliver humanitarian assistance, as well as to obtain relevant approvals for importation and clearance of commodities, including essential and lifesaving medications. While the sector/cluster specific recommendations remain relevant when programming in the post-February 1 context, there will be a need for regular scanning and reflection on the gendered impact of humanitarian need as well as the impact on modalities and designs to deliver assistance given that the rapidly evolving context requires assistance in new geographical areas potentially with reliance on a smaller pool of partners who have access to affected populations. Considering these changes in context, Kayin State has been included in the 2021 analysis. Kayin has been affected by decades of armed conflict and multiple waves of displacement and has recently seen significant increases in conflict following the military coup, and therefore capturing and documenting the gendered context for the above crisis areas is critical..."
Source/publisher: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UN Women and United Nations Population Fund via "Reliefweb" (New York)
2021-07-27
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
Size: 1.33 MB (44 pages)
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Description: "Executive Summary: This study shows that many LGBTIQ persons are subject to violations of human rights set forth in Universal Declaration of Human Rights – mainly “freedom from discriminations”, “freedom from torture and degrading treatments”, “right to recognition as a person before the law”, “right to equality before the law”, “freedom from arbitrary arrest and exile”, “right to marriage and family”, “freedom of belief and religion”, “right to desirable work”, “right to education” and “right to participate in the cultural life of the community”. Despite domestic legal frameworks enacted to implement international human rights conventions such as CEDAW and CRC, many LGBTIQ persons in Myanmar also do not enjoy the rights enshrined in those conventions including those mentioned under other international human rights law such as ICCPR and ICESCR. Homophobia and transphobia are deeply rooted and are often followed by a range of physical, emotional, sexual violence and economic abuses against LGBTIQ youths. An online survey conducted by LGBTIQ organizations showed that the rate of domestic violence and family violence exponentially escalated during the unprecedented times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Transgender and gender-queer persons are also discriminated against and mistreated in public and private services and functions. In the economic sector, many LGBTIQ people are not granted equal rights, opportunities, or remuneration like any other employees. LGBTIQ people are verbally, physically and sexually assaulted by their supervisors and fellow colleagues, and their employment institutions fail to defend their rights. In the education sector and learning institutions, LGBTIQ students are oppressed, bullied, excluded, or neglected by their fellow students and learners – mainly based on the grounds of their SOGIESC. These acts can include physical and psychological violence, verbal abuse and sometimes, sexual harassment and exploitation. These practices have negative impacts on their physical and psychological well-being and social lives. In the healthcare sector, LGBTIQ individuals, especially transgender persons and LGBTIQ people living with HIV who are stigmatized and assumed as “spreaders of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.” They are mistreated especially by the caregivers – doctors, nurses and aides and other staff – in healthcare/medical institutions or facilities such as private, public, or governmental hospitals and clinics. Furthermore, LGBTIQ people living with HIV do not have sufficient access to clinics and physicians and HIV medications in rural and remote areas. Clergypersons and other religious community members exhibit behaviours of rejection against LGBTIQ people, especially trans people in their religious activities and even on religious grounds in some cases. Some are treated as inferior sub-humans or are forced to conform to cisgender norms. In some other cases, discrimination in the religion or belief sector is associated with “conversion therapy” that aims to cure homosexuality or bisexuality to return to the state of heterosexuality. The dimension of lobbying activities of LGBTIQ organizations in Myanmar primarily diverges on legal reforms and implementation; leading the advocacy for the amendment of section 377 of the Penal Code, along with other LGBTIQ organizations across the country. Some organisations would engage directly with international human rights mechanisms. These include submission of shadow reports to UNHRC’s UPR mechanism, submission of thematic reports to CEDAW committee, and collaboration with UN agencies in Myanmar – such as UNICEF, UN Women and UNDP – to support LGBTIQ-related data and information. Myanmar’s major emerging LGBTIQ organizations are established on a voluntary basis and informal settings. Despite that the needs required to form a stronger alliance have been identified, varying capacities and experiences of LGBTIQ organizations remain a barrier to form stronger alliances. Respondents from the research also firmly believe that the National Youth Policy, which has defined “LGBTIQ youth” as “groups to be prioritized”, is a beacon that will lead to more government accountability and public awareness on sexually diverse minorities. The increased popularity of LGBTIQ social media influencers, celebrities and icons have opened the eyes of the public on sexual orientation and gender identity. Respondents also mentioned that increased tolerance and acceptance of the general public on LGBTIQ people in urban populations would create more flexibility to advocate for LGBTIQ rights in the future..."
Source/publisher: Asian Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association
2021-07-26
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Soldiers rode boats along the Chindwin river and fired guns and artillery at villages along its banks, residents said
Description: "Junta soldiers injured three people, including a pregnant woman, and destroyed several houses during attacks on villages in Sagaing Region last week, locals told Myanmar Now. Troops travelled down the Chindwin river on boats during a two day assault in Kani Township, coming ashore to fire guns and heavy artillery at villages sitting along the riverbank. Locals said soldiers from nine military boats attacked the villages of Sar Pho Gyi, Nat Gyi, Yinyein, and Thit Khat on Friday and Saturday. The pregnant woman, who is 30 years old, was shot in the leg trying to escape when soldiers fired guns at one village, said a Kani local who volunteered to help rescue those injured. “The military started shooting at the shore. The pregnant lady got shot in the leg while trying to flee. She’s seven month pregnant now,” the volunteer said. The volunteer and another local said a house and three motorcycles were burned down in the town of Kani, while two houses in Yinyein and a house from Thit Khet were hit with artillery shells. There were also reports that two men were injured when soldiers came on land and rampaged through Nat Gyi on Saturday morning, and the village was hit with around 20 shells, the residents said. The attacks were likely a response to ambushes by People’s Defence Force fighters against military boats, said a Kani-based political activist. “There were some occasions where People’s Defence Force troops shot at the military vehicles from the shores of the Chindwin river. I think the military was trying to scare off the civilians on the shore,” he said. Thousands of people living along the riverbank have fled their homes since the attacks and are in need of food, medicine, and shelter, the residents said. The junta has not commented on the attacks. Earlier this month villagers found the bodies of 15 men in Kani who appear to have been the victims of a military massacre after they were captured and tortured by soldiers. Kani emerged as a hotspot for anti-coup protests after the military’s February power grab, and some of its residents have since taken up arms in response to murderous crackdowns by the junta..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
2021-07-26
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "As part of an ongoing monthly analysis WLB has released our June briefer on the situation of human rights amid the military coup in Burma, where 57 women have been killed & 1,060 women have been arrested. There must be justice & accountability!..."
Source/publisher: Women's League of Burma
2021-07-22
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 1.44 MB
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Sub-title: Heavily pregnant women displaced by fighting risk their lives to give birth after being forced from their homes in escalating conflict.
Description: "On a stormy night in June, Rosemary lay in the darkness of her home in a deserted village in Myanmar’s Mindat township, gripped by labour contractions as Mai Nightingale, a 25-year-old midwife, tried to stifle her cries. “Only the two of us were left alone in the village. We closed all the doors and windows of the house and stayed quietly inside,” said Mai Nightingale. “When she felt pain, I put a blanket in her mouth because we feared that soldiers might hear her.” Like others interviewed for this article, Al Jazeera has used pseudonyms for Mai Nightingale and Rosemary for their safety. Rosemary’s contractions had begun the previous night, but with soldiers approaching her village in southern Chin State, she and the other villagers fled into the forest. But there was no proper shelter from the unrelenting rain, so Rosemary and Mai Nightingale decided to take the risk of encountering soldiers and return the next morning. “The situation didn’t favour delivering a baby,” said Mai Nightingale. “We saw Burmese soldiers walking towards our village but we couldn’t turn back because [Rosemary] was already exhausted.” Rosemary’s husband did not dare accompany her for fear that, if seen, soldiers would mistake him for a member of a local armed group. Since a February 1 military coup, civilian defence forces, armed largely with hunting rifles and homemade weapons, have sprung up across the country to fight against the regime, and Mindat has been a hotspot of resistance since May. In line with tactics the military has used for decades to quash an armed rebellion and terrorise the people, soldiers launched disproportionate attacks on Mindat including firing artillery, rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns into residential areas while imposing martial law, causing the town to empty, according to local media reports. Young men are particularly likely to be targeted. Rosemary delivered her baby shortly after the sound of soldiers had faded, and Mai Nightingale cut and tied the umbilical cord with a razor blade and some thread which, lacking other means of sterilisation, she boiled in water. Although Rosemary and her baby are healthy and unharmed, the circumstances of the birth highlight the increasing risks which mothers and newborns face amid an escalating humanitarian crisis. Mai Nightingale and two other nurses interviewed by Al Jazeera, who are providing maternal and newborn healthcare to those displaced by armed conflict, say they are severely limited in their ability to safely deliver babies, and that physical insecurity further imperils pregnant women and newborns amid the continuing violence. “The main health risks for pregnant women and newborn babies are their lives. They can die during labour or after because they have to run whenever soldiers get closer to where they are hiding,” said a nurse in Loikaw township, Kayah State who goes by the nickname Smile. “There is not enough medical equipment or medicine … Babies cannot get vaccinations or adequate shelter.” Collapsing health system Some 230,000 people have been newly displaced since the coup, according to United Nations estimates. The military has not only attacked civilians but has also cut off food and water supplies to people affected by conflict, shelled displacement camps and churches of refuge, shot displaced people attempting to fetch rice from their villages, and burned food and medical relief supplies along with an ambulance. Meanwhile, Myanmar’s health system has all but collapsed, leaving few options even for those women prepared to risk returning to their town or village to give birth or seek vaccinations or treatment for their babies. Ongoing medical worker strikes amid a broader Civil Disobedience Movement have left government hospitals threadbare, while some health facilities have shut down altogether. The military has also repeatedly attacked healthcare professionals and facilities and occupied hospitals. "My mother placed her hand on my cousin and prayed. By the grace of God, she successfully gave birth." - SMILE, MYANMAR NURSE Alessandra Dentice, Myanmar representative ad interim with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), told Al Jazeera that the vast majority of pregnant women displaced since the coup lack access to emergency obstetric care, while routine immunisations for children have “come to an almost complete halt”. “Without urgent action, we estimate that annually 600,000 newborns will miss out on essential newborn care, creating serious risks for their survival and long-term wellbeing across the country,” she said, adding that about 950,000 children are also missing out on critical vaccination services. In Mindat, Mai Nightingale has so far assisted three displaced women to deliver. Two of them, she said, had to keep moving in search of safe shelter in the days leading up to giving birth, causing them physical pain and possibly inducing their labour. Mai Nightingale knows that providing medical services to pregnant women and newborns while lacking facilities or hygienic equipment is exceedingly dangerous for the women and their babies, and that security forces could also target her, but says she feels it is the only option. “Even though soldiers could arrest both the patients and me, I will continue helping people who need medical assistance,” she told Al Jazeera. “There is no one else who can help them.” Pregnant women in Kayah State, where an estimated 100,000 people have been displaced since early June, also face a perilous situation. On June 8, the UN special rapporteur for Myanmar warned of “mass deaths from starvation, disease and exposure” in Kayah due to military attacks and the blockage of food, water and medicine to those who fled to the forest. Smile, a 24-year-old nurse, escaped her village in Loikaw township on June 11 with her cousin, who was in the throes of labour contractions while she fled. “Artillery fell near the rock where we were hiding. That day was [my cousin’s] due date but she couldn’t deliver … we had to escape to safety,” said Smile. “She had to carry heavy things while we were running.” Recalling advice from her mother, also a nurse, Smile had grabbed a delivery kit with rubber gloves, forceps and scissors as she fled the village. “My mother told me that medical workers cannot stop even if the world is in chaos,” she said. She and her mother rubbed down the equipment with spirits while her cousin’s husband built a bamboo and tarpaulin tent, under which they delivered her cousin’s baby. “My mother placed her hand on my cousin and prayed. By the grace of God, she successfully gave birth without [heavy] bleeding,” said Smile. But tragedy has befallen some displaced mothers. Little time to grieve In Loikaw township, Khu Meh delivered twins at a local clinic on April 8. One was born dead; Khu Meh fled home with the other, a girl, in mid-May. “We travelled very far and moved from place to place, sometimes sleeping in the bushes,” she said. About three weeks later, the second twin died in the jungle while drinking milk at Khu Meh’s breast. Some 40km (25 miles) north, in Shan State’s Pekon township, Mary fled her home in the last week of May, when she was more than seven months pregnant. “The military was firing every night … we were very scared to sleep at home,” she said. She sheltered in a church, but after it was shelled on June 6, she fled again, to a cornfield where she delivered her fifth child, a baby boy, under a bamboo and tarpaulin shelter with the help of a local midwife. The next week brought endless rain, and Mary’s baby died suddenly. There was little time to grieve. Mary and her remaining children had to flee again a week later due to approaching soldiers. Although Myanmar saw a fall in maternal mortality rates and under-five mortality between 2000 and 2017, according to UNICEF, it remained one of the riskiest places for new mothers and infants in Southeast Asia even before the coup. Maternal mortality was 250 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2017, while under-five mortality was 48 children per 100,000 live births. Al Jazeera was unable to locate data on maternal and infant mortality among displaced populations in Myanmar since the coup. Naw Winnie, a nurse from Demoso township, Kayah State who was herself displaced by fighting, is now volunteering with a local aid group in the mountainous area where she fled. She told Al Jazeera that illness among young children is common. She has treated dozens of skin infections and cases of diarrhoea, and fears that health problems will only increase because of poor hygiene caused by factors including the scarcity of clean water and the lack of toilets. The rainy season started in June, making sanitation more difficult and increasing the risk of catching a cold, flu, or mosquito-borne illnesses. Naw Winnie is also looking after more than 10 pregnant women. She had initially planned to send them to a temporary clinic near the foothills of the mountain, but the clinic’s volunteers and patients were forced to evacuate amid heavy fighting on June 16. Now she is not sure what she will do. One of the women, now more than five months pregnant, previously gave birth by Caesarean section, and Naw Winnie is concerned the woman could haemorrhage if she delivers vaginally, but it is simply too risky to perform a Caesarean section in the jungle. “We don’t have access to safe and hygienic facilities or equipment to deliver babies,” she said. “If I assist in delivering a baby without hygienic facilities, it will put both mothers and babies in danger.”..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2021-07-21
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Urgently address overcrowding, protect prisoners’ health during COVID-19 crisis
Description: "We, the undersigned national and international human rights organizations, reiterate our calls for the Ministry of Justice to take urgent measures to address ongoing overcrowding and the COVID-19 crisis in prisons across the country. In mid-April of 2020, during the early stages of the pandemic, we sent a joint letter to the Department of Corrections in which we expressed our gravest concern over the potentially disastrous impact of the pandemic on the prison population and prison staff in Thailand. One year later, COVID-19 cases surged in the Thailand’s prison system amid a new wave of virus transmissions that hit many parts of the country beginning in April 2021. On 12 May 2021, the Department of Corrections revealed that 1,795 out of 3,274 prisoners (72%) in Bangkok Remand Prison and 1,040 of the 4,475 inmates (30%) at the Central Women’s Correctional Institution in Bangkok had tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. The severity of the COVID-19 situation in the Thai prison system only surfaced after several prominent pro-democracy activists held in these prisons tested positive for the virus during their pre-trial detention or shortly after being released on bail. Between 12 May and 15 July 2021, 38,019 inmates in prisons across Thailand were infected with COVID-19. This number represents about 12% of the total prison population. Prison overcrowding and the spread of COVID-19 are closely interrelated and should be urgently addressed to prevent a further deterioration of conditions in correctional facilities. Despite announcements relating to the provisional release of certain inmates in order to decongest prisons, Thailand’s prison population has not significantly decreased since the start of the third COVID-19 wave. According to statistics from the Department of Corrections, from 1 April to 1 July 2021 the total prison population decreased by a mere 0.2%, from 307,910 to 307,007. We urge you to take all immediate and necessary steps, including at the policy level, to tackle the ongoing overcrowding in prisons. We welcome the Ministry’s plan to amend legislation on narcotics in a manner that would lead to the release of inmates incarcerated on minor drug-related offenses and we urge you to accelerate this amendment process. We also recall the recommendations we previously made on the conditional release of certain categories of prisoners currently detained for non-serious and/or non-violent offenses. These include: prisoners over the age of 60; sick prisoners, particularly those with underlying medical conditions; prisoners awaiting trial; prisoners sentenced to terms of up to two years; prisoners with one year or less left to serve; prisoners detained for immigration offenses; pregnant women; and those detained without sufficient legal basis. Those released may be subjected to appropriate non-custodial measures, in accordance with the Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures (the “Tokyo Rules”). Ongoing reports of many prisoners who test positive for COVID-19 raise concern over the seriously inadequate detention conditions, prevention measures, and medical care during the escalating COVID-19 outbreaks. We welcome the various urgent measures - such as testing, quarantines, and transfer of certain infected inmates to medical facilities outside prisons - introduced by the Department of Corrections to control the further spread of the virus in correctional facilities since the latest rise of COVID-19 infections in prisons, and a testing as well as a 14-day quarantine requirement for released prisoners. However, these measures do not go far enough to prevent further outbreaks of COVID-19 in correctional facilities. Since they are at high risk of contagion, authorities should accelerate the COVID-19 vaccine rollout across all prisons. Prisoners who have tested positive for the virus must have access to appropriate medical care and treatment equal to the general public, without discrimination and undue delay. In addition, for those who remain detained, the Department of Corrections must ensure that prison conditions continue to adhere to international standards, in particular, the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the “Nelson Mandela Rules”) and the Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the “Bangkok Rules”). Adherence to such standards is vital during the pandemic, particularly with respect to sufficient space and ventilation, adequate sanitary facilities for personal hygiene, and healthcare, including gender-specific healthcare. Lastly, the Department of Corrections should provide inmates, prison staff, and the general population with accurate and timely information about the COVID-19 situation in all correctional facilities in a transparent manner. Thank you for your attention to this very important matter..."
Source/publisher: International Federation for Human Rights
2021-07-19
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Ma Theint Sandi Soe, a student who was detained instead of her father who is on the regime’s wanted list in Mogoke, is said to be in deteriorating health while her family is denied visits. The third-year law student was detained with her mother, Daw Kyi Kyi Khaing, and younger sister, Su Htet Wyne, on June 13 after the security forces failed to find her father, Ko Soe Htay, a leader of anti-regime protests in the Mandalay Region town. A warrant was issued for Ko Soe Htay on an incitement charge for organizing protests. He and his two sons were not at home as they had gone into hiding. Ko Soe Htay said Ma Theint Sandi Soe has rheumatoid arthritis and thus has sensitivity to cold temperatures and needs regular medical care and medicines. “I heard she was handcuffed and forced to kneel on a concrete floor for hours during interrogation,” he said. “I don’t know the details but heard that my daughter’s health condition is becoming life-threatening.” The three were not allowed to take anything with them into custody and her relatives have not been allowed to send food, clothes and medicines. “As a father, I am worried for my daughter. But several families are suffering like us and some have suffered more. To end all of this suffering, we must topple this dictatorship,” Ko Soe Htay told The Irrawaddy. The regime is increasingly detaining the relatives and friends of those in hiding. Ko Soe Htay’s wife and daughters are among around 100 people who have been detained after the security forces failed to find their target. Protesters, student union members, National League for Democracy members, journalists and striking civil servants all face arrest warrants, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). Even babies have not been spared. Ko Soe Htay’s youngest daughter, Su Htet Wyne, had her fifth birthday in custody and was released on June 30, when the regime freed around 2,000 detainees. Ko Soe Htay said his daughter is traumatized by her arrest. They moved into a new hiding place the next day to avoid the junta forces. “She told me she was hungry in custody and had to bathe in toilet water. And she hates those who ordered them to sit in the prison position,” he said. Since the Feb. 1 coup, at least 890 civilians have been killed by the regime’s forces and more than 6,400 people have been detained, according to the AAPP..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2021-07-05
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, strongly condemns the Myanmar military’s widespread and systematic attacks against civilians, especially women and children, as well as other serious violations of human rights since it seized power on 1 February 2021. Night raids, arbitrary arrests, sieges of townships and neighborhoods, torture and deaths in detention, attacks on locations and sites where civilians are gathered or have fled, and reports of sexual violence in detention sites, particularly sexual assault, torture, physical and verbal abuse and intimidation, have become an alarming feature of daily life. These alleged reports of sexual violence may amount to violations of international criminal law for those who commit, command, or condone them. The patterns of sexual violence perpetrated by the Tatmadaw against women from ethnic and religious minority groups, as well as against individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity, as documented by the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, is extremely concerning. These patterns of sexual violence have also been documented in successive reports of the Secretary-General on conflict-related sexual violence to the UN Security Council since 2011. In 2017, the UN Secretary-General listed the Tatmadaw as a party “credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for patterns of rape or other forms of sexual violence in armed conflict on the agenda of the Security Council” and, with its integrated Border Guard, remains listed to this day. Special Representative Patten urges the Tatmadaw to cease all acts of sexual violence with immediate effect, which it is required to do following its listing in 2017 and pursuant to UN Security Council resolution 2106 (2013). Relatedly, an arms embargo is also a critical step towards ensuring the cessation of sexual violence. Special Representative Patten recalls that in December 2018, a Joint Communiqué to address and prevent sexual violence in conflict was signed between the then Government of Myanmar and the United Nations. Myanmar is also a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which entails a positive obligation to prevent, investigate, prosecute, punish and provide reparations for acts of gender-based violence. “The emerging reports of sexual violence in detention settings are very disturbing. I call for an end to all forms of violence against women, as well as unimpeded access to independently investigate the alleged reports.” Special Representative Patten said. At a time when Myanmar faces a continued threat from the spread of COVID-19, and access to public health services has been severely impacted by the political crisis, some public health facilities have also suspended their operations due to serious concerns related to attacks on, and the occupation and looting of health facilities and hospitals. “The current crisis is disrupting essential health and social services, including safe pregnancy and childbirth. In the midst of this civilian suffering, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is essential that appropriate multi-sectoral services are available to all civilians including non-discriminatory care for survivors of sexual violence, and unimpeded access for humanitarian actors to provide essential lifesaving services,” SRSG Patten added. “I recognize and commend women’s rights organizations who are on the frontlines providing services and support at a time of heightened individual and collective security risks. The dignity and safety of survivors is paramount including access to timely medical care, as reinforced by Security Council Resolution 2467 (2019). My Office stands ready to support the UN Secretary-General’s renewed call to respect the will of the people and act in the greater interest of peace and stability in the country.”..."
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Source/publisher: Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict
2021-05-25
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Size: 73.37 KB
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Description: "Widespread internal displacement is on the rise in conflict-torn Myanmar. Following the failed military coup on 1 February, civilians in rural and urban areas have been forced to abandon their homes as they flee junta violence. A new briefing paper by the Network for Human Rights Documentation – Burma (ND-Burma), ‘Destruction & Displacement: Civilian Safety and Security at Risk Post-Coup in Myanmar,’ condemns the failed military coup, which has exacerbated brewing conflict in the borderlands as the junta’s quest for power and control blinds them from justice and meaningful reforms. Since the coup, over a quarter of a million people have been forcibly displaced. Our members demand an end to military rule in Myanmar and for immediate consequences against the leaders of the regime who are responsible for crimes against humanity. ND-Burma’s latest briefing paper concludes that civilians are not safe anywhere in Myanmar. Junta security forces are acting with lawlessness as they evoke a culture of fear throughout the country. Civilians are being arrested and detained under draconian policies. While in detention, they are subject to torture, which has resulted in the death of several senior level officials. Women and young girls are subject to sexual violence. Meanwhile, conflict is being waged in urban and rural areas resulting in growing numbers of internal displacement. The junta is acting without a shed of humanity, as those in remote parts of the country who are starving and without life-saving necessities are denied humanitarian aid. The consequences of conflict have been carried by our communities for far too long. The current situation overall demands civilian security and livelihoods are preserved and protected, especially amid a raging pandemic. Victims deserve justice for the crimes that have been perpetrated against them prior to the coup, and after. Without such steps forward, the people in Myanmar will be forced to reconcile with a future that they do not deserve. They are entitled to prosperous futures which grant them security and safety. Further, the international community must hold the junta to account to ensure peace and democratic stability for all. Humanitarian aid organizations must be supported with the funding and resources needed to provide aid to their communities directly. Any facilitation of aid through the junta assumes recognition of the regime, which should not be legitimized. The preservation of basic human rights and freedoms must be upheld in Myanmar for the present and for the generations to come.....မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် တိုက်ပွဲများကြောင့် ပြည်တွင်း ရွှေ့ပြောင်းနေထိုင်ရမှုများ ကျယ်ကျယ်ပြန့်ပြန့် ရှိနေသည်။ ဖေဖော်ဝါရီ ၁ရက် စစ်တပ်မှ အာဏာသိမ်းပြီးနောက် စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့၏ အကြမ်းဖက် မှုမှ လွတ်မြောက်စေရန် တောရော မြို့ပါမကျန် ပြည်သူများသည် အိုးအိမ်စွန့်ခွာ ထွက်ပြေးကြရ သည်။ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးမှတ်တမ်းကွန်ရက် (မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ) ND-Burma မှ ထုတ်ပြန်သည့် “ဖျက်ဆီးခံရ ခြင်းနှင့် ရွှေ့ပြောင်းခံရခြင်း။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် စစ်တပ်မှ အာဏာသိမ်းပြီးနောက် လူထုဘဝလုံခြုံရေး အတွက် အာမခံမှုမရှိသည့် အန္တရာယ် အနေအထားတွင် ရောက်ရှိနေခြင်း” စာတန်းငယ်တွင် နယ်စပ်ဒေ သတလျှောက် တိုက်ပွဲများ ပြန်လည်ဆိုးရွားလာစေပြီး စစ်တပ်က လိုချင်တပ်မက်သည့် အာဏာနှင့် ချုပ်ကိုင်လိုမှုက တရားမျှတမှုနှင့် အဓိပ္ပါယ်ရှိသည့် ပြုပြင်ပြောင်းလဲမှုကို မမြင်တွေ့နိုင်တော့လောက် အောင် ၄င်းတို့အား ဖုံးကွယ်သွားစေသည့် အာဏာသိမ်းမှုကို ပြစ်တင်ရှုံ့ချထားသည်။ အာဏာသိမ်းပြီး ချိန်မှစ၍ တသန်း၏ လေးပုံတပုံကျော်သော လူဦးရမှာ အတင်းအကြပ် ထွက်ပြေး ရွှေ့ပြောင်းနေရ သည်။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် စစ်တပ်အုပ်ချုပ်မှု ရပ်ဆိုင်းရန်နှင့် လူသားမျိုးနွယ်အပေါ် ဆန့်ကျင်သည့် ပြစ်မှု ကျူးလွန်သူ စစ်အာဏာရှင် ခေါင်းဆောင်မျာအား ချက်ခြင်းအရေးယူရန် ကွန်ရက် အဖွဲ့ဝင် များက တောင်းဆိုထားသည်။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် ပြည်သူများ မည်သည့်နေရာတွင် နေထိုင်စေကာမူ လုံခြုံမှုမရှိကြောင်း စာတန်း တွင် နိဂုံးချုပ်ထားသည်။ စစ်အာဏာရှင်တပ်များက လူထုအတွင်း အကြောက်တရားလွှမ်းမိုးစေရန် ဥပဒေမဲ့ ကြမ်းတမ်းစွာ ဖြိုခွင်းပြကြသည်။ ထိန်းသိမ်းထားစဥ် ညှဥ်းပန်းနှိပ်စက်ခြင်းကြောင့် ထိပ်ပိုင်း ခေါင်းဆောင်တချို့ သေဆုံးကြရသည်။ အမျိုးသမီးနှင့် မိန်းမပျိုလေးများမှာလည်း လိင်ပိုင်းဆိုင်ရာ အကြမ်းဖက်မှု ခံရသည်။ တိုက်ပွဲများက ကျေးလက်တောရွာနှင့် မြို့ကြီး ပြကြီး မကျန် ဖြစ်ပွားနေသည့်အတွက် နေရပ်စွန့်ခွာ ထွက်ပြေးရမှုများ အမြောက်အများ ဖြစ်နေသည်။ စစ်အာဏာရှင်များက လူသားချင်းစာနာ ထောက်ထားမှုမရှိစွာ ပြုကျင့်ကြသဖြင့် ဝေးလံခေါင်သီသည့် ဒေသများရှိ ပြည်သူများမှာ ငတ်မွတ်မှုနှင့် လိုအပ်သည့် အသက်ရှင် ရပ်တည် ရေး အကူအညီများမှာ ငြင်းပယ်ခံနေရသည်။ ပဋိပက္ခများ၏ အကျိုးဆက်များကို ရပ်ရွာအသိုင်းအဝိုင်းက အချိန်ကြာမြင့်စွာ ထမ်းပိုးထားရသည်။ လက်ရှိအခြေအနေအရ ပြည်သူများ၏ဘ၀ လုံခြုံရေးနှင့် အသက်မွေးဝမ်းကျောင်းလုပ်ငန်းများကို အထူးသဖြင့် ယခုလို ကမ္ဘာ့ကပ်ရောဂါ ကာလအတွင်း ထိန်းသိမ်းစောင့်ရှောက် ကာကွယ်ပေးရမည် ဖြစ်သည်။ အာဏာမသိမ်းမီနှင့် အာဏာသိမ်းပြီးနောက် ကျူးလွန်ခံရသည့် နစ်နာသူများသည် ၄င်းတို့အပေါ် ကျူးလွန်မှုများအတွက် တရားမျှတမှု ရရှိရန် လိုအပ်သည်။ ထိုသို့ဆောင်ရွက်ခြင်းမရှိ ပါက မြန်မာပြည်သူများသည် ၄င်းတို့ မလိုလားသည့် အနာဂတ်နှင့် အတင်းအကြပ် ပေါင်းစပ်ပေး ခြင်း ခံရမည်ဖြစ်သည်။ ပြည်သူများ၏ ဘဝလုံခြုံ စိတ်ချမှုကို အာမခံသည့် စည်ပင်ဖွံ့ဖြိုးသော အနာဂတ်ကို ပိုင်ဆိုင်ခွင့်ရှိသည်။ ထို့အပြင် စစ်အာဏာရှင်များ ချိုးဖောက်ကျူးလွန်မှုများအတွက် တရားမျှတမှု ယန္တရားများမှ တဆင့် တာဝန်ယူ တာဝန်ခံမှုရှိစေရေးအတွက် နိုင်ငံတကာ အသိုင်းအဝန်းမှ ဖိအားပေး ရမည်ဖြစ် သည်။ လူသားချင်းစာနာသည့် အကူအညီများပေးနေသော အဖွဲ့များအနေဖြင့် ၄င်းတို့၏ လူမှုအသိုင်းအ ဝိုင်းသို့ အကူအညီ အထောက်အပံ့များ တိုက်ရိုက် ပေးအပ်နိုင်ရမည်ဖြစ်သည်။ အကူအညီများပေးရန်အတွက် စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့နှင့် ဆက်သွယ်ဆောင်ရွက်ခြင်းဖြင့် ၄င်းတို့အား တရားဝင်အဖွဲ့အစည်းအဖြစ် အသိအမှတ်ပြုရာရောက်သည့် လုပ်ဆောင်မှုများ မပြုလုပ်ရန်နှင့် လက်ရှိနှင့် အနာဂတ်မျိုးဆက်အတွက် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် အခြေခံလူ့အခွင့်အရေးနှင့် လွတ်လပ်ခွင့်များကို ထိန်းသိမ်းမြှင့်တင်ပေးရမည်။..."
Source/publisher: Network for Human Rights Documentation - Burma
2021-06-21
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The woman was one of more than 40 people arrested following an arson attack on a village primary school
Description: "A woman from Yangon Region’s Hmawbi Township who was beaten by soldiers after they found protest photos on her phone has had a miscarriage, according to local residents. The woman, who was two months pregnant, was one of more than 40 people arrested in connection with a fire that broke out at a primary school in the village of Sein Shwe Kone on June 14. She was arrested and beaten later the same day when a photo of her at a protest was discovered on her mobile phone. “They found that picture and took her away. They used a device to check her phone, so that even deleted pictures were recovered,” a resident of the village said. “She took photos during protest rallies. The authorities asked for the home addresses of those in the pictures. They used the phone to hunt the protesters,” the villager added. The woman was released on June 16 and is currently receiving medical treatment, residents said. Myanmar Now was unable to contact her directly at the time of reporting. A female resident said that the soldiers arrived a few hours after the fire broke out and demanded to know who in the village had ties to the National League for Democracy (NLD). “The soldiers came and rounded everyone up. They asked a few people about the arson attack. When the villagers said they didn’t know anything about it, the soldiers wanted to know who in the village was associated with the NLD and who participated in protests. The soldiers beat the villagers until they got the answer,” the woman said. Residents said that 10 people were arrested on the day of the fire and more than 30 others were taken into custody two days later. Anyone who was found to have liked posts about the NLD on Facebook was arrested, according to residents. Many others in the village of roughly 1,000 people were also subjected to questioning. “They said they would interrogate everyone until they found out who the arsonist was,” said one young resident who was among those who were temporarily detained. “They said that if we tried to evade arrest, they would give our parents trouble. At night, I just had to sit at home and wait for my turn,” she said. Another resident said that soldiers also examined the list of households in the village to see which ones had children who were not enrolled in school. “Whenever they found a child who was not enrolled in the school, they beat the child’s parents,” said the villager. Most of those who were detained were also subjected to beatings, residents said. “First they hit them five times with a bamboo stick and asked them who the arsonist was. If they said they didn’t know, they were beaten 10 times with the stick. Then 15 and 20 times if they still said they didn’t know,” said one villager. An activist in Hmawbi said that he could not confirm how many people had been released because some were reluctant to share information out of fear of re-arrest. A state-run newspaper reported on June 18 that 56 textbooks, three dozen notebooks, and several pieces of furniture were destroyed in the fire. Junta-controlled media has accused alleged terrorists with links to the NLD of bombing schools and carrying out attacks against teachers and students. Local People’s Defence Forces loyal to the ousted NLD government have denied targeting civilians in their campaign to pressure the regime to give up power..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
2021-06-21
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Today, on the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, the Women’s League of Burma (WLB) urges the general public to join our campaign against military impunity. WLB is committed to ending a nationwide pattern of sexual violence in conflict and to holding military junta accountable for sexual violence in conflict. For over seven decades, the Burmese military has waged war in the ethnic states of Burma/Myanmar. Their use of systematic and widespread violence includes using rape as a weapon of war. WLB has consistently condemned this crime and has advocated for effective action against the Burmese military through international justice and accountability mechanisms. Since the Burmese military forcibly seized power on Feb 1, 2021, they have cracked down on the peaceful movement by arresting, detaining, torturing innocent civilians, and even killing protesters. In addition, there is strong evidence claiming that the Burmese military has been intentionally committing sexual war crimes in ethnic war-torn areas for many years. The current junta security forces are committing widespread acts of sexual violence against detained women. Therefore, on the occasion o f the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, we, the Women’s League of Burma, call for the following: - Immediately send international missions, including the United Nations, to monitor and intervene to end arbitrary arrests, torture, killing and Sexual violence by the Burmese military, including the current state administration council. - Refer the State Administration Council officials to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or similar international tribunal to bring justice for survivors and to end sexual violence in conflict and the killing and arrest of peaceful protesters. The military must be held accountable for their atrocity crimes..."
Source/publisher: Women's League of Burma
2021-06-19
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf pdf
Size: 29.8 KB 429.76 KB
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Description: On this International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, we call for an immediate end to sexual assaults on women and men of all ethnic groups, and for accountability for the Myanmar military. The Tatmadaw's repression of the anti-coup movement shows that sexual and gender-based violence continues to be used by the junta as a brutal tool to intimidate and maintain their power and control. Myanmar women are defiant and play a leading role in the protests and in the resistance movement. While doing so, they are defying Burmese patriarchal traditional social norms and creatively challenging gender stereotypes. As the Women's League of Burma (WLB) highlighted, "with over 60 percent of women leading the protests, they are fearlessly putting themselves in the direct line o f defense". Women bear the brunt of the violence, often through sexual violence. Reports indicate that members of security forces have manhandled, groped, and verbally and sexually harassed female protesters. In some instances, they forced women to dance in the street for their entertainment, or pressured women for sex in exchange for ensuring that their names are removed from warrant lists. Particularly concerning is the differential treatment of women during interrogation and detention, in the form of sexual and genderbased violence, sexism and misogyny. There are reports of sexual abuses behind bars, including beatings on genitals and sexual threats. As recently highlighted by the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SACM), a group of independent international experts, "sexual and gender-based violence remains a brutal strategy employed by the junta to terrorise and punish the civilian population". The use by the military of sexual violence as a weapon of war and oppression is nothing new; this strategy has been used against ethnic minorities for decades. In its reports to the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar ("FFM") concluded that "rape and other sexual violence have been a particularly egregious and recurrent feature of the targeting of the civilian population in Rakhine, Kachin and Shan States since 2011". The FFM found that "sexual and gender-based violence was a hallmark o f the Tatmadaw"s operations in northern Myanmar and in Rakhine" and that it was part of a deliberate, well-planned strategy to intimidate, terrorize and punish civilian populations. Indeed, civil society groups have long documented and denounced the use of sexual violence as a tactic to hurt and humiliate girls and women, and men, from all ethnic communities. Depending on the circumstances, sexual and gender-based violence may constitute crimes under international law, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. This unchecked pattern of using sexual and gender-based violence as a tool of warfare must stop. Decades of impunity have emboldened the Myanmar military to continue perpetrating these heinous crimes without any accountability. The time for justice has come. The Myanmar military must stop using sexual violence in conflict and the perpetrators must be held accountable..."
Source/publisher: ASIA JUSTICE AND RIGHTS
2021-06-19
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Category: Women's rights
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Size: 88.43 KB 529.29 KB
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Description: "Today is International Day for Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. The term “conflict-related sexual violence” refers to rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, enforced sterilization, forced marriage and any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity perpetrated against women, men, girls or boys that is directly or indirectly linked to a conflict. The term also encompasses trafficking in persons when committed in situations of conflict for the purpose of sexual violence or exploitation. Sexual violence is often used deliberately as a weapon in armed conflicts; this holds true for the conflict in Myanmar. In the decades-long conflict with the Karen National Union, the Tatmadaw has allowed its soldiers to commit sexual violence on civilians with impunity. Between January 2012 and November 2018, KHRG received 52 reports covering 27 cases of sexual violence, including seven cases in 2018 alone.1 KHRG still receives reports of sexual violence cases as recent as 2019.2 Since the military coup on February 1, women and girls throughout the country are even more vulnerable to sexual violence. Women and girls have been subjected to sexual violence and other forms of gendered harassment while being held in detention facilities. In particular, sexual violence has been used by security forces, including members of the military, police and prison guard, when interrogating women and girls.3 The practice of impunity by the Tatmadaw is what has allowed such widespread sexual violence to occur. Perpetrators are rarely, if ever, held accountable for their crimes which encourages further violations in the future. Most victims of conflict-related sexual violence still have not received justice and, in many cases, have not even had the chance to report on, or speak about what happened to them. Sexual violence survivors should be given the opportunity to speak out, to receive remedy which includes physical and mental health support, and the means to reintegrate into society without any prejudice or discrimination. KHRG urges ethnic organizations to help the survivors receive the kind of support listed above. The international community, including organizations with a mandate to investigate and/or to prosecute international crimes, must ensure that perpetrators in the past, present and future, are held accountable for their crimes without any excuses. States must also place pressure on the Tatmadaw to stop the perpetration of sexual violence and ensure accountability within their ranks. Failing to address and investigate abuses will only prove that the military and other security forces can continue to commit sexual violence with impunity..."
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Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group
2021-06-19
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
Size: 95.14 KB
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Sub-title: We call for the Myanmar authorities to immediately and unconditionally release filmmaker Ma Aeint.
Description: "The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR*) and its founding institutions, the European Film Academy, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam and International Film Festival Rotterdam, together with the undersigning, call for the Myanmar authorities to immediately and unconditionally release filmmaker Ma Aeint. Ma Aeint was a producer and co-writer of MONEY HAS FOUR LEGS which ran in the New Currents competition at the 2020 Busan International Film Festival and is an alumna of FAMU Summer Filmmaking Initiation Campus, Locarno Open Doors Lab, as well as Ties That Bind. Leaving her house on 5 June, she was detained and is currently being held in an undisclosed place, with no official explanation. We are very concerned for the well-being of Ma Aeint. We encourage all film and culture institutions around the world to join us in calling upon the Myanmar authorities to immediately and unconditionally release her. If there are any charges against her, they must be made clear, though her safety must first be guaranteed. Berlin International Film Festival Busan International Film Festival Eurodoc European Film Promotion FAMU FERA Festival de Cannes Festival des 3 Continents FIFDH FSE German Film Academy Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Locarno Film Festival MEMORY ! MOOOV Morelia International Film Festival Mostra de Cinema Àrab i Mediterrani de Catalunya Movies that Matter Quinzaine des réalisateurs Cannes SEAFIC Semaine de la Critique Cannes Sicilia Queer filmfest Sundance Institute Swedish Union for Performing Arts and Film Sydney Film Festival Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival Tokyo International Film Festival Udine Far East Film Festival Venice Film Festival Visions du Réel..."
Source/publisher: The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk
2021-06-09
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: Women's Rights
Sub-title: Few Toilets, No Menstrual Hygiene Supplies
Topic: Women's Rights
Description: "When “Mi Mi” (a pseudonym) prepared for anti-coup demonstrations in Yangon in late February, she carefully chose to wear a pair of jeans and sneakers so she could run from the abusive security forces. The last thing on her mind was to carry menstrual pads in case she was detained. Myanmar’s police and military had begun to intensify crackdowns on protesters opposing the military’s February 1 power grab. As the security forces threw teargas onto the street and shot rubber bullets, she became disoriented, then trapped. Seven male police officers beat and kicked her when she fell on the ground. “Once I was down, one of them kept me down while the others kicked me with their boots,” Mi Mi said. “Then they hauled me over to a police truck…One of them held my head back and another guy punched me very hard in the face.” Mi Mi, 23, said the stress of the physical attack and arrest brought her menstrual period on early. Authorities eventually took her to Insein prison, the main detention facility, where she was held with more than 500 other women in facilities normally used for men. The women there had access to only two toilets with no water and no doors. Female prison guards repeatedly denied Mi Mi’s requests for sanitary pads until she bled heavily through her jeans. Finally, after 48 hours, they eventually gave her just one pad. Mi Mi said the experience was humiliating and left her with trauma causing nightmares even after her release. She said the stigma in Myanmar about menstruation and degrading treatment of women made it difficult for her to speak more openly. Female detainees have reported the “dehumanizing” experience of Myanmar prisons, explaining that they suffered during menstruation because prisons do not provide sanitary napkins. Since the coup, women have also reported sexual violence and other forms of gendered harassment and humiliation from police and military officials. The lack of adequate toilets with running water and privacy, and insufficient menstrual hygiene supplies can constitute degrading treatment in violation of international human rights law. The Myanmar authorities should respect the right of women and girls to manage menstruation with dignity..."
Source/publisher: Human Rights Watch (USA)
2021-06-08
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
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