UN (CEDAW) documents on discrimination against women

CEDAW and Myanmar Govt documents plus submissions from CSOs
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Websites/Multiple Documents

Description: The Convention, the Committee, Myanmar sessions, Myanmar Govt and CSO documents
Source/publisher: CEDAW
Date of entry/update: 2016-07-20
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Individual Documents

Sub-title: An independent, community-based assessment of health and human rights in the Cyclone Nargis response
Description: "Cyclone Nargis lashed Burma on May 2, 2008, making landfall in the Irrawaddy Delta, 220 km southwest of Rangoon. This was a massive cyclone which would have been a challenge for any country to address. In all, some 140,000 lives are thought to have been lost, and at least 3.4 million persons were directly affected. Nargis hit Burma, a country under long-standing military rule, at a crucial time: just days before a national referendum on a new military-backed constitution was planned. The response to Cyclone Nargis on the part of Burma’s ruling junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), was profoundly affected by the junta’s policies, its practices toward its citizens generally, and by the political imperatives of the junta’s referendum priorities. The junta’s response was marred by failures to warn, failures to respond, limits on humanitarian assistance from independent Burmese NGOs and citizens, and limits on humanitarian assistance from international entities eager to assist. Independent assessment of the Nargis response has proven to be challenging. Assessments done with the collaboration of the junta have reported little on the human rights situation for survivors and relief workers. Burma Before the Storm Military rule in Burma has also been characterized by widespread human rights violations, including the violent suppression of the ‘Saffron Revolution’ in 2007, and severe curtailment in social spending. The official government expenditure on health is about $0.70 per capita per annum or 0.3% of the national GDP, amongst the lowest worldwide. The health and social services situation is more severe in rural and ethnic minority areas. The Referendum and the New Constitution The SPDC announced in February, 2008, that it would hold a referendum on its new military- drafted constitution on May 10. The constitution had been drafted in secret by military-appointed representatives, without the participation of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), winners of the 1990 elections which were never recognized by the regime. It was against this complex and contested backdrop that the worst natural disaster ever to hit Burma made landfall. The Emergency Assistance Team - Burma Within days of the cyclone health care workers from the Thai-Burma border region joined together to create EAT, the Emergency Assistance Team- Burma. The teams, eventually 44, were comprised of several volunteers each; most were cyclone survivors. They received training in emergency responses, food and water distribution, and basic first aid provision. The EAT teams, working “under the radar” and with local community based organizations (CBO) while unaffiliated with any formal NGO or GO, went deep into the affected areas to provide relief to survivors. Their efforts are part of a larger ongoing effort of border-based social organizations which quickly respond to challenges such as Cyclone Nargis, mobilizing through a network of other CBOs. By After the Storm: Voices from the Delta the end of the first phase of relief (in the first three months) 44 direct assistance teams had provided assistance to an estimated population of some 180,000 survivors in 87 villages across 17 townships. An Independent Assessment of the Nargis Response In response to reports of human rights abrogation in cyclone-affected areas, a collaborative group was formed which included EAT and the Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health and Human Rights to conduct an independent assessment. With technical assistance provided by local organizations Global Heath Access Program and Karen Human Rights Group, two rounds of data collection were undertaken in the Irrawaddy Delta by the EAT teams: from June to September, and October to November, 2008. A total of 90 interviews were conducted. Interviewees were 33 relief workers and 57 survivors, interviewed in storm-affected areas (including in Irrawaddy Division) and in Thailand. RELIEF EFFORTS AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS FRAMEWORK The Government of Burma1 /Myanmar is not a party to most international human rights treaties, but acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1991, and the Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1997, albeit with reservations. By accession to the CRC, the junta has legally agreed to recognize the right of the child to reach the highest standard of health and access to health care. Under CEDAW special consideration is given to realizing women’s rights to health care and to the needs of rural women. The Responsibility to Protect The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS), issued in 2001, advanced a framework for international human rights protection, declaring that it was each sovereign nation’s responsibility to protect their citizens from crimes against humanity, genocide, and other mass atrocities. This was later reaffirmed by the 2005 resolution of the UN General Assembly and the 2006 UN Security Council resolution. The 2005 resolution concluded that it is the responsibility of the international community to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means, in accordance with Chapters VI and VIII of the Charter, to help protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity .” and taking “collective action” only “on a case-by-case basis and in cooperation with relevant regional organizations as appropriate, should peaceful means be inadequate and national authorities manifestly fail to protect their populations. R2P was invoked in the early, stalled response to the Cyclone but was never implemented. The people of Burma, including EAT, did respond to the responsibility to protect—despite junta harassment, arrest, and in some cases, imprisonment, for providing humanitarian assistance..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: The Emergency Assistance Team and The Center for Public Health and Human Rights at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
2009-03-00
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 1.88 MB
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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
Language:
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 5.64 MB 5.2 MB
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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.”..."
Creator/author:
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
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 73.37 KB
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Description: "As of 2 May, (765) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (6) fallen heroes today. (2) from Hsipaw Town and Nawngcho Town in Shan State, (1) from Hpakant Town in Kachin State and (2) from Wetlet Town in Sagaing Region died on 2 May. (1) from Kutkai Town in Shan State was killed yesterday and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of May 2, a total of (3555) people are currently under detention; of them (82) are sentenced. 1396 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document. On 2 May, across the world and inside Burma, people powerfully protested the coup regime on the Global Myanmar Spring Revolution Day. Since the ASEAN leaders meeting, junta forces continue to perpetrate violence, today was the bloodiest day since the ASEAN meeting, at least five civilians were killed in one day. This is alongside increasing arrests. Two people were killed, and three others injured during a violent crackdown at an anti-dictatorship protest today in Hsipaw Town and Naungcho Town, Shan State. The Hpakant strike was repressed with live ammunition, mines, and hand grenades. One protester was shot dead in Hpakant, Kachin State. More than 20 people were injured and chased forcing the protestors to hide. There is great concern for these injured protesters’ access to medical treatment. Terrorists also arrested more than 10 civilians by breaking and destroying house doors in Hpakant. The junta also opened fire whilst people were gathering to begin a protest in Wetlet Town, Sagaing Region. Two men were shot dead, and eight others injured. The terrorist troops are now wearing plain clothes, carrying combat weapons, and arresting protestors so it is less easy to be recognized by civilians. Junta forces are also hiding to ambush and shoot. Two civilians were killed and at least five others were arrested today by this way in Mandalay City. AAPP is consolidating further information to verify this. Junta forces went to the Eain Phyu Taw spare auto parts store to allegedly buy car tires in Kutkai Town, Shan State on 1 May. The victim’s mother said the store was closed and they had stopped selling because of the ending of the fasting period. The victim’s mother was dragged into a car by the junta forces and an argument between the son and the terrorists broke out, he was then shot twice in the chest and died. Aside from all this, today the terrorist group crackdown on protests and arrested civilians in Mogaung Town, Kachin State, Mawlamyine City, Mon State, Mandalay and Pyugyidagun Townships, Mandalay Region, Monywa City, Sagaing Region, and Hlaing, Insein, and North Okkalapa Townships, Yangon Region. Some civilians across the country were injured. Arrests are made in plain clothes and the terrorist group has consistently used private vehicles, military trucks, and motorbikes to oppress civilians. Today, strikes were attacked using military trucks and private vehicles in Naungcho Town, Shan State, Shwebo Town, Sagaing Region and Eaindu Town, Karen State. More than 50 motorbikes were confiscated from youth protesters during the Eaindu protest. The junta stormed a school for the blind based in the Khawel Chan, Yangon Region last April and raided a girl orphanage house on Byaing Yay Oe Zin Street on 1 May nighttime in Tamwe Township, Yangon Region. During the raid, the door of the shelter was stormed and destroyed, the young women living in the shelter were taken out one by one. As of now, it has not been confirmed regarding arrests. Although Myanmar ratified to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), these rights have been dismantled by the dictatorship, women are suffering from both mental and physical insecurity. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses: “Our uprising must succeed” Email : [email protected] Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma In Solidarity, AAPP..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
2021-04-02
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 987.59 KB 3.42 MB 884.56 KB
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Topic: atrocity crime – Myanmar – International Crime Tribunals – Rohingya – culture of impunity
Topic: atrocity crime – Myanmar – International Crime Tribunals – Rohingya – culture of impunity
Description: "What instruments and mechanisms are available to harness the ‘political will’ to pursue justice for the allegations of ‘atrocity crime’ in Rakhine, Myanmar? Analysing country’s ratification trend, declarations upon ratification on relevant global instruments, and interactions with the un on human rights issues, this paper reveals the ‘mind’ of Myanmar and its obligations. Exploring the mechanism of four International Crime Tribunals (icts), it outlines the pathways to pursue justice. Revealing the inadequacies of current actions by key state actors resulting in invidious outcomes that privilege impunity for atrocity crimes, the paper suggests ways to harness the political will to pursue justice. This paper contends that the establishment of an ict for the trial of atrocity crimes in Rakhine (ictm-R) would be best facilitated by: a consensus mandate to prosecute individuals and not the state; precisely defined jurisdiction; and provisions to integrate the host nation’s apparatus, buttressed by the advocacy of the right groups and media..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers (Netherlands)
2019-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 311.33 KB
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Description: "When it comes to protecting women from violence in Myanmar, what little difference a year makes. Last year during the annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, the Government pledged to submit a Prevention of and Protection from Violence Against Women (PoVAW) Law to Parliament in early 2019 and give “priority and focus” to protecting women and children from violence. As we approach another 16 Days of Activism, the PoVAW law, in the drafting stage since 2013, has not yet been submitted to Parliament, making clear that protecting women from violence is far from a priority or focus for the current Government. In a country with escalating rates of sexual violence, continued inaction puts women’s lives in jeopardy, and is a sad reminder that the gender inequality that leads to violence against women is also inhibiting the passage of a PoVAW Law which would protect them. Statistics across Myanmar show an upward trend in reports of sexual violence, and one root cause of sexual violence is gender inequality. In August, a UN investigatory body declared that in Myanmar “[s]exual violence is an outcome of a larger problem of gender inequality and the lack of rule of law.” Myanmar is ranked 150 of 167 countries on the Georgetown Institute of Women Peace and Security’s Women Peace and Security Index and 148 of 189 on the 2018 UN Gender Inequality Index, two recent measures of women’s well-being worldwide..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Mizzima" (Myanmar)
2019-11-18
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: ''After the Myanmar military launched its campaign of ethnic cleansing in August 2017, Human Rights Watch researchers spoke with Rohingya women and girls from 19 villages in Rakhine State who had been raped by security forces. We witnessed their deep pain, shame, and distress, born not only from the recent violence but also from the chronic fear, persecution, and neglect long faced by the Rohingya. In every case of sexual violence described to us, the perpetrators were uniformed members of the security forces – mostly soldiers, some police. All but one of the rapes were gang rapes, often involving groups of soldiers who also sometimes stripped, beat, bit, laughed at, and taunted their victims. Women described soldiers in boots kicking them and beating them with rifles. Fifteen-year-old Hala Sadak had considerable scarring on her leg from where soldiers had stripped her naked and then dragged her from her home to a nearby tree where, she estimates, 10 men raped her from behind. We documented six cases where military units committed “mass rape” of villagers, gathering women and girls in groups and gang raping them, sometimes then locking them in shelters that they set on fire. Many rape victims were murdered. And yet, despite the overwhelming evidence of these and other grave crimes, the Myanmar government continues to assert, as it did in its report to this Committee, that there is “no evidence to support these wild claims.” Civilian and military authorities continue to shield soldiers and their commanders from prosecution. Myanmar’s recent submission to the Committee of denial after denial is a dark document. It shows outrageous disrespect for survivors of rape, for the truth, and for the work of this Committee. It’s an affront to accountability for vicious crimes, and to ending the military’s use of fear – including by rape – to reach its objectives. Widespread sexual violence has long been a hallmark of the Myanmar military’s culture of abuse and impunity, and it is this profound lack of accountability which allows it to continue...''
Source/publisher: Human Rights Watch via " Progressive Voice"
2019-02-22
Date of entry/update: 2019-03-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: ''Despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary, the government of Myanmar denies their armed forces raped Rohingya women and girls in a campaign of ethnic cleansing that forced more than 740,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee the country since late 2017. In a long-delayed submission to the United Nations women’s rights committee this week, Myanmar said there was “no evidence to support these wild claims” – a darkly risible denial to a very painful truth. The overwhelming evidence compiled by Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations, the media, and the UN uncovered gruesome accounts of rape, killings, and other crimes against humanity in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. A UN-backed fact-finding mission said the atrocities included genocidal acts. Hundreds of Rohingya women and girls have said they were raped. I spoke to dozens of them. They risked both renewed trauma and stigma – with little real hope of remedy – to tell their stories. A 15-year-old girl, for instance, said soldiers dragged her out of her hut, tied her to a tree, and then raped her...''
Creator/author: Skye Wheeler
Source/publisher: Human Rights Watch
2019-02-07
Date of entry/update: 2019-02-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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