Description:
Executive Summary:
"Almost a decade ago, the Women?s League of Burma (WLB) denounced systematic patterns of
sexual crimes committed by the Burma Army against ethnic women and demanded an end to the
prevailing system of impunity. Today WLB is renewing these calls. Three years after a nominally
civilian government came to power; state-sponsored sexual violence continues to threaten the
lives of women in Burma.
Women of Burma endure a broad range of violations; this report focuses on sexual violence, as the
most gendered crime. WLB and its member organizations have gathered documentation showing
that over 100 women have been raped by the Burma Army since the elections of 2010. Due to
restrictions on human rights documentation, WLB believes these are only a fraction of the actual
abuses taking place.
Most cases are linked to the military offensives in Kachin and Northern Shan States since 2011.
The Kachin Women?s Association Thailand (KWAT) documented that 59 women have been victims
of acts of sexual violence committed by Burmese soldiers.1 The Shan Women?s Action Network
(SWAN) reports 30 cases of sexual violence involving 35 women and girls in the past three years.2
The incidence of rape correlates with the timing of conflict.
These crimes are more than random, isolated acts by rogue soldiers. Their widespread and
systematic nature indicates a structural pattern: rape is still used as an instrument of war and
oppression. 47 cases were brutal gang rapes, several victims were as young as 8 years old and 28 of
the women were either killed or died of their injuries. Over 38 different battalions are implicated
in these cases, while several battalions are involved across multiple cases and timeframes, and the
incidents took place in at least 35 different townships. These rapes cannot be explained away as a
human impulse gone astray. The use of sexual violence in conflict is a strategy and an act of warfare
that has political and economic dimensions that go beyond individual cases. In Burma, counterinsurgency
tactics designate civilians in ethnic areas as potential threats. Sexual violence is used as
a tool by the Burmese military to demoralize and destroy ethnic communities. Army officers are
not only passively complicit in these sexual crimes but often perpetrators themselves. Combined
with blatant impunity, soldiers are given a ?license to rape?, as SWAN highlighted in 2002.
Several international treaties to which Burma is party, and other sources of international law
applicable to Burma prohibit sexual violence; rape is also criminalized under Burma?s penal code.
But neither international nor domestic laws are enforced effectively. The systematic and widespread use of sexual violence by the Burma Army makes the abuses documented in this report potential
war crimes and crimes against humanity under international law, requiring thorough independent
investigation.
It is high time for Burma?s government to take responsibility and live up to the expectations the
recent changes have created, to restore the dignity that women of Burma deserve. This can only
be achieved through truth and justice for the violence women endure. It necessitates not only an
immediate end to the violence, but also a deep reform of Burma?s legal framework.
Changing the 2008 Constitution, which gives the military the right to independently administer all
its affairs, is the first step towards ensuring justice for the women of Burma. Judicial independence
has to be guaranteed by the constitution, to allow for reform of the judicial system that will ensure
its impartiality. The court-martial system, established by the Constitution to adjudicate all crimes
committed by the military, has an unrestricted mandate and overly broad powers: it needs to be
reformed to place the military under civilian judicial control. In both military and civilian jurisdictions,
victims? access to justice has to be ensured through appropriate complaint mechanisms. At the
moment, the National Human Rights Commission does not have the mandate, capacity and
willingness to address serious human rights violations in an independent and transparent manner.
If the government is serious about its commitments to address violence against women, it should
acknowledge ongoing abuses against ethnic women, sign the recent international declaration for
prevention of sexual violence in conflict, and adopt laws specifically aimed at protecting women
from violence. Recent proposals set out concrete requirements for effective legal protection for
women.
In addition, the government needs to deeply change its political approach to the peace process, in
order to make it a meaningful way to end abuses. Achieving sustainable peace and putting an end
to abuses against women will not happen without women?s representation in the political dialogue
for peace. The fact that almost all the participants involved in the official peace process are male
excludes critical perspectives on peace and conflict, and preserves structural gender inequality.3
Moreover, it is crucial that the upcoming political dialogue addresses past human rights violations
as well as the role of the army. This includes accepting that, in a free country, the military is subject
to civilian authorities representing the genuine will of the people. Unless and until the military
is placed under civilian control through constitutional amendments, we will not see an end to
militarized sexual violence."
Source/publisher:
Women?s League of Burma
Date of Publication:
2014-01-14
Date of entry:
2014-01-15
Grouping:
- Individual Documents
Category:
Language:
English
Local URL:
Format:
pdf
Size:
1.64 MB