Statement
by
The
Myanmar Observer Delegation
to the sixtieth session of the Commission on
Human Rights
on
Agenda
stem 12 (a): "Violence Against Women"
Geneva,
5 April 2004
Mr. Chairman,
The delegation of Myanmar would like to express our appreciation
to the Special Rapporteur Madam Yakin Erturk and her
predecessor Madam Radhika Coomaraswamy
for their comprehensive reports on "Violence Against
Women".
Our delegation has been fully cooperating with the Special Rapporteurs. This was duly recognized in her report. We
would like to assure you that we shall continue to cooperate with the Special
Rapporteur to the extent possible.
Mr. Chairman,
The status of women in our society is unique. The Myanmar culture,
traditions, laws and practices have all safeguarded the equality of women in
marriage, inheritance and other social affairs. In Myanmar, women are treated
with respect and have never been subjected to degrading treatment.
In pursuance of the Beijing Declaration adopted at the Fourth World Conference on
Women, the Myanmar National Committee for Women Affairs (MNCWA) was formed in
1996. A sub-committee for VAW was set up with a mechanism which is dealing with
the complaints by victims of all forms of VAW.
Myanmar became a state party to CEDAW in 1997.
The Government also accords a high priority to combat trafficking
in person. In 1998, a task force for trafficking in women and children was
formed.
The MNCWA, in close collaboration with the UN Inter-Agency Project
on Human Trafficking in Mekong Sub-region, and with local and international
NGOs organized a series of workshops; set up an interdisciplinary mobile
training team; and published a handbook on combating trafficking in persons
which was translated to Myanmar language with the funding from the UN (Ted
Turner) Foundation and AusAID.
The MNCWA has been transformed into Myanmar Women's Affairs
Federation in 2004 to address women's affairs on a wider national scale. The
first plenary meeting of states and divisions organizations of the Myanmar
Women's Affairs Federation was held on 28-29 March 2004. The meeting adopted
the recommendations including inter alia to combat violence against women and trafficking in women
and children.
Mr. Chairman,
There have been some allegations of sexual violence against women
by the members of the Myanmar Armed Forces. I should like to draw your
attention to the fact that some well-funded NGOs have been disseminating such
false allegations against the Myanmar Government and the Armed Forces with a
malicious intent.
It is the consistent policy and practice of the Myanmar Government
to prevent any form of violence against women. It has never been the policy to
condone such a crime, whether it is committed by a civilian or by a member of
the Armed Forces.
The investigations into these allegations had been thoroughly
carried out by the authorities. Most of those allegations were found to be
groundless.
The investigations discovered that the accusations were made,
referring to the names of the officers and other ranks who were not actually
serving at the respective regiments; and also referring to the regiments which
were not even carrying out military operations in the area at the time of the
allegations. In some of the allegations, the places mentioned are non-existent
and in some of those, there are no such nationals living at the places
mentioned in the allegations.
The findings showed that out of 173 allegations of sexual violence
against women in the Shan State during the period of 1996 to 2001, 5 cases were
found to be correct. In those cases, the actions had been already taken against
the perpetrators in accordance with the existing laws.
The detailed information on the findings had already been
transmitted to the Special Rapporteurs.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has now
established its presence in the alleged areas since the end of 2002.
Mr. Chairman,
The status of women in Myanmar remains to be among the highest in
the world. Nevertheless, the Government of Myanmar is sparing no efforts to
combat any kinds of Violence Against Women in the
country with our own resources.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.