KWO Release Latest Report on Eastern Burma: Walking Amongst Sharp Knives

Our amazing partners at KWO have released a groundbreaking new report this month called ‘Walking Amongst Sharp Knives: The unsung courage of Karen women village chiefs in conflict areas of Eastern Burma’. The report highlights previously unreported abuses taking place against ethnic Karen women in Burma and is a shocking expose of how women village heads are being targeted for systematic abuse by the military junta.

“This report provides poignant insight into the challenges of women assuming leadership in a patriarchal and militarised society. The KWO hopes that this report will help bring recognition of these brave women for their sacrifices not only at the front line of abuses by Burma’s military dictatorship, but at the forefront of the struggle for gender equality in Burma” (KWO).

Renae Davies – IWDA Program Manager – Thai-Burma Border

The practice of the Burmese Army to execute village heads has led to traditional Karen culture being turned upside-down, with women now being appointed village chiefs as they are seen as less likely to be killed. However, this change has put women in the frontline of human rights abuses. These abuses constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The abuses experienced or witnessed by the women chiefs include:

- Crucifixions
- People burnt alive
- Rape, including gang rape
- Many forms of torture, including beatings and water torture
- People buried up to their heads in earth and beaten to death
- Arbitrary executions
- Beheadings
- Slave labour

The women chiefs have been deliberately targeted for gender-based violence, including gang-rape. Pregnant and nursing women chiefs have been subjected to forced labour and gruelling interrogation.

Yet despite these abuses the report also reveals the bravery and personal sacrifice of women in challenging injustice and defending their people.

“How can any woman feel safe under the Burma Army when even women village heads are openly targeted for abuse?” said Blooming Night Zan KWO Joint Secretary 1 of KWO.

The Karen Women Organization is calling on the members of the United Nations Security Council to support the establishment of a United Nations Commission of Inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed by the Burmese military dictatorship.

“These women chiefs are unsung heroes,” said Blooming Night Zan “They are placing themselves not only at the front line of abuses by the Burma Army, but also at the forefront of the struggle for gender equality in Burma.”

The KWO is urgently calling for the Thai government to continue to provide protection to refugees fleeing human rights abuses in Burma. The Thai Army is currently seeking to repatriate over 3,000 Karen refugees in Tak province.

View Walking Amongst Sharp Knives

Tags: Resources/Materials/Publications, Safety and Security

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 under Recent, Thai Burma Border.