Day 8: Women’s League of Burma short film Bringing Justice to Women

IWDA partner Women’s League of Burma (WLB) has launched a short film highlighting continued systematic and widespread rape against women and girls in Burma, in particular in the areas of renewed military offensives in Kachin, Karen and Shan State after so-called democratic elections.

The film, entitled Bringing Justice to Women, reiterates WLB’s calls for a UN-led Commission of Inquiry (CoI) leading to the referral of General Than Shwe and his cronies to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Tin Tin Nyo, WLB General Secretary, said, “This film has given more evidence of systematic rape and other forms of sexual crimes with impunity by the State. We would like member states to live up with their commitment to human rights, fundamental freedoms, peace and security.”

Watch Bringing Justice to Women below, or read the transcript below the video:

Women’s League of Burma is an umbrella organisation representing 13 women’s organisations from Burma and working for the advancement of the status of women towards a peaceful and just society. Its Women Mobilising for Democracy initiative facilitates women’s ability to be informed and active citizens in fragile settings, using a peer education approach to support the participation of women in civil and political discourse. Monthly interactive forums focus on topics such as human rights, participatory governance, constitutional arrangements and gender analysis and women have the opportunity to gain the skills, knowledge and awareness to actively participate in discussions and activities related to the pro-democracy movement.

For more information about WLB, please visit their website.

Video transcript

Title

Bringing Justice to Women

Title

To the women of Burma whose lives have been stolen by the System of Impunity in Burma.

Title

For just peace and reconciliation in Burma.

Main Speaker

Since 1992 the United Nations has adopted more than thirty resolutions on Burma, repeatedly expressing grave concern about ongoing human rights violations and have called upon Burma’s junta to end impunity. The UN resolutions on Burma from 2003 particularly call Burma’s military regime to end systematic violations of human rights including rape and other forms of sexual violence persistently carried out by members of the armed forces. However the regime has ignored all UN resolutions and continued these crimes with impunity.

Technically, Burma’s November 2010 election brought to an end nearly five decades of military rule in Burma. In reality, Burma’s military leaders, in or out of uniform, are orchestrating cosmetic democracy while still retaining their iron grip on power. Burma’s army has revived the longest civil war in the world by launching its new military campaigns in ethnic states, in particular in Karen, Kachin and Shan states.

Typically these military campaigns targeting civilians involve systematic human rights violations including extra-judicial killings, torture and systematic use of rape as a weapon of war against women and girls. Burma’s army troops will shoot any civilian at sight, destroy rice stores and burn down entire villages. These systematic and widespread attacks against civilians by the military regime are war crimes against humanity prohibited by the Rome statute and other international laws.

Naw Sari Paw, from Karen State (translation)

My husband was shot and killed by the Burma Army, he was on his way back to harvest the crop in the village.

Main Speaker

Bawk Nuis from Kachin state. After her husband was arrested and killed by the authorities she escaped. Now she is with her child and living in a refugee camp along the Thai Burma border.

Bawk Nu, Karen State (translation)

My husband was arrested by the local Burma Army authorities for his involvement in politics. At first I could not get any news at all. Later on, I got news about my husband from people who lived near the place that they (Burma Army) detained him. The army tied their hands and legs and put them in a small cell with little food. My husband got sick but they did not want to look after him they said they have no time. Therefore, they hit him with a hoe until he died. My son has not known about his father yet. He still thought that his father is still alive. His father is on a trip and would return home one day. When he could not get out I thought it would be better he was dead because if he is still alive. He has been alive, he would have been tortured in the detention centre.

Main Speaker

Naw Thoung Nyunt was shot by a Burma army soldier while she was working in her farm in 2007. She is now living in an IDP camp in Karen state. Many women, girls and family members were eliminated to hide evidence of these heinous crimes.

A woman, from Northern Burma (translation)

When Burma army come, no life is spared. Anyone they find, children, men and women can be killed.

Main Speaker

This young lady was gang raped while pregnant. After her father was killed by a Burma Army soldier on the first of January 2008, she and her family escaped to a refugee camp.

A woman, Karen State (translation)

I was so scared and I screamed. Then he threatened me, if you continue screaming I will punch your baby through your stomach. I could only cry while he brutally raped me. I could only cry. Not only one person, but one after another, up to four.

Main Speaker

These young women from Kachin State were gang raped by Burma Army soldiers in their home village in 2007. At that time they were high school students.

Young women from Kachin State

The Burma Army soldiers took us somewhere by force and raped us. In my village, the military always abuse their power to bully people. Many girls were being raped like us.

Main Speaker

Kachin Women’s Association Thailand documented rape by the Burma Army in the Kachin area in 2011.

Moon Nay Li, Kachin Women’s Association Thailand (translation)

What’s happening to the women in Kachin State is horrible. They are being raped, tortured and killed. Within a week our organisation documented 18 women and girls were raped. Still there are many more cases we haven’t been able to document. Burma Army soldiers always bully the villagers with their guns. Therefore when the soldiers come villagers run away. Three families with children and young girls were left in the village when the Burma Army troops came in and the soldiers caught them. The soldiers killed the children under ten years old first and raped the teenage girls and killed them later. Then men were taken as porters.

Ying Harn Fah, Shan Women’s Action Network

From March 2011 until now there is fighting in Shan State. On July 5 2011, four women aged between 12 and over 50 were raped (by Burma Army soldiers). They didn’t spare even a child or an old person. The other two were in their 30s and one of them was nine months pregnant. See, they wouldn’t spare anyone. The rape cases are still happening in Shan State.

Main Speaker

Because of fear of reprisals, rape and sexual crimes committed against women by Burma’s army and officials go unreported. Furthermore there is a climate of impunity that not only enables perpetrators to evade persecution but also fosters a culture of continued and escalating violence.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, giving a speech at a conference “Women Forging a New Security: Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict” May 23-25 2011 – Montebello, Canada

Rape is used in my country as a weapon against those who only want to live in peace, who only want to assert their basic human rights, especially in the areas of the ethnic nationalities. Rape is rife. It is used as a weapon by armed forces to intimidate the ethnic nationalities and to divide our country. This is how I see it. Every case of rape divides our country. Every case of rape divides our country between peoples, between genders, between the armed forces and ordinary citizens, between ethnic nationalities. So we must do everything we can to put an end to this.

Main Speaker

When the state itself is the abuser of human rights, and the perpetrator of rape and other forms of sexual violence, we must rely on international laws and criminal courts to deal with such heinous crimes and protect and bring justice to the women of Burma. The reports by the UN Special Rapporteur on Burma, submitted to the UN since 1992, contain an abundance of summaries, of testimonies, of extreme human rights violations including rape committed by Burma’s military regime. In March 2010 the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma, Mr. Tomás Ojea Quintana, recommended that the UN should consider establishing a UN Commission of Inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Burma’s military regime.

Tomás Ojea Quintana, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma

I stated that in Myanmar the situation of human rights remains alarming, that there is a pattern of widespread and systematic violations, that the prevailing impunity allows for the continuation of those violations. I urge the government to take prompt measures to establish accountability and responsibility with regard to those widespread and systematic human rights violations.

Main Speaker

When no serious moves were made to establish a commission of enquiry, he repeated his call later that year. This report marks the first time an acting UN official has called for a UN Commission of Enquiry into crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma, both of which fall under the jurisdiction of the international criminal courts.

The findings of the Special Rapporteur confirm the numerous reports produced by the Women’s League of Burma, its members and other organisations documenting these crimes in Burma in particular, the widespread and systematic use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war. Therefore, the Women’s League of Burma calls on the United Nations to establish a UN Commission of Enquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity by the regime’s troops in Burma and to investigate all cases of widespread and systematic sexual violence in Burma.

We urge the United Nations Security Council to consider referring Burma’s top leader, General Than Shwe and his cronies, to the international criminal courts for heinous crimes of war and crimes against humanity.

Woman
We call on (Burma Army) to stop these violence immediately. Ethnic people are still suffering from this up till now.

Young woman

If possible, I want legal action taken against the military government in Burma.

Main Speaker

We urge member states to live up to their commitment to human rights, fundamental freedom, peace and security and propose the establishment of a UN Commission of Enquiry to investigate crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma to bring justice to women and girls.

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The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute sponsored by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership in 1991. For each of the 16 Days from 25 November to 10 December 2011, the IWDA website will be featuring a different piece to highlight the work of our partners and explore ways that IWDA supporters can take part in the effort to end gender-based violence.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 2nd, 2011 under 16_Days, Front page, Thai Burma Border.