Myanmar military is using rape as a weapon: opposition group

By Elaine O'Connor/Ottawa Citizen

October 10 2002

The Myanmarese military is systematically raping ethnic Shan women as part of a military strategy, according to a new study.

At least 625 women and girls have alleged they were raped by members of the military between 1996 and 2001, according to the report, titled Licence to Rape. It was compiled by the Shan women's group and the Shan Human Rights Foundation, non-profit organizations formed in opposition to the Myanmarese government. (The country was formerly known as Burma.) "The use of systematic rape may not be written in the military's policies in paper but, in practice, they're using rape as a weapon of war against the ethnic people and terrorizing the community," said women's group founder Hseng Noung, who was in Ottawa yesterday speaking at a conference sponsored by the Canadian Friends of Burma at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

"We want to make sure that the international community really knows what the actual situation is," said Ms. Noung, now living in Thailand.

Of the 173 cases studied in detail in the report, the majority were perpetrated by officers, often in groups and in front of their troops. Many involved beatings, mutilation or suffocation, and at least 40 of the women were killed after the attacks.

Eleven assaults took place inside military bases, while 24 women were seized and kept for up to four months by troops as "comfort women."

The offender was punished by his commanding officer in only one of the incidents, the report stated.

Following the release of the report, the Women's League of Burma has called for a UN fact-finding mission to the Thailand-Myanmar border to investigate incidences of sexual violence committed by the military.

Many more women may not have reported abuse out of fear, or an inability to speak enough of the language to report the incident to military authorities, the report said.

In July, the U.S. State Department decried the alleged abuses and urged the Myanmarese government to investigate. The Burmese State Peace and Development Council initially dismissed the report as "unverified testimonies of so-called victims." It conducted its own investigation and concluded the reports were "false and fabricated." [Top]