February 11, 2003
Military gang-rape occurs as International Red Cross
visits Shan State
On January 30, 2003,
the same day a team of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
was visiting Central Shan State, a woman was gang-raped only a few miles
away by troops of the Burmese military regime, local villagers have reported.
The incident occurred
in a village near the town of Laikha, when a patrol of troops from a military
base at Kho Lam detained the 35-year-old Shan woman in her house. She
was gang-raped by eight soldiers in the presence of her four children.
The ICRC, which spent
several days in the Laikha area, was conducting its second visit in two
months to Central Shan State to assess the conditions of the local population.
Their policy is not to publicly expose human rights violations, but to
raise issues confidentially with relevant authorities.
"We are very
disturbed that such abuses are continuing under the very noses of international
monitors," said Nang Mo Lao of the Shan Women's Action Network. "It
On January 30, representatives
of Amnesty International were also allowed into Burma for the first time
by the regime, but did not travel to Shan State.
For further information, contact:
Nang Hseng Noung at: + 66
1 884 4963
20 January 2003: Burmese Army defectors testify to continuing impunity for rape
5 September 2002: SWAN denounces Burmese regime's investigation into rape report as a sham
10 August 2002: Statement of concern regarding international assistance to Burma
Burmese Army defectors
testify to continuing impunity for rape
Three soldiers who defected from the Army of Burma's
junta, the State Peace and Development Council ( SPDC), at the Thai-Burma
border on January 17, 2003, have testified to Shan Women's Action Network
members that their commanding officer boasted to them about raping women.
The soldiers, aged 17, 19 and 26, who had defected with
their weapons from Company Two of Light Infantry Battallion 226 across
the border from Piang Luang in Northern Chiang Mai province, testified
that their commanding sergeant Myint Htay had boasted to them last month
about having raped "five or six" women in Shan State.
The three soldiers, all forcibly recruited into the SPDC
Army within the past year, had been stationed at the border for only a
few months, after undergoing training near Kengtung.
"If officers feel comfortable boasting to their
troops about raping women, it is clear that the culture of impunity for
sexual violence in the Burmese Army is still in place," said Hseng
Noung of the Shan Women's Action Network.
The soldiers, one of whom was only 16 when arrested at
a bus station in Central Burma and forced to enlist, also said that there
were child soldiers as young as twelve stationed at the SPDC Army camp
opposite Piang Luang.
For further information, please contact:
Nang Hseng Noung at: 66-9-851-9510
Nang Charmtong at: 66-1-885-4347 [Top]
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Burmese military authorities threaten villagers
before International Red Cross visit to Central Shan State
Before the visit
of an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) team to Laikha town
in Central Shan State on December 9th, 2002, village elders were threatened
by the military authorities, according to reports from Shan refugees who
have recently arrived at the border.
The ten-member ICRC
team were conducting a ten-day assessment visit to Central Shan State,
from 2-12 December, travelling by road east from Taunggyi to Loilem, Namzarng,
Murng Nai and Laikha.
Two days prior to
the visit to Laikha, police and military authorities ordered some of the
local teachers, headmen and ex-government officials to come to the Laikha
police station, and commanded them to form a civilian "committee"
which would liaise with the ICRC. They were ordered to accompany the ICRC
team and note down all questions asked, and threatened to be "careful"
when answering any questions.
The ICRC has only
recently been allowed by the regime into this area of Central Shan State,
where over 300,000 villagers have been forcibly relocated by the military
regime since 1996, and where the majority of the 173 rape incidents documented
in the June 2002 report "Licence to Rape" by SWAN and the Shan
Human Rights Foundation were committed.
The military regime
has repeatedly rejected the findings of the report, citing the presence
of international agencies, including the ICRC, in Shan State as evidence
that the rapes could not have taken place. On December 26, 2002, it again
denied it had been using rape as a weapon of war, in response to a US
State Department report repeating the allegations.
"It is very
clear that the military regime wants to use the presence of ICRC in Shan
State to help deny the charges that they are licencing rape of ethnic
women," said Mo Lao of the Shan Women's Action Network. "But
if they really have nothing to hide, why are they asking villagers to
be "careful" when answering questions?"
For further information, contact:
Nang Hseng Noung at: + 66 9 851 9510 [Top]
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SWAN denounces
Burmese regime's investigation into rape report as a sham
SWAN is outraged at the recent responses by the Burmese
military regime to the report "Licence to Rape" and calls on
the international community to challenge the results of the regime's sham
investigation into the report.
On August 23 and August 26, 2002, the military regime
organised press conferences claiming that the report "Licence to
Rape" by SWAN and the Shan Human Rights Foundation was "false
and fabricated" and "exposing" that exiled men from Burma
were behind the report.
In fact, numerous reports have reached the Thai-Burma
border confirming that the regime's so-called "investigation"
involved forcing villagers in central and southern Shan State to sign
documents testifying that no incidents of sexual violence had been committed
by Burmese troops in their areas. There were also reports that the regime's
investigation teams suppressed information about incidents of sexual violence
brought to their attention.
"The regime's so-called investigation is just adding
to the wounds of the women who have suffered sexual violence. Not only
have they been raped, but now they are being called liars," said
SWAN spokeswoman Nang Mo Hurng.
Furthermore, the regime's accusation that men masterminded
the report is not only an insult to us, but also to the integrity and
ability of all women from Burma.
SWAN calls on the international community not to let
the regime get away with this travesty of justice.
For the sake of the women who have suffered and continue
to suffer the nightmare of sexual violence inside Burma, SWAN urges the
international community to support our struggle to end this violence,
and to step up efforts to restore peace, democracy and the rule of law
inside Burma.
For further information, contact:
Nang Charm Tong at: + 66 1 885 4347
Nang Hseng Noung at: + 66 1 884 4963
Nang Mo Hurng at: + 66 1 784 7386
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August 10, 2002
STATEMENT OF CONCERN REGARDING INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE TO BURMA
We, the Shan Women Action Network, with the Shan Human Rights Foundation jointly released a report, 'Licence to Rape' on June 19, 2002, which reveals how the Burmese military regime is allowing its troops to systematically and on a widespread scale commit rape with impunity to terrorirze and subjugate the ethnic peoples of Shan State. The report documents incidences of sexual violence against 625 Shan women by Burmese Army soldiers from 1996 to 2001.
In its efforts to refute the contents of the report, the Burmese military regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), is now using the presence of UN agencies and international NGOs in Shan State as evidence that these incidences of sexual violence have not occurred.
At their press conference held in Yangon on 30 July, 2002, the regime stated:
"The international organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, the NGOs and the UNDCP are visiting Shan State during their official tours. Mr Pinheiro, who presented the special UN report on human rights in 2001 had visited the Shan State. If the reports on the rape cases were real, these organizations would have heard about them. But these organizations said nothing about the rape cases."
We, the Shan Women's Action Network, are not surprised at the Burmese regime's outright denial of their crimes, as this is their usual response. However, we are appalled that they are now using the international aid agencies working in Shan State as a shield to hide their sexual crimes against ethnic Shan women.
In view of this, we reiterate the demand in "Licence to Rape" for the international community to withhold all forms of aid to the regime until irreversible changes are made towards democratic reform in Burma. The regime must be pressured to immediately implement a nationwide ceasefire in order to stop increased militarization and anti-insurgency campaigns in the ethnic states, and must begin tripartite dialogue including representatives of non-Burman ethnic nationalities.
We therefore appeal to fellow international activists to support our demands.
Contact persons:
Nang Hseng Noung, ,
Cell- phone: +66 6 184 2076 or + 66 53 399 139
Email: hseng@loxinfo.co.th
Nang Charm Tong
Cell-phone: +66 53 885 4347; Email: sssny@loxinfo.co.th
Nang Mo Hom
Cell-phone: +66 9 6360858; Email: shrf@cm.ksc.co.th
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"We are appalled by reports that the Burmese military
is using rape as a weapon of war against civilian populations in the Shan
States. We have raised our concern with the Burmese regime and urged them
to fully investigate any and all allegations of the systematic rape of
ethnic minority girls and women in Burma and appropriately punish those
guilty of such heinous crimes. We condemn the pervasive use of rape or
other forms of sexual violence by military forces against a vulnerable
population. If the alleged abuses in the report are true, the Burmese
regime must take immediate steps to end such violence within its borders."
The Shan Women's Action Network (SWAN) and the Shan Human
Rights Foundation (SHRF), would like to express their gratitude to the
U.S State Department for issuing the above comment on their report, "Licence
to Rape". The SWAN / SHRF report describes how Burma's ruling junta,
the "State Peace and Development Council" (SPDC), is using rape
as a weapon of war against women in the country's minority areas. This
is done systematically as a matter of policy,
and not at random by individual soldiers.
SWAN and SHRF, also welcome and appreciate calls by Congresswomen
Ileana Ros.Leehtinen and Cynthia McKinneyon the SPDC to end such heinous
of sexual violence and other atrocities.
SWAN
and SHRF calls on the international community to speak out strongly against
the military regime for their crimes, including sexual violence and other
crimes. They also call on
the United Nations to set up a fact-finding mission to investigate sexual
violence and other crimes against humanity committed by the SPDC and its
army.
Contact person: Nang Hseng Noung
Cell- phone: +66 6 184 2076 or + 66 53 399 139
Email: hseng@loxinfo.co.th
Email: