Burma's army uses rape to demoralise ethnic minorities, report says

 Women’s rights group says military uses sexual violence to intimidate women in ethnic minority communities and take control of resource-rich areas

A girl watches as soldiers (not implicated) walk by her home in Thapyuchai village, in Rakhine state. Photograph: Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters

The Burmese army systematically uses sexual violence against women – including gang rape by soldiers – to “demoralise and destroy the fabric of ethnic [minority] communities” and establish control over resource-rich areas, according to a women’s rights group.

A report by the Women’s League of Burma (WLB), released on Tuesday to coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, says the use of sexual violence is so widespread in ethnic minority areas that abuses may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity under international criminal law. 

The WLB is an umbrella organisation comprising 13 women’s organisations of various ethnicities. 

The report, If They Had Hope, They Would Speak (pdf), highlights 118 incidences of rape, gang rape and sexual assault in both ceasefire and non-ceasefire areas at the hands of Burma’s armed forces since 2010 – but notes that these figures are likely to be “a fraction” of the number of abuses actually taking place. A culture of impunity and intimidation prevents women from reporting the crimes or seeking redress, the group claims.

Large-scale development projects in ethnic minority communities – including mining, hydroelectric and pipeline projects – have led to an increase in poverty, sexual violence and militarisation in those areas, the report claims, with the armed forces enjoying “de-facto immunity” for their crimes.

Documenting reports of sexual violence in Kachin, Karen, Mon, Chin, Shan and Karenni states – in some cases of victims as young as eight years old – the WLB alleges that both the number and geographic scope of the abuses proves that “sexual violence remains an institutionalised practice” of Burma’s armed forces. 

“The army are not interested in accountability for sexual violence or human rights abuses,” the Lahu Women’s Organisation says in the report. “If a captain or commander commits rape, they will go to the survivor’s house to apologise, and offer some compensation. Even the highest-ranking officers are doing this. If a gang rape committed by a group of soldiers is made public, they will quickly be moved to another base before they can be held to account.”

Burma’s president, Thein Sein – who came to power in 2011 after half a century of military-led rule – has reformed the country, from the privatisation of sectors of the economy to releasing political prisoners and easing media censorship. His government has made public pledges to help promote and protect women through a national strategic plan to advance women and a UK-led declaration of commitment to end sexual violence in conflict. But no action has been taken to implement the declaration, and very little has been done to help women in ethnic minority communities, the WLB says.

“The government of Burma has worked hard to show its reformist credentials to the world, but for women in Burma’s ethnic [minority] communities, human rights abuses and sexual violence at the hands of the Burma army remain a constant threat,” said the organisation’s general secretary, Tin Tin Nyo. “Any positive changes coming out of Naypyidaw [Burma’s capital] have not improved the lived experience of women in Burma.”

In March, the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, called on Thein Sein to investigate crimes of sexual violence and human rights abuses, as well as develop a comprehensive strategy to protect survivors. The WLB has also repeatedly called on the government to demilitarise the nation (one-fourth of all parliamentary seats are reserved for the military); investigate human rights abuses; and promote and integrate women into the peace process.

Apart from opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who lived for nearly two decades under house arrest and is now an MP, women are largely absent from any decision-making or powerful positions. Burma’s political, economic and social structures have long privileged men, says the WLB’s joint general secretary, Naw Wah Ku Shee, and the nation has the lowest representation of female MPs of any country in the Association of South-east Asian Nations. This dearth of powerful women undermines Burmese women’s capacity to confront and address the abuses they frequently face.

“As long as women continue to be marginalised from Burmese political and public life, sustainable peace cannot be realised,” Naw Wah Ku Shee told the Guardian, adding that Aung San Suu Kyi needed to do more to help women in her country. “[Aung San Suu Kyi] has not used her celebrity to highlight the scale of ongoing abuses faced by women in ethnic [minority] communities. If she is going to champion the human rights of the women in Burma, she must not be silent on the rape, torture and displacement faced by [these] women.”

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/nov/25/burma-army-rape-ethnic-minorities

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Embattled Ethnic Armed Groups Cast Doubt on Suu Kyi’s Peace Drive

The varying approaches of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and commander-in-chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing towards the peace process do not inspire confidence in its speedy resolution. But equally worrisome is the growing doubt over Suu Kyi’s mooted “21stCentury Panglong Conference” displayed by key ethnic armed groups that have come under considerable attack from the Burma Army in the last six months.

Suu Kyi has signaled her desire to include all of Burma’s ethnic armed groups in the looming peace talks, but troops serving under Min Aung Hlaing have conducted intensifying campaigns against ethnic armed groups that refused to sign—or were excluded from signing—the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) in October last year.

The NCA was signed by eight ethnic armed organizations, who represent only a minority of such groups in Burma, and do not include many of the most well-armed and influential.

One such non-signatory is the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the second largest ethnic armed group in Burma, operating from Kachin State near the Chinese border. The KIA has publicly expressed doubt over Suu Kyi’s planned “21st Century Panglong Conference.”

The political wing of the KIA is the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), which engaged in sporadic bilateral talks with the government after a 17-year ceasefire broke down in 2011. These talks eventually floundered, providing no relief to the 100,000-plus people displaced by the conflict between the KIA and the Burma Army in Kachin and northern Shan states.

The “21st Century Panglong Conference” seeks to draw all of Burma’s ethnic armed groups—both those inside and outside of the NCA—into a political deal to resolve half a century of armed insurgency fueled by ethnic minority grievances. It is so named in reference to the 1947 Panglong Agreement signed between Suu Kyi’s father Aung San and leaders representing some of Burma’s ethnic minorities, prior to Burma’s independence from Britain in 1948.

Daung Khar, who heads the KIO’s Technical Advisory Team based in the Kachin State capital of Myitkyina, told The Irrawaddy: “We have lost trust with the government and the army and we doubt their motives.” He noted that the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government had kept quiet after the Burma Army’s recent assaults on the KIA in northern Burma.

“We did not gain our ethnic rights from the first Panglong agreement. We have doubts whether we would gain them from this ‘second Panglong,’” Daung Khar said.

Daung Khar contended that Burma is effectively still ruled by the military, which he said had successfully retained its influence and power despite the transition of executive power. As long as this lasts, “the prospects of obtaining our political goals [of federalism and self-determination for the Kachin people within the Union of Burma] remain dim.”

Recent clashes between the Burma Army and the KIA have made for a very difficult working environment, in terms of building the trust necessary to resolving the conflict, Daung Khar continued.

“Whoever formally leads this country—Daw Suu [Aung San Suu Kyi] or any other person—we are no longer interested. Politics in Burma cannot move forward.”.

The Shan State Army-North (SSA-N), whose political wing is the Shan State Progress Party (SSPP), has also publicly expressed doubts over Suu Kyi’s “21st Century Panglong Conference.” The Burma Army has waged a prolonged offensive campaign against the SSA-N’s core positions since the NCA signing last year, which the SSA-N refused to take part in.

Last week, the SSA-N lost a temporary base in Noung Ma village, in northern Shan State’s Hsipaw Township, after clashes with the Burma Army.

“We have suspicions that the Burma Army is trying to destroy the second Panglong conference,” the SSPP/SSA-N said in a statement issued last week.

This is the time for trust-building between ethnic armed groups and the Burma Army, but the recent activity of the Burma Army—launching strong military offensives against Kachin, Palaung (Ta’ang) and Shan armed groups, after the NLD assumed formal control of the government—suggest that Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing is intent on destroying the necessary conditions for trust.

On a May 19 meeting in Naypyidaw, Min Aung Hlaing told a Chinese special envoy that all ethnic armed groups must “abide” by the “peace principles of the Tatmadaw” (as the Burma Army is known), and stick to their “designated areas” to avoid clashes, so that peace can be achieved through “the current political system,” according to a post on the army commander-in-chief’s Facebook page from the same day.

Min Aung Hlaing’s words suggest no softening on his core position: that peace should be achieved on the Burma Army’s terms.

He has also reiterated that three ethnic armed groups engaged in current or recent conflict with the Burma Army, and who were excluded from signing the NCA—the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, the Myanmar Nationalities Democratic Alliance Army and the Arakan Army—should disarm before joining formal peace talks with the government.

This is a condition that these three armed groups—who are closely allied, and whose participation in the peace process is crucial to quelling ongoing fighting in the west and north-east of the country—are unlikely to ever accept.

“[Min Aung Hlaing’s] words just fuel civil war in the country and we condemn him for it,” said a statement released jointly by the three groups.

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Burmese Army Prepares for New Attack on Lawt Mai Yang

According to the KIA frontline sources, Burmese Army has been preparing to launch an attack on Lawt Mai Yang village, located about 2 miles northeast of Mali Yang village in Sumpra Bum Township. 381st, 385th, and 389th Light Infantry Regiments under Mogaung-based 3rd Military Operations Command (MOC-3) and Infantry Battalions under 3rd Tactical Command were involved in the preparation.

Two artillery rounds were fired today on KIA positions around Lawt Mai Yang village at 2:30 pm. Myitkyina sources say one helicopter and two fighter jets were spotted practicing at upper Mali Hka area.

Once the weather cleared up and the rains stop, Burmese Army will launch an attack on Lawt Mai Yang, a frontline KIA officer said.

Burmese Army seized Mali Yang and nearby villages in Sumpra Bum Township using air power during the last meeting on Nationwide Ceasefire Accord (NCA) between EAOs’ Senior Delegation and Burmese government’s representatives in Yangon.

http://kachinlandnews.com/?p=25805

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Continued Fighting Makes Highway Travel Deadly

Fighting between the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army and the Burma Army is continuing along the newly opened Asia Highway 1.

Nan Paw Gay had attended a preliminary Karen National Conference in Rangoon and hoping to return to the border area via Hpa-an.

“There was fighting on Sunday and officials had told us that there was still shooting today.”

Nan Paw Gar told Karen News that she was not the only one hoping to use the highway.

“I know of about 20 people who can’t get on the road. We are taking it as a day-by-day proposition – we considered using other routes, but were warned that the situation is tense in those areas as well.”

DKBA sources told Karen News that fighting between its troops and Burma Army soldiers continued through out the day – “both sides launched mortar attacks on each others positions for most of the day – about 30 rounds.There have been at least three DKBA soldiers wounded over the course of this conflict.”

Both the DKBA and the Burma Army have warned travellers not to use the either highways because of the fighting.

Fighting between government troops and soldiers from the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army on the new Myawaddy – Kawkareik Asia Highway broke out on Thursday morning, on the 2nd July.

Sources told Karen News that the conflict erupted over security for the highway and the increased number of Burma Army soldiers scheduled to be deployed in the area. Karen army sources told Karen News that the fighting was an attempted by the government to move the DKBA out of the area and take control of its territory. The head of the Karen National Defence Organisation, Major General Nerdah Bo Mya, told Karen News that fighting would continue unless the Burma Army is willing to negotiate a political solution.

“The DKBA are Karen and it’s Karen land – they have the right to stay there. The fighting will continue unless there is some sharing – the Burma Army have the right to share, but not the right to total control.”

 http://karennews.org/2015/07/continued-fighting-makes-highway-travel-deadly.html/

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This is Karen Land…We Have the Right To Stay…

As fighting continues between the Burma Army and Democratic Karen Benevolent Army, the government has come under fire from a senior Karen General for trying to “shut down the DKBA.”

Major General Nerdah Bo Mya, head of the Karen National Defence Organisation in an exclusive interview with Karen News said that the “Burma Army wanted the DKBA off the highway, they want the money and control over it.”

General Nerdah said that the “DKBA are Karen, it’s Karen land and they have the right to stay there. The Burma Army don’t have the right to tell Karen people what to do on their own land.”
General Nerdah told Karen News that the government troops had to learn to talk and share with ethnic people instead of resorting to military force.

“The Burma Army have the right to share, but not the right to take control and force the DKBA out – they have to learn negotiate not keep resorting to violence to try to get their way.”

General Nerdah said he saw little hope that the fighting would stop soon.
“The fighting will continue, unless the Burma Army are willing to share and to negotiate. If they try to kick the DKBA off their land it’s not a good sign for the on-going ‘peace-talks’ or building trust with ethnic people.”

From information from sources in the conflict areas, Karen News is led to understand that fighting has now spread to other areas of DKBA controlled territory – Kawkareik, Myawaddy and Hlaingbwe Township.
A mortar shell hit a school in Kawkareik 7:15am caused it to close. The DKBA denied the shell was theirs citing that its mortars did not have the capacity to fire that distance.

General Nerdah said that the conflict had the potential to escalate and to involve other ethnic armed groups.
“The DKBA are our brothers and if the Burma Army continues the fighting it will drag other Karen armed groups into the conflict. They [government] have to stop [fighting] if they want the peace process to continue.”

General Nerdah said it should not be difficult for international observers, to observe a pattern in what is happening in ethnic territories.
“The Burma Army is fighting in the north, using gunships, against the Kachin, the Kokang and the Shan and now they have moved their attacks down here in Karen State.”

General Nerdah responded to questions that the fighting in Karen State had nothing to do with security on the road.
“It’s nor about making the road safer. It’s about taking over Karen land, this is homeland, our territory, we have the right to be here.”

General Nerdah insisted to Karen News that the Karen did not want conflict.
“We don’t want to fight, but if they [Burma Army] keep violating the rights of the Karen we will respond. I want them to stop fighting, if not the KNDO will get involved.”

Fighting between government troops and soldiers from the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army on the new Myawaddy – Kawkareik Asia Highway broke out on Thursday morning, on the 2nd July.

General Nerdah explained that the government had a strategy for Karen State and it did not have the best intentions for its people.
“They want to control all our natural resources, its part of an overall plan that has included land confiscation. Karen people have the right to control the road in Karen State, not the government or its armed forces.”

General Nerdah was insistent that the KNDO had the right to stand by the Karen.
“Our responsibility is to protect the rights of the Karen people, if there rights are violated, we have the rights to defend them.”

General Nerdah warned that if the Burma Army is, “fighting one Karen armed group it affects all our groups.”

General Nerdah urged the government to stop fighting and to get back to the peace process and “if they are genuine about wanting a democracy they need to start a genuine political dialogue, not keep using these divisive tactics to take attention off a lack of commitment to share power with the ethnic people.”

The Burma Army did not respond to phone calls from Karen News for this story.

 http://karennews.org/2015/07/this-is-karen-landwe-have-the-right-to-stay.html/

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