According to a 24th November report on sexual violence against women in ethnic areas by the Women’s League of Burma (WLB) Mon State is one of the regions suffering the most from sexual violence committed against ethnic women by the Tatmadaw (Burmese Government Army).
The report’s findings were announced at the WLB’s 24th November press conference, held at the Myanmar Journalist Network (MJN).
According to Daw Yein Hanpa, of the Shan Women’s Action Network (SWAN), the regions most heavily affected by the Tatmadaw’s systematic use of sexual violence against women include Kachin, Shan, Mon and Karen states.
“Those areas are now experiencing resumed fighting, and government troops have been reinforced in those areas,” said Daw Yein Hanpa.
At Tuesday’s press conference, the WLB released a report entitled “If They had Hope, They Would Speak”, which discloses 118 incidences of rape, gang rape, and other sexual abuse of ethnic women at the hands of Tatmadaw troops, committed since 2010.
Of those 118 cases, 30% were committed in Mon State, with Kachin and Shan states experiencing the largest numbers of abuse. Still, those figures are merely a fraction of the number of abuses occurring throughout the country.
According to Daw Tin Tin Aung, of the WLB, sexual violence against women in conflict areas is largely perpetrated by Tatmadaw troops, rarely by non-state armed groups.
“In general areas of Burma, sexual harassment can take place by the Tatmadaw due to women’s mental conditions or other abuses. This happens rarely in such areas. Sexual assault often happens in ethnic areas because the conflict is taking place in those areas. The people living in those areas are also ethnic people, and the majority of Tatmadaw troops in those areas are Barman men; so they are different from ethnic people, and they see ethnic people as their enemy. They assume that those ethnic people have contacts with ethnic armed groups, so the Barman soldiers commit a lot more rapes against ethnic women,” said Ma Tin Tin Aung.
At a recent meeting with the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team, held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, the WLB urged the NCCT to address issues of sexual violence perpetrated against ethnic women by the Tatmadaw at the next ceasefire talks between the NCCT and the Union Peace-Making Working Group (UPWC).
The WLB’s report, “If they had Hope, They Would Speak”, unveils cases of sexual abuse perpetrated by the Tatmadaw against women in Burma’s ethnic minority areas.
