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2006

British MPs urged to exert pressure on Burma’s military regime
October 26, 2006 - (Asiantribune) Stephen Crabb MP opened a Westminster Hall debate on Human Rights in Burma by appealing to the government to press forward with work on behalf of the people of Burma. He urged the government raise the situation in Burma during the UN Security Council debate on Women and peace and security, and to call on Burma to "bring an end to the system of impunity for grave violations committed by state actors, including rape and sexual violence".

Women demand an immediate end to war crimes in Burma
Position Paper Prepared by the Women’s League of Burma (WLB) for the Sixth Anniversary of Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) 23-27 October 2006.

Burmese villager wins 2006 John Humphrey Freedom Award
August 31, 2006 – (Rights and Democracy) Burma 's Su Su Nway, who courageously challenged the ruling military junta's use of forced labour and won a historic court ruling against the regime last year, is the winner of Rights & Democracy's 2006 John Humphrey Freedom Award.

Rape wielded as a weapon in Myanmar
August 10, 2006 (JapanTimes) - Gender-based sexual violence obstructs peace and development, particularly when it is a weapon used by military dictatorships against their own peoples. Myanmar is now permeated by such state-sponsored violence.

Junta-Backed Group Claims Greater Rights for Women in Burma
July 4, 2006 – (The Irrawaddy) Members of the Myanmar Women’s Affairs Federation—headed by the wives of Burma’s top leaders—said that government policies have increased the rights of women in the country during its annual commemoration of Women's Day in Rangoon on Monday.

UN seeks bigger role for Suu Kyi
May 21, 2006 - (Financial Times, London) A top United Nations political official called for Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s detained pro-democracy leader, to be allowed to make “a contribution” to her country after he was unexpectedly allowed to meet her while assessing conditions in the military-ruled country. The 45-minute meeting between Ibrahim Gambari, the UN undersecretary-general for political affairs, and Ms Suu Kyi was the first contact the Nobel laureate has been permitted with any foreign diplomats or mediators since March 2004.

THE OLOF PALME PRIZE 2005 TO DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is awarded the Olof Palme Prize 2005 for her unyielding fight for a democratic Burma. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is an outstanding example of the efforts to attain democracy by the people of Burma, where respect for human rights, ethnic unity, and a life in peace remain only a dream. To her compatriots she is known as the ’Iron Butterfly’, a name alluding both to her peaceful struggle and her courage and strength of character. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has devoted her life to Burma, and is a stubborn believer in the final victory of its peoples’ will. To peoples around the world fighting oppression, she is an important symbol of peaceful opposition to repressive power.

2005

WLB Statement on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
November 25, 2005 - (Womens League of Burma) Today, governments, international organizations and non-governmental organizations around the world are marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women by organizing awareness-raising activities in their communities... However, in Burma, the Burmese military regime, namely SPDC, has continued committing systematic violence against women and girls. SPDC (State Peace and Development Council) is neglecting the education, health, and social welfare of the people while abusing national revenue to  hold onto power and prolong military rule in Burma.

Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi in detention 10 years: activists
October 24, 2005 – (BurmaNet) Myanmar's pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday marked what her supporters said is a total of 10 years in detention, as campaigners overseas pushed the United Nations to take strong action.

The war on Burma's women
June 28, 2005 - (Boston Globe) It has been three years since the report ''License to Rape" exposed to the world how troops of the Burmese military regime have been committing systematic sexual violence against women in Shan state, one of the ethnic regions of Burma where civil war has been continuing for more than four decades. The report, by the Shan Human Rights Foundation and the Shan Women's Action Network, documented the rape of more than 600 women by Burmese troops.

SUPPORTERS URGE FREEDOM FOR MYANMAR LEADER
June 19, 2005 - (AP) With placards in Bangladesh and speeches across Europe, supporters of detained Myanmar democracy heroine Aung San Suu Kyi celebrated the Nobel laureate's 60th birthday on Sunday by calling for her freedom. But at home, the ruling junta arrested about a dozen Suu Kyi followers who wore T-shirts bearing her photo and the slogan "Set her free" while attending prayers at the capital's famed golden Shwedagon pagoda. They were freed only after they removed the shirts.

SACRIFICING HERSELF FOR HER CAUSE
June 18, 2005 - (LA Times) She is known simply as The Lady. She lives in isolation in her old family home on a quiet lake in the northern part of the city. Armed guards make sure she doesn't leave. Her only known visitor is the doctor who checks on her monthly. She is said to spend her time meditating and reading.

MYANMAR: ARRESTS OF POLITICAL ACTIVISTS INCREASE AS AUNG SAN SUU KYI TURNS 60 UNDER HOUSE ARREST
June 16, 2005- (Amnesty International) With Aung San Suu Kyi due to spend her 60th birthday under house arrest on 19 June, Amnesty International is issuing a report detailing new arrests of political activists and the situation of Aung San Suu Kyi and hundreds of other prisoners of conscience and political prisoners of long-standing concern.

BURMA: FORCED DISPLACEMENT BY BURMESE ARMY CONTINUES IN KAREN STATE
June 10, 2005 - (Human Rights Watch) "I will never forget our suffering at Ler Kaw village. When the soldiers shot my thirteen year old daughter, her intestines came out. Her father and I tried to save her, and escape. She was in agony, and screaming, but we couldn't do anything to ease her pain. She died after an hour. We haven't done anything against the government. All we had in our hands when their troops attacked was our paddy, and harvesting tools. If the soldiers had called us, we would have gone to talk with them. They didn't have to shoot." says a Karen mother from Nyaunglebin District

BURMA: RAPED VILLAGER ALLEGEDLY FORCED TO MARRY POLICE ASSAILANT, THEN REFUSES DIVORCE
June 9, 2005 - (Asian Human Rights Commission) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has heard a report through the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) radio service that a woman in western Burma was raped by a police officer, after which the local police chief forced the victim to marry her assailant. When the victim refused to then divorce him, the alleged perpetrator assaulted her in the police station. Although the information is not confirmed by usual AHRC sources, it is credible and in keeping with other allegations of violence against women in Burma, and attempts to cover-up such cases by local authorities. Urgent Appeals Programme Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC).

KACHIN WOMEN EXPOSE ALARMING TRAFFICKING TREND TO CHINA
May 17, 2005- (Women of Burma) A new report by KWAT reveals an alarming increase in trafficking of young Kachin women and girls from Burma. They are being sold as wives in provinces across China, being forced into the Chinese and Burmese sex industries, or simply disappearing without trace at the Chinese border.

RAPE OF ARMY DAUGHTER CONFIRMS LICENCE TO RAPE SYSTEMC IN BURMA
May 7, 2005 - (Shan Women's Action Network) The recent rape and murder of the young daughter of an SPDC soldier by a fellow officer is a shocking indictment of the continuing culture of impunity for military rape in Burma.

WOMEN'S POLITICAL ROLE STILL "MARGINAL"
April 30, 2005 (The Jakarta Post) After 10 years of implementing the declaration of the United Nations conference of women in Beijing, most Asian countries including Indonesia have yet to meet the mandates, particularly in increasing the numbers of women in positions of power.

NOT A DAY FOR WOMEN IN BURMA
March 08, 2005 - (Irrawaddy) Today, while people around the world honor the role in their lives played by women,  as they mark the 30th annual International Women’s Day, spare a thought for one woman who remains alone and still under house arrest after many years: Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.  

BURMESE WOMEN SHOULD BE "PROUD"
March 4, 2005 - (IPS) Burmese women enjoy the same rights as men, according to the military regime. “Myanmar [Burmese] women can be proud to be citizens of Myanmar, as throughout the nation’s history they have been enjoying rights equally with men,” the state-run New Light of Myanmar quoted Prime Minister Lt-Gen Soe Win Friday.

2004

Myanmar Leader Warns of "Neo-Colonialist" Threat
December 6, 2004 -(AFP) Myanmar's top military leader warned the nation against an ongoing threat by "neo-colonialist" outsiders, as junta critics reiterated calls for the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Nobel Laureates Demand Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s Release in Burma
December 2, 2004 -(DVB) Three Nobel peace prize winners on 2 December joined an international chorus of protest over the extended house arrest of fellow laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Burma’s military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) prolonged by another 12 months the house arrest on 29 November prompting an international chorus of condemnation.

Annan Demands Immediate Release of Aung San Suu Kyi
December 1, 2004 -(UN) United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has demanded the immediate release of detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose house arrest was extended for another year by the military regime of the country.

Myanmar Prime Minister Behind Attack on Suu Kyi, U.S. Govt Says
October 21, 2004- (Bloomberg) Myanmar's new prime minister was involved in a decision to attack an opposition rally last May led by Aung San Suu Kyi, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said, citing reports received by the U.S. at the time.

Chin Women Forced to Join Burmese Women Organisation
October 13, 2004- (DVB) Women from villages in Falam Township, Chin State, northwest Burma have been forced to join the women organization sponsored by Daw Khin Win Shwe, the wife of General Khin Nyunt, the “Prime Minister” of Burma’s military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

Burma Accused of Sanctioning Rape
September 9, 2004 -(BBC) Burma's military government has been accused of sanctioning the use of rape as a weapon against its opponents. The Women's League of Burma says despite denials by the government, sexual violence by the armed forces remains prevalent in many areas. "The military, mostly high-ranking officers, continued to use rape as a weapon to subdue ethnic minorities between 2003 into 2004," it said.

Burmese Soldiers Still Raping Ethnic National Women
September 4, 2004 –(DVB) While Burma’s military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) is strengthening its military might, its soldiers are still committing rapes on ethnic national women of non-Burman regions of Burma including Shan and Karen States, according to a report issued by exiled Burmese women organisations.

NEW REPORT EXPOSES NATIONWIDE MILITARY RAPE IN BURMA
September 4, 2004 - (Women's League of Burma press release) The Women's League of Burma has released a new report System of Impunity exposing ongoing sexual violence by the regime's armed forces throughout Burma, as they continue to build up their military infrastructure and consolidate control in every part of the country. For the press release in Burmese, CLICK HERE.

OPPOSITION SEEKS TO MEET SUU KYI
September 1, 2004 - (AFP) Myanmar's opposition has asked the country's military regime to allow a meeting with their detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi amid calls for a party overhaul, officials said Wednesday.

MYANMAR NON-COMMITTAL ON UN CALL FOR SUU KYI RELEASE
August 19, 2004 - (Reuters) Myanmar’s ruling generals issued a bland, non-committal response on Thursday to a United Nations call for the release of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi to participate in their “road map to democracy”.

ANNAN CALLS FOR RELEASE OF SUU KYI
August 17, 2004 - (AP) U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Tuesday for the immediate release of Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, urging the government to show a commitment to restoring democracy.

NLD WOMEN HELD PRAYER MEETING FOR DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI
July 14, 2004 - (DVB) Women members of Rangoon Division National League for Democracy (NLD) held a prayer meeting at the Tuesday corner of world famous Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon and prayed for the wellbeing and release of their leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on 13 July.

BURMESE WOMEN SOLD AS CHEAP CHINESE BRIDES
July 12, 2004 - (DVB) While a 20 men strong high-level delegation made up of top military personnel and ministers of Burma’s military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) led by its ‘Prime Minister’ General Khin Nyunt is visiting China, increasing number of Burmese women are being sold as cheap brides for poor Chinese peasants near Sino-Burmese border.

FORGOTTEN BURMESE REFUGEES IN DHAKA
June 21, 2004 - (Narinjara News) Even though Burmese Refugees in Thailand are mow resettling in other countries such as the United States of America, but 100 Arakanese refugees from Buma living in Dhaka are faced with a grim future since the UNHCR stopped their monthly subsidy.

A NEED TO ACT ON BURMA
April 27, 2004 – (Washington Post) "Apathy in the face of systematic human rights abuses is immoral. One either supports justice and freedom or one supports injustice and bondage." So said Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the South African Nobel laureate and anti-apartheid leader, who knows something about the struggle for human freedom in the face of tyranny.

BURMA: IMPRISONMENT OF TWO RAPE VICTIMS
April 19, 2004 – (OMCT Appeal) The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Asian Human Rights Commission, a member of the OMCT network, of the imprisonment of two rape victims for attempting to charge their perpetrator in Myanmar.

WHEN WOMEN SPEAK: SHAME, EVIDENCE, AND AN OPPORTUNITY
April 18, 2004 – (Mizzima News) "Shattering Silences," the Karen Women Organization (KWO) report on the rape of women by Burma Army troops, is a compilation of first-person voices and testimonies of the Karen women in areas of armed conflict in Eastern Burma.

PLAYING SECOND FIDDLE
March 23, 2004 - (Irrawaddy) Asked why Mon women were not included in the delegation sent for ceasefire talks with the Burmese junta, a Mon leader replied, "Because they are not on the Central Committee." Asked again, if they will be part of a future delegation to the National Convention, he said, "It’s unlikely."

THE BURMESE ACTION AT WORLD SOCIAL FORUM
January 19, 2004 – (Mizzima) Burmese delegates attending the World Social Forum (WSF) in Mumbai have exposed the ongoing and serious violations of human rights being committed by the ruling Burmese military Junta in a series of seminars and panel discussions.

2003

BURMA RELEASES WOMEN PRISONERS
November 18, 2003 – (BBC) Burma has released 58 prisoners on humanitarian grounds, according to a statement by the military government.

MYANMAR'S SUU KYI REFUSES FREEDOM; DEMANDS PRISONER RELEASE
November 10, 2003 – (UN Wire) The government of Myanmar says opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, detained since May 30, is no longer under house arrest, but she is unwilling to accept freedom until all of the political prisoners arrested in connection with the violence that took place May 30 are released, U.N. human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro told U.N. Wire Friday in Myanmar's capital, Yangon.

SUU KYI SPURNS RELEASE
November 10, 2003 – (The Guardian) Burma's pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is refusing to accept freedom from house arrest until other detainees are released, according to Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, a UN human rights envoy.

MTV GIVES HUMANITARIAN AWARD TO MYANMAR’S SUU KYI
November 6, 2003 – (Reuters) The MTV music television channel gave a humanitarian award Thursday to Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi because she "is an inspiration to us all."

U.N. RIGHTS ENVOY MEETS MYANMAR’S SUU KYI
November 6, 2003 – (Reuters) U.N. human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro met Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi Thursday, but would not say what was discussed during the two-hour meeting at her Yangon home, witnesses said.

NOBEL PEACE LAUREATE VISITS BURMA
February 18, 2003 – (Nonviolence International Southeast Asia) Ms. Jody Williams, 1997 Nobel Peace Laureate, which she received with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, visited Burma this week, carrying personal messages of support from fellow Nobel Peace laureates Rigobera Menchu Tum, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dr. Oscar Arias, Joseph Rotblat, Norman Borlaug, Betty Williams, Mairead McGuire, to Burma's country-bound Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. It was the first visit to Ms. Suu Kyi by another Nobel Peace Laureate since she received the award while under house arrest in 1991.

Rape Used as a Weapon of War
January 29, 2003- (BurmaNet) According to Shan Women's Action Network (SWAN), three soldiers who defected from the Burmese Army at the Thai-Burma border on January 17, 2003 testified that their officer boasted about raping women. The soldiers, aged 17, 19 and 26, who had defected with their weapons from Infantry Battalion 226 testified that their commanding sergeant Myint Htay had boasted to them last month about having raped "five or six" women in Shan State.

2002

PORTRAYING SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN BURMA
2002 – (BBC) It was getting dark and I sat uneasily for over an hour in a makeshift hut in a field near the Thai-Burmese border. I came here (in July 2002) to meet a Shan villager who said she had been raped repeatedly by Burmese soldiers inside Burma.

RELEASE OF AUNG SAN SUU KYI 'A NOTABLE DEVELOPMENT,' UN ENVOY SAYS
May 16, 2002 – (UN) Myanmar's recent release of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi - although just one part of the national reconciliation process - was "a notable development," the senior United Nations envoy for the South-East Asian nation said today in New York.

ANNAN, UN HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICIALS HAIL RELEASE OF DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI
May 6, 2002– (UN) United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and UN human rights officials today welcomed the release by the Government of Myanmar of democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from 19 months of de facto house arrest.

AUNG SAN SUU KYI RELEASED FROM HOUSE ARREST UNDER BURMESE MILITARY
May 6 2002 - (Feminist.org) Nobel Lauriat and democratic icon Aung San Suu Kyi was released unconditionally from house arrest today by the Burmese military regime.

1995

Protest At Beijing Women's Meet Against Ruling Burmese Junta
September 11, 1995- (Reuter) Three women staged a brief protest during a speech by Burma's official delegation to the world's women's conference on Monday, unfurling a red banner demanding freedom for Burma.

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