WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY RESOURCES : BURMA (MYANMAR)
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UNIFEM WOMEN, WAR AND PEACE WEB PORTAL: MYANMAR

Civil Society and NGO Reports, Papers and Statements

Criminal Accountability in Burma
Global Justice Center (GJC), April/May 2008
This news edition focuses on the Burmese military regime's referendum on its constitution. The referendum is an attempt by the military regime to placate the international community as it continues to oppress the people of Burma with forced displacement, destruction of villages, systematic mass rape and other crimes. The Global Justice Center and Burma Lawyers' Council urges the international community to remember that these forty years of brutality are not just human rights abuses, but international crimes that should be referred to the International Criminal Court for investigation and prosecution.

Statement against the Amnesty Provision in the Junta's Draft Constitution
Global Justice Center (GJC), The Burma Lawyers' Council (BLC) and Burma Justice Committee
14 April 2008

Statement on the Situation in Burma
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
24 September 2007

Statement on the Burmese Military Regime’s Brutal Crackdown on Peaceful Demonstrators in Burma
The Women’s League of Burma (WLB)
24 August 2007

Statement on the 62nd birthday of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
The Women's League of Burma (WLB)
19 June 2007

Unsafe State: State sanctioned sexual violence against Chin women in Burma
Women's League of Chinland, March 2007
This report decribes the systemic sexual violence against women by the Burmese army, and is the first to provide detailed evidence of these violations. It document 38 cases of sexual violence throughout the state during the past five years. This report represents a small percentage of the total sexual violence t committed during this time by the Burmese Army, as many victims do not come forward for fear of retaliation.

Jailing of gang-raped schoolgirls in Burma a shame on the region
The Women's League of Burma (WLB)
8 March 2007

State of Terror: The ongoing rape, murder, torture and forced labour suffered by women living under the Burmese Military Regime in Karen State
The Karen Women's Organisation (KWO) February 2007
This report State of Terror clearly documents the range of human rights abuses that continue to be perpetrated across Karen State as part of the SPDC’s sustained campaign of terror. The report focuses in particular on the abuses experienced by women and girls and draws on over 40001 documented cases of human rights abuses perpetrated by the SPDC.

Women demand an immediate end to war crimes in Burma
Position Paper by the Women’s League of Burma (WLB)
Prepared for the Sixth Anniversary of Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) 23-27 October 2006.
Armed conflict has been continuing for over half a century in Burma between consecutive military regimes and various ethnic resistance groups. The SPDC has continued to commit war crimes against the ethnic people, whom it labels “insurgents” when in fact they are merely asking for equal rights and freedoms. The military regime’s “counter-insurgency” operations seek to crush the ethnic movement by deliberate targeting of civilians. Common tactics employed by the SPDC under its “Four Cuts Policy”, involve the systematic use of rape as a weapon of war, forced relocations and destruction of villages using scorched earth tactics.

For the full statement, please Click HERE

Driven Away: Trafficking of Kachin Women on the China-Burma Border
Kachin Women's Association Thailand (KWAT), 2005

The Plight of Women and Children in Burma
Women and Child Rights Project, Southern Burma, Issue No. 1, March 2005

Any Progress for the Lives of Women in Burma Since Beijing?
Women's League of Burma, February 2005
Ten years have passed since the Beijing Conference. Some sisters around the world have acknowledged that there has been some progress related to commitment towards the BPFA on the part of governments. But for women from Burma, nothing has changed...The SPDC's reports on the implementation of the BPFA completely ignored the extreme poverty in Burma resulting from their ongoing military expansion, excessive army expenditure and gross mismanagement of the economy, which has had a grave impact on women and children. Moreover, there was no mention of the half-a-century long civil war between the military regime and the ethnic groups. Instead they state: "The area of Women in Armed conflict is not relevant to present day-Myanmar, since the country has been in peace for decades." Regarding Critical Area of Concern D - Violence Against Women, they responded that "very few cases exist regarding violence against women" in Burma, and "it is not a major issue".

Statement on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
Women's League of Burma, 25 November 2004

Women Political Prisoners in Burma: Joint Report
Burmese Women's Union (BWU) and Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP), September 2004
Women’s participation in politics is easy to talk about, but it is far more difficult in practice. With this report BWU and AAPP hope to raise awareness and understanding on the political life of women, to encourage women’s participation in politics, and to honor women activists who remain resilient in the struggle against dictatorial military rule in Burma.

System of Impunity: Nationwide Patterns of Sexual Violence by the Military Regime’s Army and Authorities in Burma
The Women’s League of Burma (WLB), September 2004

Shattering Silences: Karen Women speak out about the Burmese Military Regime’s use of Rape as a Strategy of War in Karen State [pdf format]
The Karen Women's Organization (KWO) with the collaboration of The Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People (CIDKP), The Karen Information Center (KIC), The Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) and The Mergui-Tavoy District Information Department, April 2004

Shan Refugees: Dispelling the Myths
The Shan Women's Action Network, September 2003
Since 1996, the people of Shan State have been particularly targeted for persecution by the military regime in order to stop the resistance efforts of the Shan State Army and to secure control over the state's rich natural resources. Over 300,000 Shan and other ethnic people have been forced from their homes in central Shan State by the Burmese military, including from lands needed to build a largescale hydropower dam on the Salween river. The people of Shan State, unlike the Karen and Karenni from Burma, are not recognised as asylum seekers in Thailand and are not provided safe refuge and humanitarian assistance. As they are unable to seek refuge, the Shan people are forced to either live in hiding as illegal persons on the Thai-Burma border or seek work as migrant workers, in low-paid, low-skilled jobs such as construction workers, factory workers or domestic workers. The absence of refuge and services particularly impacts on the more vulnerable Shan asylum seekers such as pregnant women, children, elderly and disabled persons who are unable to fend for themselves in the jungle or on work sites. The Shan asylum seekers in Thailand live in precarious situations as they live in constant fear of being arrested and deported to
Burma, where they face ongoing persecution in the forms of torture, rape and death on their return to Burma. This fear has increased after the implementation of an agreement between Thailand and Burma on the repatriation of migrant workers since August 2003.

Facing Violence Amongst Ourselves
EarthRights International, 2003
For this brochure/report, EarthRights International (ERI) interviewed many people from Burma living in Thailand to find out their thoughts about domestic violence in an effort to increase understanding of this issue. Almost all victims of domestic violence are women.

No Safe Place: Burma's Army and the Rape of Ethnic Women
Betsey Apple and Veronika Martin, Refugees International, March 2003

Valued Less than a Milk Tin
EarthRights International, 2003
Ethnic minorities of Burma suffer violent abuse because they are perceived as the enemy, as different, as inferior, or as linked to armed groups. Many women in Burma experience multiple levels of discrimination because of their sex and ethnicity.

Abused Bargaining Chips: Women's Report Card on Burma
Altsean-Burma, March 2003
This report looks at the situation of women of Burma and factors that effect their lives and security from mid-2001 through January 2003. The status of women remains stagnant, their living conditions continue to deteriorate and violence against women appears endemic. Despite this, women inside and on Burma’s borders continue to find ways to survive and resist the brutal military regime known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

License to Rape: The Burmese Military Regime's Use of Sexual Violence in the Ongoing War in Shan State
Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) and Shan Women's Action Network (SWAN), May 2002
This report details 173 incidents of rape and other forms of sexual violence, involving 625 girls and women, committed by Burmese army troops in Shan State, mostly between 1996 and 2001. It should be noted that due to the stigma attached to rape, many women do not report incidents of sexual violence. Incidents may also not have reached SHRF, as information on human rights abuses in Shan State is gained from refugees arriving at the Thai-Burma border. Therefore the figures in this report are likely to be far lower than the reality. The report reveals that the Burmese military regime is allowing its troops systematically and on a widespread scale to commit rape with impunity in order to terrorize and subjugate the ethnic peoples of Shan State. The report illustrates there is a strong case that war crimes and crimes against humanity, in the form of sexual violence, have occurred and continue to occur in Shan State. The report gives clear evidence that rape is officially condoned as a 'weapon of war' against the civilian populations in Shan State. There appears to be a concerted strategy by the Burmese army troops to rape Shan women as part of their anti-insurgency activities.

Burma: The Current State of Women in Conflict Areas: A Shadow Report to that of Myanmar
Women’s Organizations from Burma, Women’s Affairs Department, National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) with support from the Women’s Rights Project, EarthRights International, 22nd Session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, January 2000

UN Documents

Faces: Women as Partners in Peace and Security: One Refugee Can Change the World in Myanmar
UN Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI) and UN Department of Public Information, October 2004

Concluding Observations from the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
CEDAW A/55/38, 28 January 2000

Government Statements and Reports

Lady Liberty
US Senators Mitch McConnell and John McCain, Commentary, Wall Street Journal Online, p. A14, 15 June 2005

Governmental Statement at the 49th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (Beijing +10)
Myanmar Government, 7 March 2005

State Report to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
Myanmar Government, 22nd Session (17 January - 4 February 2000), 25 June 1999

Books, Journals and Articles

Burma Women’s Voices for Hope
Alternative Asean Network on Burma (Altsean-Burma), May 2007

“Burma Women’s Voices for Hope” is the sixth edition of the Women’s Voices series. This book is a collection of stories and poems about the diverse experiences of women refugees, exiles and women activists from inside Burma.The contributors, many of who are first time writers, have shared their experiences of conflict and human rights abuses under the Burma military regime. At the same time they speak with determination and hope of the type of future they envisage for Burma – a future of democracy, freedom and human rights for all.

To view the book, please click HERE

Building gender equality on the Thai–Burma Border within Burma’s Exiled Opposition Movement
Nang Lao Liang Won, Shan Women’s Action Network, Thailand, Development Buletin 64, Gender and Development: Bridging Policy and Practice, Australian National University, July 2003

Burmese Women Leaders Learning from the Philippine Women's Movement
Joanna C. Castro, Initiatives for International Dialogue, 23 July 2003
Four women leaders from different ethnic states in Burma - Shan, Mon, Karen and Kachin - visited the Philippines last 6-16 October to participate in a political strategy exposure on Filipino women's movement.

Domestic Violence on the Thai-Burma Border: International Human Rights Implications
Caroline Lambert and Sharon Pickering, Forced Migration Review, Issue 17, May 2003

Gathering Strength: Women from Burma on Their Rights
Brenda Belak. Images Asia: Muang Chiangmai, January 2002

Women, Nation, and the Ambivalence of Subversive Identification among Shan Women along the Thai-Burmese Borders
Pinkaew Laungaramsri, Regional Centre for Social Science and Sustainable Development, Chiang Mai University, Thai Group, Southeast Asian Collaborative Rearch Network, January 2002  
This paper focuses on the making of the Shan nationalism as a subversive identification against the Burmese oppressive/hegemonic regime and its gender ambivalence. By employing the feminist critique of nationalism, the paper explores the relationship between women and nation within the movement for political independence among the Shan people along the borders of Thailand and Burma. Central to the paper is the women’s shifting and dislocated identities, their presence and absence within the Shan nationalist project and its implication. The paper examines the way in which the imagined nation of the Shan has become a gender construct and the way in which it is negotiated and contested by Shan women. While focusing upon the course of displacement across the border, the paper argues that the tension between the master (male-dominated) and marginal (female live-experienced) narratives about the nation has become crucial to how women (re)construct their transnational identity and engage with the Shan nationalist movement. In the contentious political climate where Shan people have been put in between the dramatic shift of power relationship between the Thai and Burmese states, not only has woman subjectivity been silenced/subordinated by the notion of national identity/loyalty, but also the tension between master and marginal interpretation about the nation has become intense and complex. While situating gender critique as the central analysis of the subaltern Shan nationalist identity, the intersection between female marginality and nationalism has also been circumscribed by multiple identifications of Shan women. As women’s voices are far from homogeneous and coherent, it is the multiplicity and divergence of women experiences that characterize the distinctive ways in which Shan women have come to terms with their ambivalent identities.

Women's Rights in Burma
Images Asia, Forum News, 1998

The Voice of Hope: Aung San Suu Kyi: Conversations with Alan Clements
Alan Clements and Aung San Suu Kyi. New York: Seven Stories Press, October 1997
The Voice of Hope is Aung San Suu Kyi's first published work since her release from six years of house arrest. In responding to probing questions by Alan Clements, one of the West's leading authorities on Burma's quest for human rights and democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi gives us her vision of truth and reconciliation, democracy and freedom, spiritually-infused politics, engaged compassion, and the force of love. She explains why she has chosen to risk everything in order to join, and ultimately lead, the struggle waged by the Burmese people, "large numbers of men and women who daily risk their lives for the sake of principles and rights that will guarantee....a....dignified existence."