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BURMA: Join online petition to stop the rape against ethnic minority group in Burma

September 8, 2002

URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION
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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM
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9 September 2002
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UA-41-2002: Join online petition to stop the rape against ethnic minority group in Burma
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BURMA: Crimes against women; systematic use of rape as a weapon by Burmese troops
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The Shan Women's Action Network (SWAN) and Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) based in Thailand have recently released the report &quot;License to Rape&quot;, which contains 173 cases of rape committed by Burmese troops against the Shan ethnic group in Burma.
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According to this report, 83 percent of 173 rape cases were committed by officers of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), and most rapes involved extreme brutality and torture with 25 percent of the rapes resulting in death. Even worse, 61 percent of these cases were gang-rapes, and some women were detained and raped repeatedly for periods of up to four months. All of these inhuman crimes took place within military bases and in forced relocation sites. However, only one perpetrator has been punished by their commanding officer.
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The report reveals that the Burmese military regime is allowing its troops to systematically and on a widespread scale to commit rape with impunity in order to terrorise and subjugate the Shan people.
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Therefore, several human rights organisations and individuals are initiating an online petition campaign to condemn the Burmese military regime for its use of rape as a weapon of war and to ask the international community to take immediate action to stop these inhuman crimes against women and to protect the victims.
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Meanwhile, you can see the full report of &quot;License to Rape&quot; at &lt;http://www.shanland.org/shrf/License_to_Rape/license_to_rape.htm&gt;;.
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SUGGESTED ACTION
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Please join this online petition campaign by signing the petition at &lt;http://www.petitiononline.com/Forumasi/petition.html&gt;; and forwarding the petition to your network members. Please also lobby your government to suspend financial support and other forms of cooperation with the military regime in Burma.
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The full text of the petition is as follows:
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Joint Petition
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Stop License to Rape
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The widespread and systematic use of rape as a weapon of war by the Burmese military regime in Shan State
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We, from various organisations and individuals, come together to express our collective disgust and anger over the widespread and systematic use of rape as a weapon of war by the Burmese military regime. We ask the international community to take immediate action to end these practices and to protect the victims.
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The data that has been documented by the brave women of the Shan Women's Action Network (SWAN) and Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF), published as &quot;License to Rape,&quot; has brought to public attention what, up until now, has been whispered in fear throughout the communities that have been ravaged by these acts of terror. &quot;License to Rape&quot; documents the irrefutable and horrific claims of the hundreds of women and girl-children identified as victims of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), terror tactics that use rape as a weapon of war in their violent anti-insurgency campaign against citizens of the Shan state.
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According to the report, which documents 173 cases, 83 percent of the rapes were committed by officers and, in most cases, in front of their troops. The rapes often involved extreme brutality and torture, and 25 percent of the rapes resulted in death. Sixty-one percent were gang-rapes; and in some cases, women were detained and raped repeatedly for periods of up to four months. Only once was a perpetrator punished by their commanding officer.
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All of these crimes took place within military bases and in forced relocation sites and have been committed with impunity.
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We condemn these brutal acts of the SPDC against the women, girls and other members of Shan communities. We deplore the brazen denial by the SPDC of the information documented in &quot;License to Rape.&quot;
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&quot;License to Rape&quot; provides the platform for condemnation of this violent military regime and sets the groundwork for international cooperation and intervention. The members of SWAN and SHRF, together with the survivors of these heinous crimes, have taken the courageous step to document and publicise these offences. All of those involved in the documentation and publication [of this report] are now the subjects of threats and intimidation. They will not be cowered into silence. Our organisations will do everything in our power to support their efforts. We are now asking for the collective support of the international community to recognise these offences and to help bring an end to these unspeakable crimes.
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We cannot stand idly by while the SPDC claims it is taking steps towards peace, democracy and reconciliation when it continues to silence people who expose the regime's atrocities through brutal intimidation and often extermination. We cannot stand by as it continues to commit these atrocities. The report indicates that the recorded incidences of rape committed by the Burmese military in 2001 have drastically increased since 1996. Our silence gives them strength. Our inaction makes these acts permissible.
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We urge the SPDC
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- to immediately implement a nationwide cease-fire in order to stop militarisation and anti-insurgency campaigns in the ethnic states;
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- to begin tripartite dialogue with representatives of non-Burman ethnic nationalities and the democratic opposition on the country's political future; and
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- to stop sexual violence against ethnic women and to end the culture of impunity.
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We appeal to the international community
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- to voice its concern about the contents and findings of the report; and
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- to request the U.N. secretary-general to employ his good offices through his special envoy, Ambassador Razali Ismail, through the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and through the special rapporteurs on the human rights situation in Burma and the elimination of violence against women to investigate the contents and the findings of the report.
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We appeal to the international community and international institutions to discontinue all financial assistance and other forms of aid to the SPDC until genuine steps are taken towards peace and democracy in Burma.
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We are asking the Royal Government of Thailand to take action to protect the victims that have fled across the border. There is nowhere for the rape survivors to turn to inside Shan state for any medical or social support, let alone for legal recourse. Furthermore, those who have fled to Thailand have been denied any humanitarian assistance and are constantly under threat for their security and for their lives.
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We, therefore, urge the Royal Government of Thailand
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- to allow Shan civilians seeking asylum to cross the border into Thailand, to access refugee camps and UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees];
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- to allow rape survivors access to services provided by international humanitarian organisations, particularly psychosocial and medical services;
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- to not repatriate Shan women directly to the Burmese military and to exercise particular caution in relation to the deportation of Shan migrants as many are genuine refugees;
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- to suspend its repatriation program until such time that an independent body determines the safety and security of the refugees and to allow the international community and U.N. agencies, particularly UNHCR, the ILO [International Labour Organisation] and the IOM [International Organisation for Migration], to participate in any discussions, negotiations and/or repatriation programs involving Burmese migrants. Such discussions must address the root causes for the outflow of migrant workers; and
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- to ensure the safety and security of the people involved in the documentation and publication of &quot;License to Rape.&quot;
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We, the following organisations, strongly condemn the widespread and systematic use of rape as a weapon of war by the Burmese military regime in Shan state.
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Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum Asia), Thailand
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Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), Thailand
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Alternative Asean Network on Burma (Altsean Burma), Thailand
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Friends without Border, Thailand
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Sept. 4, 2002
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Note: Please join us in our collective efforts to protect the victims, to bring the perpetrators to justice and to prevent these acts of terror from continuing unimpeded.
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Justice for the victims of rape! Peace and democracy to the women and men of Burma!
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Sincerely,
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The Undersigned
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Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-41-2002
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Issues :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.