Myanmar’s military has used sexual violence as a weapon of war in armed conflicts taking place in the states of ethnic minorities such as Kachin, Kayin, Kayah, Chin, Shan and Rakhine. Armed conflict consists of indiscriminate attacks and assaults towards civilians and civilian objects by the military, forcibly displacing tens of thousands of people that earlier than the military dictatorship. This ongoing hostilities is due to the military ‘s greed to own each state’s resources in order to retain power and wealth. To hold power, the military has been inclined to commit atrocities for six decades. Women and girls have been continuously subjected to sexual violence by the military. “The military has never supported women,” stated Naw Hser Hser, secretary-general of the Women’s League of Burma (WLB). The military has lengthy been tarnished for conflict-related sexual violence and other forms of gender-based violence. Due to the armed conflicts, women are experiencing mental health problems arising from sexual violence, lack of reproductive health care, and being excluded from the peace process. In all these ways, women in Myanmar are facing physical violence in the hands of the military.
Women, victims of the conflict have been experiencing physical violence, sexual violence, torture, rape, particulary kill after raped or forced labour by uniformed soldiers. “This junta makes use of torture as its policy,” the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). One of the internally displaced women reported, “Whenever we met with the uniformed soldiers, we had been tortured. In one village, women including pregnant ones were drowned in a large clay pot with water and asked many questions.” They used excessive violence, a female medical student was attacked via hitting her head and her nostril commenced bleeding. Plus, another nine women political prisoners are sentenced to demise now and altogether 115 activists have been sentenced to death at sham military courts, in the back of closed doors, with no witnesses, no evidence and no defense lawyers. The remaining 74 are in immediate threat to their lives. In February 2022, there was another atrocity committed through the military soldiers who disguised themselves as civilians. According to the video file, for the cause of keeping a runaway police Zaw Lin Aung in her house, Ma Nandar was brutally beheaded by them. Also another woman was kneeling silent by her side throughout the killing. This savagery must be stopped with utmost urgency by putting strongest pressure on the murderous junta.
As a result of abusing by way of the junta, mental health problems such as behavourial problems, sleeping and eating disorders, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suicide attempts and poor self-esteem are occured in Myanmar women. Some women referred to that they had wished they could pass the day by sleeping, in light of the hardships they were facing. Violence against women (VAW) influences the average health of women, yielding a negative impact on their social lives and their competencies in domestic and income-generating activities. Most survivors stay silent about what happened to them, either out of shame or fear of being shunned by their communities. Presently, there are few medical support services available for the women who experienced such violence because many health services in Myanmar are focused soley on sexual and reproductive health, and not attentive to VAW-related health services.
Around 210,000 civilians have been internally displaced since the coup, another 3 million in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Among these displaced, more than 80 percent are women and children. Since 2012, women have been under-represented in Burma’s peace efforts, and on most peace process committees and bodies of both authorities and ethnic armed groups, women have been definitely excluded. There is solely one case in which women’s participation approached as being giant rather than token, when two women participated in the 14-member Senior Delegation, the ceasefire negotiation team for the ethnic armed groups. “We women want to participate in the peace processes not because we want to get power or position. We want our next generation to live in a conflict-free society” (May Sabe Phyu, 2016). The women said they ought to be given space to become ‘leaders’ of their communities and play a vast function in political and religious decision-making in the negotiation process for peace. Women’s voices and ideas need to be included for the creation of an inclusive and sustainable peace process. If women are excluded from the peace process, the topic of gender-based violence will no longer be stated in any discussions. Women need to participate in the peacebuilding process because women know the details of what women need (p.67).
The conflict has created a harsh disruption of women’s usual livelihoods. Their life appears to be on hold considering they had been forced to flee from their villages and being tortured by the Military soldiers. The UN authorities must take a strong action on the junta to protect women from different forms of violence, including state-sponsored violence in many forms. And the state ought to take progressive action to ensure that the human rights of all girls and women are respected, protected, and fulfilled. Women expressed being dissatisfied with the lack of rule of law, the perceived impunity of perpetrators and the lack of compensation. Long-term psychosocial support and distinct assist services are also needed for survivors. If every man or women is to be equal before the law whether male or female, the government has to uphold their moral and legal obligations to make sure female survivors have access to reliable justice referral pathways. The rising numbers of violations in Myanmar need to end now and leave the society for the next generation in which they do not have to be afraid of violations.
Resources;
Oxfam, Trócaire.(2017)
Life on Hold: Experiences of women displaced by conflict in Kachin State, Myanmar.
Reuters, T . (2015, December 22). REUTERS. Women in Myanmar conflict zones face rape, lack healthcare – UN.
https://www.reuters.com/article/myanmar-women-healthidUKL8N14B1C420151222
MacGregor, F . (2016, September 20)
The Guardian. Why so few women in peace talks, demand Myanmar campaigners.
https://thediplomat.com/2021/09/myanmars-coup-has-put-women-in-harms-way/
