Burma
In September 2007, WOMEN took a LEADING ROLE in the most important civil society uprising in 20 years:
Struggling against the military dictatorship in Burma, women were central to the mobilisation of the initial protests against rises in fuel prices and thus ‘opened the way’ for monks, students and the general population.
And suffered the consequences:
- Htun Kyaw Kyaw, describing arrests on September 27 [3]
Current Situation of Women Activists [4]:
Out of those arrested during last September's violent crackdown on peaceful protests led by monks, 106 women remain in detention, including six nuns. On the 23rd November 2007, The Women's League of Burma (WLB) in Bangkok launched an International campaign to free women human rights defenders in Burma with the release of a report "Courage to Resist" detailing how women activists have been hunted down, assaulted, tortured and framed with false charges, and their family members threatened and held hostage.
Breastfeeding mothers, pregnant women and elderly grandmothers have been the target of the regime's paramilitary forces and secret police. Women have also been used by the regime in their smear campaigns against activists, and forced to admit on camera to having sexual affairs with monks.
"We are gravely concerned about the safety and well-being of activists on the run and all political prisoners in prisons and detention centres throughout Burma," said WLB spokesperson Paw Hset Hser. "We are particularly concerned that the women, including nuns, recently detained are facing gender and sexual violence in addition to the other deprivations and unacceptable conditions in the prisons."
The WLB is urging governments around the world to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all women human rights defenders and other political prisoners in Burma, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and to guarantee women activists on the run a safe return home and reunion with their families. WLB is also calling for the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women to conduct a mission of inquiry to Burma.
So far (18th December 2007) only one pregnant woman has been released and the Military Regime continues to hunt down activists. Prominent women activists such as Nilar Thein are still in hiding.
Sources:
[1] [2] AWID (Association of Women’s Rights in Development) Friday File: Women's participation in the Burma uprising, 28th September 2007
[3] Human Rights Watch: Repression of the 2007 Popular Protests in Burma, December 2007
[4] Women’s League of Burma (WLB), Personal Communication
Last modified 2008-01-25 08:05 PM
This item is available in
Français, English, Español