Myanmar Women’s Groups Protest Rape in Myanmar T
he gang-rape and prolonged torture of a woman in a church near the Kachin-China border town of Pang Wa in Myanmar in
early May show the ongoing impunity for sexual violence enjoyed by the Myanmar Army, says the Kachin Women’s Association of Thailand (KWAT). Myanmar, a Southeast Asian country, also goes by the
name of Burma, despite an official name change in 1989. The Kachin are one of the oppressed minority groups in Myanmar, a significant number of whom are Baptist Christians. Most live in the eponymous state of Kachin in the northernmost part of the country, which borders China, and have been in perpetual conflict with the national government since the 1960s. Tens of thousands have been displaced from their homes and have fled the conflicts to other parts of Myanmar, or live as refugees or sought asylum in other countries. KWAT reported that on May 1, a patrol of Burmese troops from two battalions arrived at Luk Pi village, Chipwi Township, northwest of Pang Wa in Kachin state, and found “Ngwa Mi” (not her real name), aged 48, sheltering alone in a church after most of the other villagers had fled. About 10 soldiers beat her with rifle butts, stabbed her with knives, stripped her naked and gang-raped her over a period of three days in the church. The abuse was witnessed by another villager, Yu Ta Gwi, aged 59, who was kidnapped while caring for his paralyzed wife. He was tied up in the church compound and kicked and stabbed by the Burmese troops. After the soldiers left on May 4, he and Ngwa Mi were found semi-conscious by other Kachin villagers and taken to Pang Wa hospital. Ngwa Mi, a grandmother with 12 children, has been reunited with her family but has reportedly become mentally deranged. “KWAT is gravely concerned at this latest incident of sexual
violence, committed brazenly in the sanctuary of a church,” the statement reads. “KWAT places the blame squarely on the
Myanmar opposition leader and parliamentarian Aung San Su Kyi, left, with Zipporah Sein, general secretary of the Karen National Union
government in Naypyidaw, (Myanmar’s capital), where the Supreme Court recently dismissed charges against the Burmese military for the abduction and disappearance of a Kachin woman, Sumlut Roi Ja, in October last year.” “The message from the Naypyidaw Supreme Court is clear: the Burmese military can rape and kill ethnic women with impunity,” said KWAT coordinator Moon Nay Li. KWAT demanded the regime to immediately stop using rape as a weapon of war and to end the offensive against Kachin state. The spread of conflict to the Pang Wa area has displaced thousands of villagers, according to KWAT, heightening the humanitarian crisis facing local communities seeking to feed and shelter more than 70,000 displaced persons since a Kachin ceasefire agreement was broken in June 2011. Amid moves by the United States government to normalize relationships with Myanmar, the American Baptist Women’s Ministry (ABWM) wrote Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressing its “deep concern over human rights violations in the Kachin State of Burma, specifically the use of rape as a weapon of war.” Stating that it is “alarmed by continued reports of rape and torture of Kachin and other ethnic minority women,” ABWM claimed that these violations “continue unabated with little evidence of repercussion.” Referring to the recent appointment of Derek Mitchell as
US ambassador to Myanmar, the first such appointment in 22 years, and moves toward increased economic engagement with the Burmese government, ABWM said such moves may help to lose “sight of the crimes against humanity continuing in ethnic minority areas of the country.” The Americans called on the US government “to uphold its commitment to human rights, including holding the Burmese government accountable for crimes against humanity, as evidenced by the continuing use of rape as a weapon of war.”
Recent signing of a peace agreement between the Myanmar government and representatives of the Karen National Union
Photos courtesy of the Karen National Union
24 BAPTIST WORLD MAGAZINE
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