Interview: Naw Khin San Htwe of Burmese Women’s Union

By Admin 01 Aug 2024

DMG Newsroom
1 August July 2024, Sittwe

Faced with military defeats across the country, Myanmar’s military regime has retaliated against civilians with airstrikes, bombardment, killings and baseless prosecutions on a daily basis.

Women are among the most vulnerable victims of the junta’s grave human rights violations and terror campaigns since the coup, say women’s rights activists.

Burmese Women’s Union (BWU) General Secretary Naw Khin San Htwe recently talked to DMG about the difficulties and challenges facing women over the past three years.

DMG: How are women experiencing the armed conflicts?

Naw Khin San Htwe: It is primarily about their safety. There are challenges to the health of pregnant and breastfeeding women. They suffer from malnutrition due to food shortages. The rate of miscarriage has increased due to shelling and bombing raids. Women who have suffered from sexual assault are even struggling to survive, and they are not in a position to demand justice.

DMG: What about job opportunities for women today?

Naw Khin San Htwe: Across the country, the economy has been in freefall over the past three years. The rate of women's unemployment has increased. And it has also become a challenge for average workers to support entire families with their income. Political instability, withdrawal of foreign investments and restrictions on the operation of private banks have also facilitated unemployment.

DMG: How has the post-coup turmoil affected women?

Naw Khin San Htwe: Over the past three years, the situation in the country has hit rock bottom in all aspects, from politics and social stability to economy and security. Records show that women have suffered the most physically and mentally. Displaced women suffer greater challenges than displaced men. Though they have to cope with various forms of violence, threats and shortages every day, they lack access to trauma counselling.

DMG: How many women have been arrested since the coup?

Naw Khin San Htwe: [As of mid-July] 5,555 women were arrested over the past three years, and 4,010 remain under detention. Forty-nine of them are in Arakan State. Ten women were arrested in June. Eight of them were arrested because they wore flowers on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday.

DMG: How many women have been prosecuted and jailed?

Naw Khin San Htwe: There have been 895 cases against women since the coup. Women from all walks of life have been persecuted mainly for sharing posts about the revolution on social media, and funding revolutionary organisations, and on suspicion of having ties to revolutionary organisations.

DMG: What should be done to end the suffering for women?

Naw Khin San Htwe: The root cause of all the problems is the military coup, followed by barbaric human rights violations, indiscriminate attacks on civilians, and acts focused on retaining power. To end those atrocities, the only solution is to root out all dictatorships including the current military dictatorship. 

The male chauvinism that has been entrenched in society must be rooted out through the Spring Revolution. Stakeholders must not follow in the footsteps of the military junta in handling those issues.