Nearly 2,800 women detained since coup: advocacy group

09 Feb 2023

DMG Newsroom
9 February 2023, Sittwe

A total of 2,778 women were detained by Myanmar’s military regime since it staged a coup two years ago, with 21 of them from Arakan State, according to a February 7 report from the Burmese Women’s Union.

Broken down by state and region, 758 women were detained in Yangon Region; 393 in Mandalay; 337 in Sagaing; 214 in Bago; 213 in Tanintharyi; 193 in Magwe; 136 in Ayeyarwady; 111 in Shan State; 103 in Kachin; 92 in Kayin (Karen) ; 85 in Mon; 39 in Naypyidaw; 32 in Chin; 21 in Arakan; and nine in Kayah (Karenni). The identities and arrest locations of 42 other female detainees are still unknown, the women’s group said in its report.

Among them were 365 education staff, 51 healthcare workers and 92 members of political parties, along with lesser but not insignificant numbers of journalists, activists, employees of nongovernmental organisations, artists and average folk.

Many of the detainees were young and middle-aged women. Among the 21 detained women from Arakan State were high school teacher Daw Cherry Thet Shae from Taungup Township and Ma Moe Hsan Suu Kyi, a daughter of ousted Arakan State chief minister U Nyi Pu. Ma Moe San Suu Kyi was arrested at her apartment in Yangon in May 2021. She has been jailed in Insein Prison in Yangon since then.

Ma Kyi Kyi Oo, a sister of Ma Moe San Suu Kyi, said: “She has lost access to education and learning for self-improvement because of the detention.”

Meanwhile, 414 women died at the hands of the junta in artillery strikes, air raids and violent crackdowns on pro-democracy rallies, as well as arson attacks, over the past two years, the report stated.

Women are also prone to trafficking amid social and economic deprivation, said Saw San Nyein Thu, chairperson of Rakhine Women’s Initiative Organization.

“People will suffer when there is instability in a country. In solving political problems, stakeholders must ensure people are not harmed,” she said.

Myanmar has been in political chaos and economic upheaval since the military coup on February 1, 2021.