63 women killed, 43 injured by regime in July: women’s group

By Admin 06 Aug 2024

DMG Newsroom
6 August 2024, Sittwe

Sixty-three women were killed and 43 others were injured at the hands of Myanmar’s military regime last month across the country including Arakan State, the Burmese Women’s Union (BWU) said on Tuesday.

Casualties were inflicted by airstrikes, shellings, arbitrary arrests and killings, torture in prison, arson attacks, sexual violence and drone assaults, according to a BWU report.

Of the regions and states, Shan State ranked first with 22 casualties, followed by 17 each in Mandalay Region and in Arakan State, said the report.

“Women die every month due to the regime’s violence,” said a female activist. “The regime has committed such acts of violence in the past, is committing them now, and will continue to commit them in the future. As long as the military dictator is not defeated, the people will continue to suffer from the terrorists in various ways. That’s why it is necessary for all the revolutionary forces to fight together in order to uproot the military dictatorship.”

Naw Khin San Htwe, general secretary of the BWU, said women fleeing fighting face physical and psychological insecurity as well as food and health challenges.

“Being in the midst of an armed conflict, the sounds of heavy weapons and the sounds of aeroplane bombings have seen a rise in the rate of miscarriage among pregnant women,” she added.

She said women are also among the majority of those left unemployed due to conflict.

From February 1, 2021, when the military seized power, to July 31, 2024, 5,611 women were arrested and 4,066 remain detained, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).