Junta perpetrates widespread sexual violence against women in post-coup Myanmar: advocacy group 

By Admin 29 Jul 2023

DMG Newsroom
29 July 2023, Sittwe

The Women’s League of Burma (WLB) says more than 100 women have been sexually assaulted by junta soldiers in areas where clashes with ethnic armed organisations took place since the February 2021 coup.

The most cases of sexual violence occurred in Sagaing Region, and Chin, Shan and Kayin (Karen) states, according to the list compiled by the WLB.

Ma Nan Moe Moe, secretary general of the WLB, told DMG that the number of women who have been subjected to sexual violence may be higher than the current list because some townships do not have mobile phone or internet access.

“These are the incidents that have been collected in accessible places,” she said. “I’m sure there are a lot of under-reported cases of sexual violence against women in some places where there is no internet access and places where you can’t travel. These are terrorist acts committed by the military.”

She noted that Myanmar military personnel have committed sexual violence against women in the past with impunity.

“For ages, the military has enjoyed immunity from punishment for what it has done,” Ma Nan Moe Moe told DMG. “As a result of the military’s impunity, I saw sexual violence continue to be openly committed. We need to end the military’s practice of impunity. Only then can we end sexual violence.”

Junta soldiers gang-raped a postpartum mother and a pregnant woman in Autlwe Village, part of Chin State’s Tedim Township, in November 2021,” the WLB said in a statement, adding that junta soldiers raped and killed two local women in Taungywathit Village, in Sagaing Region’s Pale Township, in July 2022.

Ambassador U Kyaw Moe Tun, permanent representative of Myanmar to the United Nations, urged an immediate end to sexual violence perpetrated by the military, at a UN Security Council meeting on July 14.

In pre- and post-coup contexts, the military has repeatedly denied numerous credible allegations of sexual violence committed against women by its personnel. 

Daw Nyo Aye, chairwoman of the Rakhine Women’s Network, said those denials beggar belief.

“Women were subjected to sexual violence. Clashes are happening in mainland Myanmar every day. It is impossible that such acts of sexual violence do not exist,” she said. “Only the authorities can eliminate such violence among the people living in conflict.”

A June 17 report from the Burmese Women’s Union (BWU) indicated that sexual violence is often used as a method of interrogation by the military, and is also employed as a weapon of war in conflict areas.