The Karen Women´s Organization (KWO) today launches its report State of Terror, which documents in detail the terrible treatment suffered by women in the Kren state at the hands of the Burmese army. Among other things, the report documents the army´s systematic use of rape as a weapon of ethnic discrimination, suppression, and ultimately, war. The Norwegian Burma Committee supports the KWO, and stresses that the situation in the Karen state has gone from bad to worse in the last year. (12-FEB-07)
Based on the press release from the Norwegian Burma Committee, this article has been translated and prepared for publication here by HRHF / Niels Jacob Harbitz.
The report documents 959 cases of rape of women and girls in the Karen state between 1981 and 2006. A disproportionate amount of these have taken place during the military junta´s massive offensive against the people of the Karen state in the last year. All in all, more than 4.000 cases of different kinds of violations are listed and documented in the report, including gang rapes, murder, tortur, forced labour and a large number of relatively speaking less serious offences.Witnesses tell of women who are gang raped and then killed, who are used as live landmine detectors, who are forced to watch their children be killed right in front of them and pregnant women who abort after having been forced to carry heavy loads for the army. The State of Terror report follows up and adds to a number of previously published documents, covering also other states or parts of Burma, all documenting that the governing military junta systematically uses rape as a weapon in its suppression of ethnic minorities.
-A death penalty has been imposed upon us
-We deeply regret that the People´s Republic of China, the Russian Federation and South Africa voted against a resolution on Burma at the UN Security Council in January. This equals an accept of our regime´s campaign of teror against the Karen state. It adds weight to the death penalty that has in effect been imposed upon us, says Naw Zipporah Sein of KWO. The Norwegian Burma Committee supports the KWO, and stresses that the situation has taken on terrible dimensions in the last year. tens of thousands have been drive away from their homes. -We appeal to the Norwegian government to keep Burma on the UN Security Council´s agenda. At the same time, Norway must encourage Thai authorities to protect everyone running away from human rights violations, and also provide necessary support to women who have survived rape and sexual violations, says Åse Sand, Information officer at the Norwegian Burma Committee.
For further information, please see
KWO´s report State of Terror,
KWO´s own press release,
KWO´s website www.karenwomen.org and
a relevant article in the Australian newspaper Sydney Morning Herald
All pictures: Karen refugees. Photo: Karen Women´s Organization.
Please also contact Åse Sand, Information officer of the Norwegian Burma Committee at info@burma.no/ 22 47 92 37/98 45 97 16.
Finally, check out www.burma.no.
