Publications

STATEMENT ON THE INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

November 25, 2020

In light of the international day for the elimination of violence against women, we want to draw attention to the sexual violence that ethnic women in Myanmar - and especially Rohingya women - have endured and continue to endure at the hands of the Myanmar military. Burmese military forces have engaged in widespread sexual violence against these ethnic minorities for decades and continue to do so with impunity. Most often it concerns the most brutal incidents of rape imaginable: gang-rapes, rape paired with severe beating or resulting in death, and rape of girls as young as 8 years old. Rohingya women were subjected to rape in especially large numbers during the 2017 genocidal campaign which killed more than 10,000 Rohingya people and forced over 800,000 of them to flee to Bangladesh. In all these cases, rape is used to degrade, subjugate and terrorize women and their ethnic communities. Rape becomes an instrument of war.

UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW SUBMISSION

July 9, 2020

The human rights violations described in this submission are supported by research conducted by WPN coordinators on the ground in Rakhine State and Bangladesh and reports from news media, NGOs, and UN agencies. WPN conducted virtual consultations regarding the submission with Rohingya community leaders, women, men and youth groups, who also provided input into the recommendations set forth here. 

WPN interviewed both Rohingya and Rakhine women about their memories and experiences growing up in Rakhine State. Practices of mutual aid, play, shared food and picnic culture, and, most importantly, peace, offer new tools for questioning dominant knowledge about “Buddhists” and “Muslims” in Rakhine state, as well as new understandings of the structures naturalize the subjugation of Muslim women in Myanmar as well as the exclusion of Rohingyas more broadly. 

The findings from this report also highlight the importance of centering the experiences and memories of diverse women in Rakhine when designing peacebuilding solutions for the region and Myanmar more broadly. Through stories of both Rohingya and Rakhine women, it is also evident that women participation is necessary to bring about peaceful and effective change in Rakhine State. 

REPORT TO THE COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN ON THE REQUEST FOR AN EXCEPTIONAL REPORT FROM MYANMAR

July 2018 | Karen Women’s Organization, Progressive Voice, and ALTSEAN-BURMA

This report is prepared in response to the request by the Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women (“CEDAW Committee”) for an exceptional report from Myanmar regarding the situation of women and girls from northern Rakhine State. In August 2017, decades of persecution and abuse of the Rohingya ethnic minority in Rakhine State escalated to new levels when Burma’s security forces engaged in a violent campaign that killed at least 6,700 people in the first month alone1 and forced 706,000 refugees to flee to Bangladesh.2 In this brutal campaign—which has the “hallmarks of genocide,” according to Yanghee Lee, the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar3— women and girls have been uniquely vulnerable to rights violations due to compounding forms of discrimination from being both Rohingya and female. Most notably, Rohingya women and girls have been subjected to widespread rape and sexual violence perpetrated by security forces.

SUBMISSION TO THE 64TH SESSION CEDAW COMMITTEE FOR CONSIDERATION OF MYANMAR’s combined fourth and fifth periodic reports

June 2016

Women throughout Myanmar face discrimination. Targeted for their religion and ethnicity in addition to their gender, Rohingya women confront multidimensional discrimination, as each form of discrimination compounds the other. Since the Concluding Observations in 2008, the conditions for Rohingya and other Muslim women have deteriorated precipitously, making the already oppressive situation desperate for many. The Government has continued, expanded, and entrenched policies limiting Rohingya freedom of movement, marriage, childbirth, and access to education, healthcare, and livelihoods—policies that often have a heightened impact on women. The Government has continued to deny Rohingya citizenship and gone further to revoke their right to vote and participate in elections for the first time. It has also failed to adequately protect victims or address large scale violence against Rohingya.

UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW - MYANMAR (BURMA), SUBMISSION TO THE OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

March 2015

Through law and practice, the Rohingya, a Muslim minority group of over one million who have been residing in northern Rakhine (Arakan) for hundreds of years, have been denied the rights of citizens of Myanmar. Even more disturbingly, they have for decades been denied their fundamental rights as humans under international law. In the four years since the last Universal Periodic Review of Myanmar, discrimination, violence, and other forms of abuse against the Rohingya and other Muslims in Myanmar have significantly increased despite Myanmar’s internationally applauded steps toward democracy. The human rights violations described in this submission are supported by Women’s Peace Network - Arakan (WPNA) research conducted by coordinators on the ground in Arakan State and reports from news media, NGOs, and UN agencies.