The Kachin Women’s Association of Thailand (KWAT) and Shan Women’s Action Network (SWAN) report that more rapes have occurred in the areas where the Myanmar government’s army has been fighting the Kachin Independence Army. KWAT reports that there have been 37 rapes reported in September alone. The victims are civilians living in the areas of fighting, and they range in age from 12 to 50. Recently, there have been reports that the rapes are combined with murder.
This is not the first time the human rights community has admonished the Myanmar army for attacking civilians and using rape as a weapon. In 2004, SWAN issued a report “License to Rape” about this very issue, and Amnesty International’s 2008 report “Crimes against Humanity in Eastern Myanmar” made similar accusations. These crimes do not appear to be encouraged by the Myanmar government, but very few members of the military have been charged or tried for rape.
Compiled from: Myanmar: Military Guilty of Rape, Activists Say, IRIN: Humanitarian News and Analysis, (26 September 2011).