My name is Wahkushee. I'm ethnic Karen, and I come from southeast Burma. Thank you very much for having me here to speak to you today.
First, I would like to say thank you very much to the Canadian government for their long support of ethnic civil society organizations and direct aid to ethnic communities in Burma. Through your support, we have been able to set up our organization, the Women's League of Burma, build capacity for women, provide services and support to survivors, and advocate for them.
Civil war has been going on for more than 60 years in Burma between the central government and the ethnic people who want equal rights within the federal system. Millions of people continue to be displaced. Many human rights violations committed by the Burmese army can be classified as war crimes and crimes against humanity. Rape, sexual violence, is one of these crimes. This has been going on for decades. Recent research by members of the Women's League of Burma has shown that this has carried on unchanged since Thein Sein became president and the reform process began in 2011. Our report, “Same Impunity, Same Patterns”, documents the more than 100 women who have been raped by the Burmese army since the election in Burma in 2010. Due to restrictions on the documentation of human rights violations in Burma, we believe this is just a fraction of the true number. In none of these cases were the perpetrators brought to justice.
These crimes are more than random acts by individual soldiers. Their widespread and systematic nature indicates a strategy. The Burmese military continues to use rape as a weapon of war. Unarmed civilians are deliberately targeted as they are seen as potential threats. Of the rapes documented in this report, 47 were brutal gang rapes, and 28 of the women were either killed or died of their injuries. Some were as young as eight. Others were grandmothers.
Another follow-up report by my organization, “If They Had Hope, They Would Speak”, documented another 14 rape cases by the Burmese troops from January to June 2014. Many of the women who survived fled into the areas not under control of the government. These are areas where humanitarian aid is either totally or severely restricted by the Burmese government, and where local community organizations play a key role in delivering humanitarian and other assistance. In Kachin State and Shan State in northern Burma, where many of these rapes have taken place, often the only way to get life-saving aid is through an official community-based mechanism, but the UN and most governments will not fund this kind of aid.
The Canadian government is setting a good example for other international governments and donors in giving direct support to ethnic organizations and communities who have been suffering and oppressed by the Burmese government. We really appreciate your long support. It is important that this support continue. Through your support, we are able to continue struggling for our right to equality and self-determination.
Unfortunately, we still have a long way to go. Even though the Burmese government has signed a new ceasefire with most of the ethnic armed groups since 2011, it has so far refused to start political dialogue. It has also continued to build up troops and launch military offensives in ethnic areas, including against groups that have already signed the ceasefire. While this offensive continues, military sexual violence will persist. But just ending the offensive will not solve the problem while the military remains outside civilian control. The long-term solution for ending military sexual violence in Burma is for the constitution to be changed, to place the military under civilian control, and to grant equal rights to the ethnic people under the federal system of government, which would bring an end to the civil war.
It is urgently needed to pressure the Burmese military to stop committing sexual abuses and to begin a process of political reform.
I have two recommendations for the Canadian government. Number one is to take a lead in calling for an international investigation into human rights violations in Burma, particularly related to military sexual violence. Number two is to continue providing direct support to ethnic civil society organizations that are providing services and protecting the rights of their communities in the conflict areas.
Thank you very much for your attention. Now I would like to give the floor to my colleague Jessica.