There is increasing evidence of terrible gender-based violence and abuse in Myanmar’s prisons against female political prisoners since the coup of 2021.
Report by the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners in Myanmar
A report on 23 March by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) noted that the military regime in Myanmar had used a number of different inhumane measures and weapons to torture and kill any civilian who protested against their brutal rule.
Many women who stood against the junta have lost their lives in the struggle.
By 2022, a mere twelve months after the coup, the AAPP had documented as many as 104 deaths among women who did not support the regime.
In February 2022, a report entitled, “Women Power In The Spring Revolution,” was published by the AAPP. This paid tribute to the heroic fallen women.
Women are still strongly resisting the junta in Myanmar, despite the heavy price being paid. They struggle to secure democracy and human rights, putting an end to the military dictatorship, with an unswerving determination.
The AAPP report also noted: “During the five-year period since the coup, AAPP’s record shows that the number of women who have died has increased to over 2,100. There are 40 women who have reportedly died in prisons, police stations and interrogation centres as a result of torture. There are certainly many more who have lost their lives without anyone knowing”.
It was further reported on 11 June that one woman had essentially disappeared into Myanmar’s prisons for as long as three years. The UN has identified significant evidence of “systematic torture, killing and other serious abuses” alongside the “systematic commission of sexual and gender-based crimes” with this prison system.
This particular prisoner became one of more than 30,000 Burmese protestors, journalists, activists, and anti-regime militia members held as political prisoners in the five years since the military coup. According to the AAPP this number includes more than 6,400 women.
The prisoner in question said that she experienced physical, sexual and psychological abuse at the hands of prison staff while serving her sentence in Mandalay central prison and Myingyan prison. This abuse included beatings and invasive strip-searches.
It was also noted that “during the first year she was in prison, other female political prisoners in her ward were allegedly secretly filmed in the showers by male prison staff”. A lawyer told the prisoner in question that “the footage was being used to blackmail family members”.
Rape used as a weapon of war
I asked Zoya Phan from Burma Campaign UK for her views on the situation. Zoya commented:
“The Burmese military has used rape as a weapon of war for decades, mostly in ethnic areas. Now we are seeing widespread sexual abuse and rape against women political prisoners in central Burma as well. The international community has failed to take any action on accountability for these violations of international law. The Burmese military is a rapist military, women, children and the elderly are all their targets.
“UK Universal jurisdiction laws need to be changed to enable British courts to be used to prosecute rapist members of the Burmese military”.
Where is the outcry?
Another terrible human rights story coming out of Myanmar. Another terrible silence from the international community.
It is now over 64 years since the military took over Myanmar, in March 1962. The international community has often made substantive promises to the Burmese people but has simply failed to follow up on them.
For how much longer can this stain on the conscience of humanity be allowed to go on, before those members of the Burmese military committing such heinous crimes are brought to justice and the people of Myanmar gain the freedom?
For more information about how you can help the people of Myanmar please see here .
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