Activist Testifies at U.N. Conference on State-Sponsored Rape
by Jeremy Reynalds
March 1, 2007
SURREY, ENGLAND (ANS) -- A young woman activist from Burma gave heartrending testimony recently at U.N. conference about state-sanctioned rape.Burma is in Southeastern Asia, bordering the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Bangladesh and Thailand.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reported that Cheery Zahau, Coordinator of the Women's League of Chinland, presented evidence of widespread rape by the Burma Army. She referred to past reports of the use of rape in Shan, Karen, Karenni and Mon states, and presented fresh evidence of rape in Chin State.
Zahau highlighted 38 cases of rape by the Burma Army against Chin women, five of which involved girls under the age of 18, including a 12-year-old victim. Almost half were gang rapes.
"Often the rapes have been carried out with extreme brutality and in some cases they resulted in the death of the victim. In one case, a woman was stripped naked and hung on a cross, in a deliberate act of mockery against her Christian religion," CSW reported Zahau said. "This indicates that sexual violence is being deliberately used as a weapon to torture and terrorize local ethnic populations into submission."
CSW stated Zahau added, "There is a collective understanding among the troops that they can rape with impunity. About a third of the rapes were committed by officers, sometimes in their own army camps."
Zahau urged the U.N. Security Council to continue to address the crisis in Burma, and called on China and Russia to reconsider their position and support a resolution on Burma, which they vetoed in Jan. She also encouraged India to reconsider its policies of economic and military engagement with the Burmese regime.
"We are convinced that only genuine political change to democracy, restoration of the rule of law, establishment of a civilian government through free and fair elections, and a withdrawal of Burma Army troops from ethnic areas will bring an end to the systematic sexual violence in Burma," CSW reported Zahau said.
Mervyn Thomas, Chief Executive of CSW said in a news release, "We are delighted that Cheery Zahau was chosen to speak at this conference. We stand fully behind her and other such brave activists who are involved in the difficult and dangerous work of documenting gross violations of human rights, and informing the world. The Chin people are among the most forgotten people in the world, and we will do all we can to raise awareness of their plight. The grotesque use of rape as a weapon of war by the regime in Burma must be brought to an end."
The conference was organized by the U.S.-U.N. Office, at the 51st session of the Commission on the Status of Women.
Zahau was a member of a joint Chin and Kachin delegation which recently visited London, Brussels, Berlin and Washington, D.C. to raise awareness about human rights violations in Burma, including sexual violence, human trafficking and religious persecution. The visit was organized by CSW.
Additional information about the Chin people is available at www.chinland.org To learn more about CSW go to www.csw.org.uk
