Evidence of New Massacre in Karen State

(Washington, DC) - A newly released report, License to Rape, documents the rape of 625 girls and women in Burma's Shan state, including against girls as young as five and perpetrated almost entirely by military officers from 52 different battalions. The report, compiled and published by the Shan Human Rights Foundation and Shan Women's Action Network from interviews with refugees in Thailand, opens a small window into the methods of Burma's pariah military junta, and represents figures "far lower than reality."

Republican United States Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Chairwoman of the International Operations and Human Rights Subcommittee in the International Relations Committee, said in a statement on Friday "girls and women of Burma are raped, tortured, beaten, and killed as part of a systematic campaign by the Burmese army to subjugate its people." Ros-Lehtinen added that the newly released report "provides a microcosm of the ongoing efforts by the Burmese army to thwart resistance and opposition by sanctioning and condoning the use of rape as a weapon of war against its civilian population."

The report documents how 83% of the rapes have been carried out by military officers, usually in front of their own troops. Victims are severely beaten, tortured and mutilated; 25% were killed after the rapes, with many left dead in public areas to terrorize villagers. The rapes have taken place in the process of massive relocation programs, at military checkpoints, and in villagers' homes. 61% were gang rapes, and numerous women were raped inside military bases. In many cases, women were held captive and raped repeatedly for up to four months as "comfort women". The report uses the legal precedents set during international criminal tribunals for Rwanda and Bosnia to illustrate a strong case that Burma's regime continues to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity in Shan state, home to only 8 of Burma's 50 million people.

One interview describes a young Burmese woman who left her house for a short time only to come back and find her five year old sister "tied up and crying, with her sexual organs bloody…" from being raped. In another case, a young woman was raped and beaten unconscious, only to wake up and find her pregnant sister lying dead next to her. In yet another case, two young girls girl were ordered from a middle school meeting and were raped at gunpoint by a military commander for four days and four nights.

Betsy Apple, author of the 1998 study of Burma's military dictatorship School for Rape, says there is evidence clear evidence that the regime is using rape as a weapon of war: "As rape has been used in Rwanda and Yugoslavia to terrorize villagers, Burma's military regime is using rape as a weapon of war. This time, however, CNN is not investigating."

Aung Din, a former political prisoner in Burma and director of policy at the Free Burma Coalition, citing the 300,000 Shan that have been forcibly relocated, called the rapes "Just one part of an ongoing campaign of terror against Burma's people by the ruling military junta."

The report coincides with the birthday of Burma's 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, whose release from house arrest last month gained world attention and fueled speculation that the regime could relax its campaigns of terror against Burma's people. However, the new report provides fresh evidence that abuses by the regime continue unabated in areas outside the capital city of Rangoon. ###