Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has heard a report through the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) radio service that a woman in western Burma was raped by a police officer, after which the local police chief forced the victim to marry her assailant. When the victim refused to then divorce him, the alleged perpetrator assaulted her in the police station. Although the information is not confirmed by usual AHRC sources, it is credible and in keeping with other allegations of violence against women in Burma, and attempts to cover-up such cases by local authorities.
The AHRC urges you to write letters to the Attorney General and international agencies on this case, with particular reference to the fact that Myanmar has ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAILS
Victim: Unnamed, 25-year-old woman resident of Hsapyin village, Taunggut Township, Arakan state
Alleged perpetrator: Police Constable Kyaw Myo Htaik, stationed at Hsapyin police station
Government officials complicit:
1. U Thein Tin, Chairman, Hsapyin Village Peace and Development Council
2. U Thein Kyaw, Officer-in-Charge, Hsapyin police station
According to the information reported by the DVB on May 31, Pol. Constable Kyaw Myo Htaik allegedly raped the unnamed victim on May 19. Immediately thereafter, her parents reported the allegation to the village chairman, U Thein Tin. However, he refused to take up the case because it involved a police officer, and told the family to report directly to the police station.
The parents and victim are reported to have gone the following day to the police station, and complained to the officer-in-charge, U Thein Kyaw. However, rather than taking the case, Thein Kyaw forced the rapist and his victim to marry. Then after one hour he presented divorce papers. When the victim refused to sign the divorce papers, Kyaw Myo Htaik is alleged to have assaulted her with his fists.
When the DVB telephoned to the police station concerned and asked what had happened to the alleged perpetrator, the officer who spoke responded that he had been transferred to the main Taunggut police station. He added that the problem had started because of “that crazy woman” making a complaint of rape.
It is not known if the parents and victim have made any further complaints.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
This case, although difficult to fully substantiate, speaks to a familiar trend of violence against women in Burma being improperly dealt with where the alleged perpetrators are government or state security officials. In 2004 (UA-40-2004) the AHRC reported on the case of Ma San San Aye, and Ma Aye Mi San, who were allegedly raped by a local government official, U San Net Kyaw, in Pyapon Township, western Burma. At least one of the two was a child at the time of the alleged rape. Although the AHRC has obtained documentation regarding the allegation in that case, after the matter was dropped by the local authorities and the victims attempted to take it higher up, they themselves were convicted of defamation and sentenced to four years’ rigorous imprisonment. Despite raising the details of the case repeatedly with government authorities and concerned UN and international agencies, no further information has been made known to the AHRC regarding the fate of the two young victims or the alleged rapist.
The AHRC has heard of many other similar cases from Burma; however, given the circumstances in the country it is difficult to sometimes obtain detailed information or documentary evidence to substantiate them. By way of illustration, two examples from DVB broadcasts follow, on which the AHRC has not previously reported for want of additional reliable details:
1. On 26 July 2004 an officer from the Meikhtila Training Airbase allegedly beat a 15-year-old girl to death. Captain Aung Kyaw Moe and his wife Ma Shan Ma, of Lyawhpyukan village, Shantei village circle, had Ma Than Than Soe work as a nanny in their house. But after Than Than Soe was careless in her work, Aung Kyaw Moe allegedly beat her until she died. After that he tried to dump her body in the Meikhtila Lake, but the secret got out and the body was recovered. Doctors examining the body found numerous injuries, and also that the perpetrator had poured poison into the victim’s mouth to make it look like a suicide, according to one of them. After that, to prevent the matter from going to court, the local battalion commander, Thura Tin Maung Win, is alleged to have ordered base personnel and their families not to discuss it with anyone outside. It was also alleged that 50,000 kyat (US$50) was paid to the family of the victim and they were warned to stay quiet about it. No further information has been available.?
2. On the night of 30 July 2004, a drunken police officer in Sagaing division allegedly raped a 13-year-old girl nearby the bridge over the Pahei stream on the outskirts of Tamu town. Pol. Constable Maung Maung Oo of Tamu police station had allegedly encountered the girl as she was carrying vegetables from her family’s farm, and raped her at gunpoint. After her family reported the matter to the police station, Maung Maung Oo was arrested on July 1. However, the family was not able to claim for compensation, and their livelihood was interrupted as they were called to the police station constantly for inquiries. A similar incident involving an attempted rape by an officer of the border security force was reported around the same time, but no action was known taken in that case.?
The only two UN treaties that Burma has joined are the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). However, it is clear from incidents such as these that there is no functioning system in the country to protect the rights of victims in accordance with these treaties. It should be noted that there are many detailed and credible reports of Burma army soldiers, often under the instruction of officers, systematically raping women in remote parts of the country where there are persistent anti-insurgency and security operations. However, it is clear from cases such as that above that no avenue exists by which complaints of rights abuses can be lodged against government officials anywhere in the country. Although the government has established the Myanmar National Working Committee for Women’s Affairs, this agency appears to function only as a propaganda tool, and allegedly as an instrument of further repression, rather than support, of women (see for instance the allegation contained in UP-63-2005).
SUGGESTED ACTION
Please write to the Attorney General to request an investigation into the reported Hsapyin case. A suggested letter follows. Please note that for the purpose of this letter, the country should be referred to by its official title of Myanmar, rather than Burma, and other names also changed accordingly.?
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Dear Director General
RE: ALLEGED RAPE BY POLICE OFFICER IN HSAPYIN VILLAGE, TAUNGGUT TOWNSHIP
I am deeply concerned by a report I have received that an unnamed 25-year-old woman resident of Hsapyin village, Taunggut Township, Rakhaing state, was raped by Police Constable Kyaw Myo Htaik, stationed at Hsapyin police station, on 19 May 2005, but that no proper action has been taken against the alleged perpetrator.
According to the information, after the family of the victim immediately reported the case to U Thein Tin, the chairman of the Hsapyin Village Peace and Development Council, he declined to act on it and suggested that they approach the police directly. The family did so, and met with U Thein Kyaw, Officer-in-Charge of Hsapyin police station the following day, May 20. Inexplicably, U Thein Kyaw is reported to have forced the rapist and his victim to marry. Then after one hour he presented divorce papers. When the victim refused to sign the divorce papers, Pol. Constable Kyaw Myo Htaik is alleged to have assaulted her with his fists. It has since been reported that the alleged perpetrator has been transferred for the time being to the main Taunggut police station.
I urge you to see that a proper and transparent investigation is conducted into this case and that if a reasonable suspicion is found to exist that the officer concerned committed rape, he shall be put to trial and the victim properly compensated. I also urge you to see that an investigation is conducted into the alleged roles of U Thein Tin, in refusing to take up the case, and U Thein Kyaw, in colluding with the perpetrator to cover it up, and allegedly witnessing an assault in his police station.
As you will be aware, in recent years the government of Myanmar has been accused of inaction over alleged systemic rape of women in remote border areas by Armed Forces personnel undertaking counter-insurgency operations. While those reports are of grave concern and pose a significant obstacle to the improvement of your country’s international reputation, it appears from cases like the one in question that no avenue exists by which complaints of rights abuses can be lodged against government officials anywhere in your country. Indeed, I understand that you and other senior officials have been made well aware of the alleged rape of Ma San San Aye and Ma Aye Mi San by U San Net Kyaw, Chairman of the Dedalu Village Tract Peace and Development Council in Pyapon Township, Ayeyawaddy Division (Case Pa/586, Kyonekadone Police Station; Case No. 306/2003, Pyapon Township Court). This case has also been widely reported internationally. Yet it remains a mystery as to what has happened to the two victims, subsequent to their being sentenced to four years’ hard labour for defamation.
I would remind you that of the two international treaties your government has ratified, one is the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which contains an in-principle recognition that parties will do all they can to uphold the rights of women. Although your government has established the Myanmar National Working Committee for Women’s Affairs, this body does not appear to have had any effect where cases such as the aforesaid are concerned, despite its stated commitment to “study the causes, types, seriousness and consequences of violence [against women] and take integrated measures to prevent and reduce [it]”.?I therefore also urge your government to take the necessary steps to see that a proper independent agency is established to monitor and bring effect to the rights envisaged under the Convention.
Yours sincerely
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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
Dr Tun Shin
Director General
Office of the Attorney General
101 Pansodan Street
Kyauktada Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Fax: + 95 1 371 028 / 282 990 / 282 449
PLEASE SEND COPIES TO:
1. Lt General Soe Win
Prime Minister
c/o Ministry of Defence
Signal Pagoda Road
Yangon
MYANMAR
Tel: + 95 1 372 681
Fax: + 95 1 652 624
2. Maj-Gen Maung Oo
Chairman
Myanmar Human Rights Committee
c/o Ministry of Home Affairs
Corner of Saya San Street and No 1 Industrial Street,
Yankin Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Fax: +95 1 549 663 / 549 208
3. Major General Sein Htwa
Minister of Social Welfare, Relief & Resettlement
Chairman
Myanmar National Working Committee for Women’s Affairs
64 Kabar Aye Pagoda Road?
Yangon
MYANMAR
Fax: +95 1 650 002
4. Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro
Special Rapporteur on Myanmar
Attn: Ms. Audrey Ryan
Room 3-090
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: + 41 22 9179 281
Fax: + 41 22 9179 018
E-mail: aryan@ohchr.org
5. Ms. Yakin Erturk
Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women
c/o Ms Christina Saunders
Room 3-042
OHCHR-UNOG, Palais Wilson,
8-14 Avenue de la Paix,
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006
Email: csaunders@ohchr.org
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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