Shan woman

Shan woman: Australia's HR trainings for Burma do little to stop violations 
Human Rights

"Limited Engagement" policy questioned 

A researcher for Shan Women's Action Network, an activist group that had co-produced the sensational License to Rape report last June, told the Global Alliance for Justice Education (GAJE) Conference in Australia on 10 December that Human Rights trainings carried out by Australia in Burma since the year 2000 were "extremely controversial" because they have yet to produce any "signs of benefit for the people in Burma." 

"They solely provide the regime with a tool to deflect the international community's criticism of its human rights record," said Nang Lao Liang Won from Thai-based SWAN, quoting Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi who had described them as "pointless and a waste of money." 

She pointed out that one rape incident, where three Shan victims were murdered by the military, took place on 3 October, while Foreign Minister Alexander Downer was making an official visit to Burma. "It was also two weeks before the last human rights funded by the Australian government was conducted by Australian professors to middle level government officials in Burma," she added. 

She also stated that even elderly women were not spared from the military's sexual pursuit. An old woman of 65, Mae Htao Ming, was found by a patrol from Infantry Battalion 56, on 21 November at Wan Pang Kyong, Kengtawng Sub-township in Mongnai Township, 137 miles east of Taunggyi, during her evening prayer, and was gang-raped. (A Karen women had once asked one of her rapers, "I'm fit to be your mother, son. Why are you doing this to me?" The soldier was reported to have replied, "Because it's better than slipping it into a crack in the earth.") 

A total of 21 rape incidents, involving 33 women and girls, of which 7 were under 18 and 11 of them were murdered, was reported in Shan, Karen, Karenni and Mon states since the publication of License to Rape, she said. 
Apart from the Conference, Nang Lao Liang Won also met officials from Aidwatch, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Office of Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Office of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs as well as a number of senators. 

"One of my requests there was to encourage Thailand to allow Shan civilians seeking asylum to have access to refugee camps and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees," she told S.H.A.N. (US-based Earth Rights International recently said, "There is a direct connection between rape and migration.") 

According to a media release by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Canberra had conducted 4 introductory training workshop from July-October 2001. The presenters included Professor David Kinley, Chris Sidoti, Kate Eastman and Sara Joseph. 

Total aid flows for Burma for the year 2002-2003 were estimated at $ 6.2 million.