STATEMENT ON THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT'S RESPONSE TO RAPE IN SHAN STATE

SHAN DEMOCRATIC UNION (SDU)

STATEMENT ON THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT'S RESPONSE TO RAPE IN SHAN STATE 

"We are appalled by reports that the Burmese military is using rape as a weapon of war against civilian populations in the Shan States. We have raised our concern with the Burmese regime and urged them to fully investigate any and all allegations of the systematic rape of ethnic minority girls and women in Burma and appropriately punish those guilty of such heinous crimes. We condemn the pervasive use of rape or other forms of sexual violence by military forces against a vulnerable population. If the alleged abuses in the report are true, the Burmese regime must take immediate steps to end such violence within its borders." Press Advisory, U.S. State Department. 

The SDU warmly welcomes and is grateful to the U.S. State Department for its comment, as above, on the targeting of Shan women and girls for rape by the junta's officers and soldiers, and its warning to the SPDC to desist from such practice. The SDU hopes that the United States Government will press the SPDC to ensure that the SPDC takes "immediate steps to end such violence" and does not disavow U.S. displeasure and deep concern about targeting Shan women and girls for rape. 

The targeting of women for rape bears the hallmark of primitive, crude ethnic warfare, as does the hunt-and-kill tactical operations aimed at killing civilians whom the regime has already dispossessed and dislocated. This intent amounts to the rooting out of an ethnic group designated as an enemy "race" by the regime. 

The SDU reiterates that it firmly believes that the SPDC and the military, including the preceding military regimes, have engaged in crude and brutal ethnic warfare against the Shan, Karenni, Karen, and other national groups in Burma. 

We acknowledge that the United States has pro-actively supported the many resolutions adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that calls for tripartite dialogue in Burma, and welcome its active support of U.N. Special Envoy, H.E. Razali Ismail, in bringing about tripartite dialogue in Burma as soon as possible. 

The SDU fully supports tripartite dialogue as the only way to lasting peace, sustainable development, prosperity, harmony and national reconciliation in Burma. 

The SDU fully understands the implications of "national reconciliation" and dialogue, and we are willing to work with all stakeholders to achieve for the diverse peoples and cultures of Burma what is rightfully theirs: their inalienable rights as free, dignified citizens of the Union of Burma. 

SHAN DEMOCRATIC UNION

Dated: July 4, 2002

For more information, please visit http://www.shanland.org/shrf/License_to_Rape/license_to_rape.htm