Dear President and Members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council,
Marking the 65th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, we, Women’s Peace Network and the undersigned women’s organizations, call upon the UN Security Council to hold the Myanmar military accountable for grievously violating the human rights of women. Since the military’s illegitimate seizure of power on February 1, the people of Myanmar have led
nationwide mass movements to demand for the November 2020 election results to be respected, the 2008 Constitution to be abolished, a federal democratic union to be built with full equality and self-determination, and those arbitrarily detained and arrested to be released. Despite engaging in non-violent civil disobedience, thousands of civilians, including women, have been brutally assailed by the regime’s tactics of violent assault, arbitrary detention, and extrajudicial killing. Given this military’s misogynistic culture and institutionalized patriarchy, we fear that the country’s progress in enhancing the status of women is at risk now more than ever. In solidarity with the women of Myanmar, we, members of the global women’s rights movement, now urgently join forces to amplify the people’s calls: the Myanmar military and security forces must be held to account for their brutality, and all impunity fueling their historical violation of women’s rights and international laws and norms must end.
Across Myanmar, the military continue to act in violation of the UN Charter and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. In over a month, the Burma/Myanmar military and security forces have indiscriminately fired on peaceful protests, killing at least eight women. Throughout states and regions, male security forces have targeted women with batons and slingshots all while strategically wielding water cannons, tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets against other peaceful protesters. The regime’s arbitrary detention and arrests of civilians have continued to rise as allegations of sexual assault and abuse across prisons have spread rampantly. If the Security Council and the international community do not take concrete action, we are concerned that the Myanmar military and security forces will continue to act in contravention of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325, Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, and the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials.
We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the member states for enforcing targeted measures against the Myanmar military and security forces. The Security Council’s intervention is crucial for ensuring that these measures have their intended effect of putting an end to the military’s arbitrary violence against its own people. Over the past several decades, the military junta has tortured and killed the country’s ethnic minorities to consolidate its power nationwide, and perpetrated sexual and gender-based violence against women as a tactic of repression. As reported by the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar in 2019, countless Rohingya women were subjected to rape, mass gang rape, sexually humiliating acts, sexual slavery, and sexual mutilations during the military’s “clearance operations” across 2012, 2016, and 2017. Yet to be held accountable for these atrocities, the military has interpreted the international community’s lack of a unified and comprehensive response as a license to intensify their abusive practices against the country’s most vulnerable. We are now asking you to take all necessary measures against the Myanmar military, in order to break the cycles of violence and abuse that have gone on for too long.
We, the undersigned women’s organizations, urge the UN Security Council to hold the Myanmar military and security forces accountable by adopting a resolution to
1. Refer the situation of Myanmar to the International Criminal Court in order hold the Myanmar military and security forces accountable for committing crimes, including rape and sexual violence, under international law.
2. Dispatch a monitoring and mediation body to Myanmar in response to the Myanmar military and security forces’ increasing use of violence against peaceful protesters, including women.
3. Impose targeted economic sanctions and financial penalties and restrictions on the junta leadership and businesses that are owned and controlled by the Myanmar military.
4. Impose a comprehensive and global arms embargo on Myanmar.
We thank you for your leadership and attention to this matter.
March 18, 2021
Signed by
1. ALTSEAN-Burma
2. Association of War Affected Women
3. Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd
4. Congregation of St. Joseph
5. Dr. Mariyam Shakeela
6. Elman Peace Center
7. European Coalition-Global Refugee Led Network
8. Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas
9. Feministischer Streik Darmstadt
10. Fiji Women’s Rights Movement
11. Flora Tristán
12. FOKUS – Forum for Women and Development
13. Fondazione Pangea Onlus-REAMA Network
14. Fund for Congolese Women
15. Fundación para Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer
16. Global Justice Center
17. Global Network of Sex Work Projects
18. Global Network of Women Peacebuilders
19. Hope Revival Organization
20. Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Loreto Generalate
21. International Alliance of Women
22. International Domestic Workers Federation
23. International Federation for Human Rights
24. International Presentation Association
25. International Women’s Rights Action Watch
26. Iraqi Al-Amal Association
27. Iraqi Women Network
28. Justice for Iran
29. League of Women Voters of the U.S.
30. Let’s Breakthrough, Inc.
31. Manushya Foundation
32. Network of NGOS of Trinidad and Tobago for the Advancement of Women
33. New Women Connectors
34. OutRight Action International
35. Pax Romana
36. Persatuan Sahabat Wanita Selangor
37. Punjab Women Collective
38. Servas International
39. Sisters of Charity Federation
40. Sisters of Charity of Nazareth Congregational Leadership
41. Sisters of Charity of Nazareth Western Province Leadership
42. Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, United States Province
43. Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur
44. Somos la mitad, queremos paridad sin acoso - Perú
45. The Asian Muslim Action Network
46. The Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women
47. The International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism
48. Verein zur Förderung der Völkerverständigung
49. Women Against Violence Europe
50. Women and Harm Reduction International Network
51. Women and Media Collective
52. Women for Justice Foundation - Canada
53. Women in Response to Aids and Drug Addiction
54. Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
55. Women’s International Peace Centre
56. Women’s Network for Peace, Germany / Frauennetzwerk für Frieden e.V.
57. Women’s Peace Network
58. Women’s Refugee Commission
59. XXXX