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Kachin women's group issues report detailing human rights violations

Irrawaddy - October 7, 2011

Ko Htwe – A Kachin human rights group has accused Burma's regime of displacing over 25,000 villagers and deliberately targeting civilians in killings, torture and sexual violence during the past four months of fighting with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Kachin State and northern Shan State.

Burma's Covered Up War: Atrocities Against the Kachin People, a 20-page report issued by the Kachin Women's Association of Thailand (KWAT) on Friday, claimed that displaced villagers sheltered in makeshift camps along the Burma-China border are facing severe shortages of food and medicine because the regime has blocked agencies working officially inside Burma from assisting them. "Thousands of villagers from Kutkai who have been displaced in recent weeks, but denied refuge in China and are unable to access camps in KIA-controlled areas of Kachin State, have dispersed to towns, other villages and jungle hiding sites," KWAT said in a press release on Friday.

"It is a long-term political problem. China has many interests in Burma so they are reluctant to accept refugees," said Shirley Seng, a spokesperson for KWAT, at the organization's press conference on Friday.

KWAT alleged that government troops have raped 37 women and girls between the ages of nine and 50 during the conflict, 13 of whom were killed.

"Our documentation team was deeply shocked at the details of these crimes. Some women were gang-raped in front of their families. In one case, soldiers slaughtered a woman's grandchild in front of her before raping and killing her also," said Seng.

"We cannot show who the victims are because we cannot guarantee their safety if we do, but we have evidence," said Seng in response to a reporter's question.

In addition, the KWAT report provided details regarding the number and location of other human rights violations committed by Burmese troops, including: torture and ill treatment; forced labor and portering; forced relocation; land mine injuries; and disappearance of local residents.

However, The Irrawaddy cannot independently verify any of these cases, and the Burmese government has not yet responded to the allegations.

The researchers who collected the data were trained by KWAT in human rights principles and standards for documentation and reporting, according to the KWAT report.

According to Hkawng Seng Pan, who also spoke at the KWAT press conference, the Burmese army has deployed nearly 13 battalions among the Kachin population of nearly 2 million.

Women's rights groups have long accused Burmese government soldiers of using systematic rape against ethnic women as a weapon and strategy to terrorize the ethnic population.

In 1994, the Kachin Independence Organization, the KIA's political wing, signed a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese junta. However, tension between government troops and the KIA increased following the KIA's refusal to join the government's Border Guard Force.

In June 2011, clashes between the KIA and government troops broke out and fighting has continued since that time, with local residents often caught up in the conflict.

KWAT has urged the international community to abandon its "wait and see" policy with respect to Burma, bring increased pressure on the regime to end its military offensives and atrocities and provide urgently needed humanitarian assistance to the displaced Kachin.

"'Wait and see' is a death sentence for us," said Shirley Seng.

Since 1997, the Burmese regime has destroyed more than 3,000 villages and displaced over half-a-million civilians in eastern Burma, according to the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, an umbrella organization responsible for the distribution of aid at the Thai-Burmese border.

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