View attachment 431520
Grandpa captured alive in the Battle of Mutiny.[emoji23]
asshole,this picture was taken after 3-4 years of BDR mutiny.during the time of "imprisonment" they grew their beard.
http://www.borgenmagazine.com/myanmar-army-still-using-rape-weapon-war/
NAYPYIDAW, Burma – A new startling report by The Women’s League of Burma reveals that the country’s military has continued to use rape as a weapon of war, even after the election of a new and supposedly civilian government in 2010.
The report, issued January 14, found military personnel had raped more than 100 women and girls since 2010. Nearly half of those were gang rapes, and 28 women were killed or died from their injuries. The report found the rapes often involved brutal torture like beating, suffocation and mutilation and that they were committed against children as young as eight-years-old.
While important, this report tells only the most recent part of the story. Myanmar, known also as Burma, is home to the longest-running civil war in the world. Ever since independence from British colonial rule in 1948, Myanmar has been ravaged by bloody conflict as the many ethnic minorities in the country have sought power and autonomy.
Human rights atrocities, including systematic rape, have been a feature of the conflict for decades. Fighting continues despite many attempted peace agreements and treaties, and violence against women by the Myanmar army continues to be a common tool of control.
The rapes, which occur most commonly in areas where government forces are battling ethnic minorities, are not random, but represent a widespread and systematic instrument of war and oppression according to the report.
Julia Marip of the Women’s League of Burma told reporters that women and girls in these ethnic areas are being targeted for sexual violence “with impunity.” Rape is especially common in the northeastern region of the country, where the military is leading offensives against ethnic minority Kachin and Shan insurgents.
A 2002 report by the Shan Women’s Action Network found rapes by military personnel reported that year were committed by soldiers from 52 different battalions. 83 percent of rapes were committed by officers, usually in front of their troops. Unfortunately, due to intimidation tactics and laws that fail to hold perpetrators responsible, instances of rape and gender violence are underreported and most likely occur at much higher rates.
A 2003 report on rape in the country by Refugees International found survivors and their families are “extremely reluctant” to complain about rape because “in the rare cases where victims or their families actually do complain to military officials, army personnel often respond with violence.”
Additionally, perpetrators escape prosecution because of their military status. According to a 2008 constitution, the military is outside of the jurisdiction of civilian courts and is granted amnesty for war crimes, including rape and gender violence.
Support for survivors, many of whom are displaced in living in refugee camps, is difficult to obtain, and the stigma surrounding rape remains high in the country.
In response to the Women’s League’s recent report, Myanmar’s government has issued statements that it does not condone rape as a weapon, but it has taken no steps to combat the problem or to hold perpetrators accountable. It also has not addressed the problematic granting of amnesty to military members who commit war crimes or that the 2008 constitution making this legal violates international law.
Less than one month before the report was issued, a bipartisan group of United States senators including Bob Menendez, Marco Rubio, Ben Cardin and Bob Corker introduced a bill that would bar Myanmar from receiving any funds from the Pentagon until reforms take place and human rights issues are addressed by the government.
This is a good step, but the international community must do more to protect the women and girls of Myanmar for whom rape and gender violence are an everyday threat.
These atrocities, aimed at intimidating and controlling ethnic minorities in the country, cannot be allowed to continue. Interested parties can atand up for women and girls in crisis today by donating to
Thailand-based Women’s League of Burma, which consists of 13 orgs representing ethnic areas in Myanmar or to
The International Campaign to Stop Rape and Gender Violence in Conflict.
