Responding to gender-based violence in post-coup Myanmar: The almost impossible task and the women who won’t give up
Myanmar, like most other countries in the world, has staggeringly high rates of gender-based violence, with a low estimate of 1 in 12 women experiencing intimate partner violence alone in 2019. There are very few formal systems to respond to gender based violence (GBV) — police and doctors are not trained in responding to or treating survivors, there is almost no access to trained psychologists or social workers, and it is all but impossible for women and children to escape abusive homes. Most GBV case management is carried out by grassroots civil society organizations who have done their best to pool limited resources and quickly build their own knowledge and capacity to respond to urgent needs of women and children in their communities. These are the groups of women activists running small but crucial women’s shelters and safehouses all over Myanmar, the first people who are called in to help survivors of intimate partner violence, sexual assault or abuse.
Carrying out this work has always been difficult, but it became exponentially more challenging in April of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic closed workplaces and borders and social distancing measures were put in place in Myanmar. A steep rise in GBV incidence was recorded all around the world, earning the name “Shadow Pandemic”, and women’s shelters and safehouses in Myanmar filled beyond capacity. Emergency funding helped them stay afloat through 2020, and many anticipated a return to normal in 2021. Instead, since the coup on February 1, responding to GBV cases has become an even greater challenge. A case worker and safehouse manager reported that there were more cases in February compared to January, and that she was having a difficult time following the procedures of supporting and getting justice for survivors. Within her trusted network she was able to find healthcare workers willing to treat survivors outside of the hospital and lawyers to seek legal advice from, but when she tries to file official reports at the police station, they tell her they are participating in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) and refuse to do any work. She highly doubts they are participating in CDM, but this is not the first time she’s seen police underperforming on GBV cases and she has alternatives. “We are using community religious leaders to solve the cases”. Between the expertise of the case managers and the authority of the religious leaders, survivors get as close to justice as they can during a coup.
Case managers’ problems are also now compounded by the loss of the former Department of Social Welfare (DSW), which on a state by state basis had succeeded in building better relationships with civil society GBV responders and were improving their own capacity to respond to survivors’ needs. It took years to build any level of trust between CSOs and the NLD-led government, particularly where ethnic based civil society organizations were concerned, and this was wiped clean when the junta’s appointees took their place. The newly appointed Directors have already been applying pressure on these case managers to hand over all of their case records, and at least one safehouse supported by the former DSW is confirmed to be closing, with no plan for where to rehome its current residents — mostly teenage girls and young women who may not be safe in their own homes and communities. Case managers are in no hurry to hand over such sensitive information to a department under the leadership of Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Thet Thet Khine — a known associate of ultra-nationalist Buddhist groups, Rohingya genocide denier and big player in Myanmar’s profits-before-people gem industry. Memories of sexual violence committed by soldiers of Myanmar’s army linger on the minds of many women in ethnic groups around the country too, and case managers know better than to underestimate the level of cruelty they are capable of.
It is likely many of the frontline GBV case managers in Myanmar will find their own ways to avoid collaborating with the junta appointed DSW for as long as they possibly can, keeping the information of survivors out of the hands of people they don’t trust. At some point, the requests may become more forceful. With typical Myanmar humour in the face of crisis, when asked if she feared for her safety in the coming weeks, one case manager said “If they take me they’ll have to take all the girls and babies relying on me too, and I don’t think they’re interested in that responsibility!” (Security forces did in fact come to arrest this woman at her home, but she had already fled to safety. The safehouse remains operational under other staff.)
A troubling story reveals the tragic extent of the impact of the coup and military crackdown on protests to the health of GBV survivors. Often, safehouse residents are pregnant as a result of sexual assault, so maternal and newborn healthcare are an important part of the work. The mothers are often young, sometimes teenagers. In this case, a 15 year old girl went into labour a month before her due date, around midnight when the curfew was in full force. The case manager and the doctor couldn’t come to help because the risk of being shot on sight was too high. She even tried to contact the local police department to negotiate her safety while travelling the short 1 minute drive to the safehouse, but there was no answer. Instead, all she and the doctor could do was video call into the scene, where the 23-year old safehouse manager and the teen mother were panicking. To make matters worse, the baby was coming feet first. The internet cut off at 1AM, like it does every night, and the video calls had to end. Over the phone, the doctor did her best to coach the young women on what to do, and the case manager did her best to provide emotional support. When the baby came out, she was blue and unmoving. They had to wait several more hours until 4AM to rush over to the only hospital operating, the military hospital, but it was far too late. The doctor told them the baby had probably died during birth. They were very lucky that the young mother was healthy and survived the incident, but otherwise all they felt was despair. The young safehouse manager is distraught with misplaced guilt and she and the young mother are receiving trauma counselling. The case manager and the doctor are searching desperately for a way to prevent this from happening again. Even through all this, the case manager lamented the fact that she had to use the military hospital services, being wary of its connections to those who might be dangerous.
This coup has threatened women’s rights and safety, and a junta administration with almost no female leadership will at most pay lip-service to stopping GBV even while perpetrating it, if they even do that much. Myanmar women know this, and are fighting for their lives. Please help support them by donating to any of the vetted and verified fundraisers listed here, and by following the Global Movement for Myanmar Democracy social media accounts for information on how you can advocate for a return to democracy in Myanmar as soon as possible.
For those facing and responding to GBV in Myanmar, here is a short list of resources:
- Always listen to and believe survivors of GBV.
- If you are experiencing or are a witness to GBV, record and document incidents as best as you can.
- Send recordings or reports to local GBV NGOs.
- Akhaya Women Myanmar
- Kachin Women’s Union +95 9 255 100 077, kwuproject2018@gmail.com
- Karenni National Women’s Organization Emergency Hotline: 09400089702
- Kuki Women Human Rights Organization +95 9 337 76696, kwhro2013@gmail.com
- Mi Organization Hotline: 09266797970
- Ta’ang Women’s Organization +95 9 791 530451 https://taangwomen.org/burmese/
- Tavoyan Women’s Union 09890040234
- Other women’s groups in your region — ask trusted women human rights defenders in your community
4. If you believe someone you know may be at increased risk of GBV, reach out to them in a compassionate and supportive manner, or discreetly provide them with resources or contact information for where they can get help.
GM4MD would like to thank the GBV case managers who shared their stories with us, and express our admiration and utmost respect for all GBV first responders in crises situations.
