Yes, ‘The Lady’, but what about the women of Burma?
by Dr Ma Khin Mar Mar Kyi and Associate Professor Susan Harris Rimmer
The headlines are all about ‘The Lady’, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, and her duty or otherwise as a human rights defender during these dreadful events in Myanmar over the past week.
This attention is misplaced. In the first place, Aung San Suu Kyi is a female leader struggling through the first year of ‘disciplined democracy’ with lack of control over the military. Border Affairs, Defence and Home Affairs are all held by the Tatmadaw. The State Counsellor’s sole recourse would be to make a statement, which may well weaken the civilian government due to negative internal perceptions of Muslim people from Rakhine State. The political accord is still so fragile. This is not an excuse for not denouncing rights violations or even making misleading statements. But the spotlight is in the wrong place. The focus here should not be about what ‘The Lady’ does or doesn’t do. That lets the international community and the Burmese military and extremists from both sides off the hook. The narrative seems to be we put the saintly Lady in power, democracy is fixed, now she has let us down.
The UN has made many claims about protecting women’s rights in conflict and post-conflict states. None of these claims are yet to be backed up with action in Myanmar, with most rights issues trumped by the opportunities for foreign direct investment in the newly open state.
The recent conflict in Rakhine state has been brewing for years, and shows the weakness of ASEAN and UN conflict prevention mandates. There is a clear lack of contextual understanding of the dynamics in Rakhine State that empowered the military. The military were waiting for a trigger like the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, with global links. The EU and US sanctions were lifted without due support for human rights in the border regions and considering the status of the ethnic minorities.
All the women in Rakhine State are victims in this situation. Buddhist, Hindu, Kamen, Myo and other Muslim groups have been affected by structural violence, militarism, and poverty in Rakhine State. In travels to this area in June this year, we found that everyone is living in fear of their neighbours, living in fear of sexual violence, whether real or imagined, and the fear has been escalating. It has become the poorest state in Myanmar.
There is significant gender violence inside and between communities, which has paralysed the normal activities of everyday life: like going to school, or working on the farm. Everyday life has been abnormal and affected the psychology of families. Women wanted to live without fear of ‘watching their back’. Rakhine State has seen a tragedy unfold for the children of that northern area which will affect generations to come.
What does democracy mean to these women? All reported that they wanted equal respect, economic and physical security, and to live a normal life in peace.
Rohingya women in Rakhine State have been cruelly treated and displaced in great numbers over the last week, but since the riots in 2012. The UN reports that at least 380,000 Rohingyas have fled the violence into Bangladesh since 25th August. A Bangladeshi Minister has reported to the BBC that 90 per cent of the women have been raped.
This is a preventable tragedy that the international community has had five years to resolve. Many women and girls have been trafficked from this part of Myanmar over the last few years. There have been widespread violations of sexual and reproductive health in the camps and sexual and gender-based violence in the ‘displaced person’ camps. In the last week, there have been many allegations of sexual violence by the military, assaults and dangers through the flight through Bangladesh. These women deserve support and justice.
Other areas of Myanmar also deserve urgent attention. Kachin women, Shan women, Karen women are also affected by militarisation, drug-related crimes and poverty. There are still many women and girl refugees on the borderland areas waiting to return to an uncertain future. Even Burman Buddhist women from the central states and urban centres suffer sexual violence on a daily basis, and are navigating life in a militaristic culture and fragile democracy. These women deserve support and justice.
There are issues here that defy religious and ethnic categories. The West has taught many regimes how to deal with ‘Islamic terrorism’ without respect for human rights and often transmitted Islamophobia. Ordinary Burmese people are now concerned about reprisals (from all sides) outside and inside Myanmar. The international community must focus on breaking cycles of fear and insecurity within communities.
Protection of people should take precedence over deepening ethnic divides. Transition is a crucial time for women’s rights. The Violence Against Women legislation has not been passed. The future of women’s rights in Myanmar is by no means rosy. The international community should take this focus on Myanmar and delve deeper into their own conscience about what more support they should have been giving the protection of human rights in this transitional state since 2011. No woman is the winner from this this situation, militaries and extremists are.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Ma Khin Mar Mar Kyi
Dr Khin Mar Mar Kyi is the inaugural Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Gender Research Fellow, an award winning social anthropologist and Research Associate in Anthropology at the University of Oxford. She is the producer of an acclaimed documentary, Dreams of Dutiful Daughters (2013).
Dr Mar is the winner of one of Australia’s most prestigious academic awards — ‘Excellence in Gender Research’ — for her Ph.D. She also received in 2008 Australia’s ‘Unsung Heroes’ Award and was selected as one of the ‘UN 100 women in 100 years’ award among other awards.
SUSAN HARRIS-RIMMER
Associate Professor Susan Harris Rimmer is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow in Griffith Law School, and an Adjunct Reader in the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy at the Australian National University. She is also a Research Associate at the Development Policy Centre in the Crawford School, ANU. Her Future Fellow project is called ‘Trading’ Women’s Rights in Transitions: Designing Diplomatic Interventions in Afghanistan and Myanmar.
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