[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 89 (Friday, June 28, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1187]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 MASS RAPES OF WOMEN AND GIRLS IN BURMA

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                        HON. CYNTHIA A. McKINNEY

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 27, 2002

  Ms. McKINNEY. Mr. Speaker, I stand today to call attention to the 
appalling campaign of terror-through-rape recently uncovered in Burma. 
A report by the Shan Women's Action Network and Shan Human Rights 
Foundation reveals a truly horrific campaign of systematic rape carried 
out by the military against women and girls--some as young as five 
years old--in Burma's Shan State.
  While Burma's record of repression is well known, this new report 
shines a light on atrocities previously hidden by the dark clouds of 
dictatorship. The report, based on interviews with girls and women 
refugees along the Thailand-Burma border, documents the rapes of 625 
women and girls by Burmese military forces against villagers in Burma's 
Shan State. Given the alarming numbers in this limited refugee 
population, it is likely that this is but the tip of the iceberg. While 
the exact scale of this atrocity is unknown, there can be no doubt that 
Burma's military leaders are using rape on a wide scale as a weapon of 
war against its own civilian population.
  According to the report, an astounding 83% of the documented rapes 
were committed by military officers from 52 different battalions, 
usually in front of their own troops. 61% of the cases were gang rapes, 
and many women were raped inside military bases. Many were held captive 
and raped repeatedly for months on end. Many women recounted the terror 
of being severely beaten, tortured, or mutilated. In 25% of the 
documented cases the women were murdered after being raped. The report 
also notes how those murdered by the Burmese military were left in 
public areas in order to intimidate and terrorize villagers and family 
members.
  In this report, hundreds of courageous Burmese women and girls 
recount the terror of their experiences. One young Burmese woman told 
of how she found her five year old sister ``tied up and crying, with 
her sexual organs bloody . . .'' Another recounted how she and other 
women of her village ``were forced to serve as sex slaves.'' 
Ironically, these new revelations of mass rapes come on the heels of 
the release of 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi. But 
we harbor no illusions about the nature of this brutal military regime.
  Mr. Speaker, whether they take place in Burma, Bosnia, or Eastern 
Congo, rape as a weapon of war is a grave violation of the Geneva 
Conventions and a crime against humanity. I call on the State 
Department, United Nations, and my colleagues in the Congress to speak 
out strongly against the military regime that continues to sanction and 
condone these rapes and other atrocities.

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