ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME
Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-078-2014
27 May 2014
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BURMA/MYANMAR: Soldiers who raped teenage girl not punished for crime
ISSUES: Sexual violence; violence against women; impunity; military
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Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has obtained information that two soldiers in the north of Burma (Myanmar) raped a 17-year-old girl. Although the girl and her family complained promptly after the rape, in April 2014, up to now they have no evidence of action being taken against the soldiers. The whereabouts of the soldiers, and the identity of one, also are unknown, because the army has refused to cooperate with police investigating.
CASE NARRATIVE:
On the afternoon of 10 April 2014, "Ma Bauk" and her mother had gone by motorcycle in search of two cattle that after roaming to feed had not returned to their home. By evening they had not found the cattle and Ma Bauk's mother instructed her to go back home, while she would continue looking.
Midway back to her way back to the house, two soldiers on the roadside hailed Ma Bauk, one in uniform, and one without, to stop, saying that they had a message to be carried back to their base. When she stopped, they forced her at knifepoint from the road and pushed her motorcycle out of view, threatening that if she screamed they would kill her.
They kept her there until dark and then forced her to drive her motorbike again, sitting behind her. They put a grenade pressed up to her belly and a knife at her side and threatened her not to stop nor talk to anyone as they went. Then they travelled to an abandoned house on farmland, where they took her inside and got ready to rape her.
Ma Bauk fled from the house but they caught up to her and pulled her back. Then they took turns at raping her throughout the night. Although she cried out for help, the house was around four miles distant from the nearest village, and nobody heard or came.
The next morning at 7am the two soldiers said they would take Ma Bauk into the town of Bhamo (Bamaw). One sat in front and the other behind, with Ma Bauk in the middle.
Before they reached the suspension bridge approaching the town, a tire on the motorcycle blew. By the time they reached the bridge, about 10am, it was not ride-able. They dismounted at the bridge and then Ma Bauk saw a man from same village she knew and fled to his motorcycle, escaping from the soldiers.
When Ma Bauk reached home she told her family what happened to her and they immediately went to the police station and made a complaint, and went for a medical examination.
However, one month after the incident, the police revealed that they had not yet opened a case against the alleged perpetrators. They said that although they identified one as Private Aung Naing Soe, the army had not cooperated and they could not identify the other. They also had heard that the private had gone absent without leave from the battalion camp.
Up to now, Ma Bauk and her family have no more information about anything being done to try to hold the perpetrators of the crime responsible.
Further details are provided in the sample letter below.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The military in Myanmar has long enjoyed impunity for offences committed against civilians, and despite recent political changes, prosecutions of errant soldiers are extremely rare. Currently, the AHRC is closely following the case of three soldiers who murdered and attempted to murder two civilians in the centre of the country. As in this case, even though the police opened a criminal case, the military protected the murderers, and revealed nothing to the surviving victims and their families. They have only come to learn through indirect channels that no action is being taken against the killers: see AHRC-UAU-015-2014.
Conditions in Kachin State are particularly serious, and militarized, due to the continued conflict there. The AHRC in 2013 issued a dossier of cases from Kachin State in which many perpetrators were military personnel (AHRC-PRL-002-2013), and an appeal on the killing of a young woman by military firing whose father himself was prosecuted for lodging complaints (AHRC-UAC-080-2013). In the latter case, the father was subsequently released thanks to widespread public attention to the case, but again no action is known to have been taken against the military personnel involved. In another case of abduction, rape and killing by the military, although lawyers took the matter all the way to the Supreme Court, the military simply denied that it had ever had her in its custody: AHRC-UAC-080-2013.
The 2008 Constitution in its section 20(b) also grants the army autonomy to adjudicate in all matters relating to its own affairs; however, in a case of this sort where army personnel have absconded to a roadside and have held up a civilian in order to rape her, the question of criminal responsibility rests with the civilian courts.
For many more cases and issues concerning human rights in Burma, visit the AHRC's country homepage: http://www.humanrights.asia/countries/burma.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write a letter to the following government authorities to urge that the two accused soldiers be brought before a civilian court and tried for murder without delay. Please note that for the purpose of the letter Burma is referred to by its official name, Myanmar, and Bhamo, Bamaw.
Please also be informed that the AHRC is writing separate letters to the UN Special Rapporteurs on human rights in Myanmar; on violence against women; and, the regional office in Bangkok, calling for their interventions into this matter.
SAMPLE LETTER:
Dear …………….,
MYANMAR: Need to locate and prosecute two soldiers who raped teenage girl
Name of victim: "Ma Bauk" (not her full name), 17, resident of Daingan village, near Bamaw, Kachin State
Names of alleged perpetrators:
1. Private Aung Naing Soe, Serial No. TA/427966, stationed at Battalion of Engineering No. 914, Bamaw, Kachin State
2. Unidentified
Date and time of incident: 5pm on 10 April to 10am on 11 April 2014
Place of incident: Rural area outside of Bamaw, Myanmar
Case opened as: FIR No. 2/2014, Dotponeyan Police Station, by Inspector Myat Min Thein, station commander
I regret to learn that the whereabouts of two soldiers who allegedly raped a 17-year-old girl in Kachin State are unknown and that they appear not to have had any action taken against them for their crime, even though the police have opened a case file and the family have complained actively.
According to the information that I have received, at 3pm on the afternoon of 10 April 2014, "Ma Bauk" and her mother had gone by motorcycle in search of two cattle that after roaming to feed had not returned to their home. By about 5pm they had not found the cattle and her mother instructed her to go back and cook dinner for her father, while she would continue looking.
Midway back to the house, two soldiers on the roadside hailed Ma Bauk, one in uniform, and one without, to stop, saying that they had a message to be carried back to their base at Dotponeyan. When she stopped, they forced her at knifepoint from the road and pushed her motorcycle out of view, threatening that if she screamed they would kill her.
They kept her there until dark and then forced her to drive her motorbike again, sitting behind her. They put a grenade pressed up to her belly and a knife at her side and threatened her not to stop nor talk to anyone as they went. Then they travelled to an abandoned house on farmland, where they took her inside and got ready to rape her. Ma Bauk fled from the house but they caught up to her and pulled her back. Then they took turns at raping her throughout the night. Although she cried out for help, the house was around four miles distant from the nearest village, and nobody heard or came.
The next morning at 7am the two soldiers said they would take Ma Bauk into Bamaw. The one in plainclothes drove and the one in uniform, Private Aung Naing Soe, sat behind, with Ma Bauk in the middle. He kept a knife to her at this time also.
Before they reached the suspension bridge at Bamaw new town, a tire on the motorcycle blew. By the time they reached the bridge, about 10am, it was not ride-able. They dismounted at the bridge and a soldier on security duty was pointing to where they could get it fixed when a man known to Ma Bauk came on his motorcycle from the other direction. When Ma Bauk saw her she called, and ran to her and then escaped from the soldiers on her motorcycle.
When Ma Bauk reached home she told her family what happened to her and they immediately went to the police station and made a complaint, and went for a medical examination.
One month after the incident, the police revealed that they had not yet opened a case against the alleged perpetrators. However, they had identified the one in uniform, Private Aung Naing Soe, because the duty personnel at the bridge knew him. But the army had not cooperated to give information or let them interview the accused men. Furthermore, the police said that they had heard that the private had gone absent without leave from the battalion camp. Up to now, Ma Bauk and her family have no more information about anything being done to try to hold the perpetrators of the crime responsible.
Accordingly, I urge that orders be given from the highest levels of government and the army to identify the other accused and instruct the police to prosecute them for rape and other offences. I urge that the battalion commander responsible for failing to cooperate with the police also have disciplinary action taken against him as a lesson to other officers who think it their duty to protect rapists in the army's ranks.
I also take this opportunity to point out that this is by no means the only case of impunity of soldiers in Myanmar for criminal actions about which I have learned in recent times. For instance, three soldiers in Pyay allegedly responsible for murder and attempted murder have not been brought to justice, even though the police have said that they have enough evidence to prosecute them. The fact of military impunity for killings, rape and other gross criminal actions is not only incompatible with the claims of the government of Myanmar that it is working towards democratisation, but on the contrary, it is in contradiction to those claims. It is also very dangerous for the prospects of political change, because if enough people in Myanmar sense that soldiers can continue to get away with murder and rape now, as in the past, it will damage expectations about the claims of the government, and undermine the prospects for improvement.
Therefore, I urge you to take up this case and others like it not only as a matter of the need to address the rights of the individuals affected, but also as a matter of the larger political conditions in Myanmar today.
Yours sincerely,
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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing
Commander-in-Chief
Myanmar Defence Services
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
2. Lt-Gen. Ko Ko
Minister for Home Affairs
Ministry of Home Affairs
Office No. 10
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 412 079/ 549 393/ 549 663
Fax: +95 67 412 439
3. U Thein Sein
President of Myanmar
President Office
Office No.18
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
4. U Tun Tun Oo
Chief Justice
Office of the Supreme Court
Office No. 24
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: + 95 67 404 080/ 071/ 078/ 067 or + 95 1 372 145
Fax: + 95 67 404 059
5. Dr. Tun Shin
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Office No. 25
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 404 088/ 090/ 092/ 094/ 097
Fax: +95 67 404 146/ 106
6. U Zaw Min
Director General
Myanmar Police Force
Ministry of Home Affairs
Office No. 10
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 412 079/ 549 393/ 549 663
Fax: +951 549 663 / 549 208
7. Thura U Aung Ko
Chairman
Pyithu Hluttaw Judicial and Legislative Committee
Pythu Hluttaw Office
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
8. U Aung Nyein
Chairman
Pyithu Hluttaw Judicial and Legislative Committee
Committee for Public Complaints and Appeals
Office of the Amyotha Hluttaw
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
9. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
Chairwoman
Pyithu Hluttaw Rule of Law and Tranquility Committee
Office of the Pyithu Hluttaw
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
10. U Win Mra
Chairman
Myanmar National Human Rights Commission
27 Pyay Road
Hlaing Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Tel: +95-1-659 668
Fax: +95-1-659 668
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)
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