JURIST EXCLUSIVE – From one of our Myanmar law students, reflecting on the dual significance of June 19 for women in Myanmar:

June 19 is a very special day. It’s not just the leader DASSK  [Daw Aung San Suu Kyi]’s birthday. It’s International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict.

For all the women who had to face sexual violence

– during Rohingya crisis,
– civil Wars,
– protesting
– arbitral arrest/abduction
– interrogation processes of SAC

We wear “Red lipsticks” that represents all brave women standing against the military juntas and fighting for Justice, Truth, Democracy

#RedLipsSpeakTruthToPower

The role of women in this Revolution is significant.

Women are in

– leadership positions of the parallel government, NUG [National Unity Government]
– young brave women join EAO [Ethnic Armed Organization]s. The prejudice upon women as shy, quiet and coward is totally untrue. All the young women in Myanmar are the living proofs.
– Women are not afraid to go out, speak out and protest in the midst of raining bullets.

Dr. Tayzar San is the leader of protesting groups in Mandalay but he has to flee away for a while. However, there isn’t a day when there’s no protests. Currently, the young woman who is leading Mandalay’s protesting groups is a talented young woman who is a law graduate from University of Mandalay.

All men and women are suffering because of military juntas. We all are at the risk of getting abducted, murdered and tortured. However, military juntas especially exercise disgusting methods to defeat women. Sexual violence against women is totally unacceptable and we all must do anything to stop them immediately.

UN and the international community establish Conventions to protect women’s rights. However, this is the time to actually exercise those provisions in practical situations. The military Juntas are harassing women causally and not only that, they’re using sexual violence as a weapon to silence women’s voices. Their intention is vivid. Majority of population is women in the whole country and also in protesting crowds. They will punch on the faces if they arrest a guy but in case of women, they will go extra length to harass us, by forcing us to sing and dance for them, by abusing verbally, by committing sexual assaults, and even rape. These are legit news confirmed by many broadcasting centers and in investigation reports of Ministry of Women, Youths and Children Affairs, NUG.