It seems that this year alone we have been inundated with images of the brutality ensuing the Rohingya people in Rakhine state in Myanmar. These people have been reported to be the most discriminated, oppressed and marginalised segment of the global population at this present juncture in time. Most recently reports coming out of this area have indicated the onset of genocide and the most horrific forms of use of violence in order to control and get rid of an entire group of people. Within these crimes violence against women has reportedly been rife with the rampant use of rape and gang rape as a tool of warfare being wielded by Burmese soldiers.
The world is not unfamiliar with this form of warfare and it is best defined as the deliberate use of devastating forms of sexual violence as a method of combat “deployed systematically to achieve military or political objectives”.
Recently the United Nations Human Rights Commission identified the pervasive nature of sexual violence within armed conflicts and noted that “women and girls are particularly targeted, including as a tactic of war to humiliate, dominate, instil fear in, disperse and/or forcibly relocate civilian members of a community or ethnic group.” The latter being exactly what is occurring in Rakhine State at the moment.
The main element of this tool centres around the idea of control and shame. The thinking behind it being that rape and gang rape is used as a demoralisation technique in which women of opposition groups/factions are deliberately targeted and thus used as pawns in warfare. This then once again comes back to the idea of women being used as objects who can be pushed around on a metaphorical chess board as men please in order to further their military or political gains.
The social stigma around rape and its fallout mean that most women who are subjected to such brutal and heinous acts are then shunned by their own families and communities. For this reason many women choose to keep quiet about their attacks even in the face of horrific injuries, let alone the affects such incidences have on their mental health. Added to this misery is the element that justice in a war affected conflict circumstance for crimes involving sexual violence are almost non-existent. For the Rohingya, a population that has been denied citizenship and legal rights in their own country, equality and justice before the law does not apply in regular settings let alone those mid conflict.
Now I know the feeling that this kind of a piece might incur; one of utter helplessness. How is it possible that someone like you or me who is sitting comfortably in their home or office half way around the world can make a difference at all? Well, advocacy and activism of this sort revolve around the concept that raising people’s awareness, even those many continents away is the first step towards comprehensive change. We have to keep this item on the agenda of our public awareness and continue to reiterate that sexual violence and rape as a tool of warfare in any context goes against every universal code and agreement that exists. Furthermore the systemic and deliberate targeting of women in conflict zones is utterly unacceptable and will not be tolerated in any form.
End – Day 7.
*For further information please refer to: https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/11/16/burma-widespread-rape-rohingya-women-girls
I blog for Change. 