The Burma Spring by Rena Pederson

Author:Rena Pederson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pegasus

Despite the great risk, women often led the way in exposing the repression under Than Shwe. In addition to the Shan Women’s Action Network exposure of the use of rape as a weapon, the Palaung Women’s Organization documented the growth of the drug trade in 2009 in their report “Poisoned Hills.” The Karen Women’s Organization documented the abuses experienced or witnessed by women who have taken leadership roles in their villages in a report called “Walking Among Sharp Knives” in 2010. The abuse that has been documented includes:

•People burned alive

•Crucifixions

•Rape, including gang rape

•Many forms of torture, including beatings and water torture

•People buried up to their heads in earth and beaten to death

•Arbitrary executions

•Beheadings

•Slave labor

One woman reported that she was forced to carry heavy loads as a porter for soldiers and was tied up at night with ropes that were jerked as she tried to sleep. When she protested the torture, she was raped. Other women were used as minesweepers, forced to walk ahead of soldiers in areas peppered with land mines.

Another woman, who served as village chief for five years because no one else wanted the job, said the military came to her village searching for insurgents. They forced several people into a hole, covered them with earth up to their necks, and stomped on them. Another female village chief, who had endured beatings herself, said villagers were arrested while working on their farms, tied up, and crucified before their throats were finally cut.

The government denied the allegations, saying its soldiers were only engaged in anti-terrorist operations.

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