SEXUAL VIOLENCE VOICED BY WOMEN GROUP ( Kao-Wao ) March 8, 2003

Kao Wao Newsletter

SEXUAL VIOLENCE VOICED BY WOMEN GROUP

(Kao-Wao, March 8, 2003)

The Women's League of Burma honored the International Women's Day with their pledge to struggle for justice, peace and equality for the women of Burma.

The Thailand-Burma border based WLB issued a statement on the International Women's Day, recognized by the United Nations in 1975.

WLB stated that women from Burma have increasingly been raped, targeted for >exploitation, bought and sold for the Thai sex trade, forciby displaced due >to the civil war, torn from their families and driven to poverty over the past decade. The growing gap between the rich and poor in Asia, oppression and systematic violation of human rights by the successive Burmese military regimes has inflicted considerable hardship on the people and the country.

The umbrella women’s organization claimed that the Burmese authorities are denouncing the reports of documented sexual violence committed by the state and is trying to cover up their violations. Burma's current social, political and economic development is not conducive for women's development and the League believes that the restoration of a democratic system in Burma will enable all to work for peace, gender equality and for the healthy >development of women in Burma.

According to WLB leader Nang Hseng Noung, WLB is joining forces with international women groups’ for the elimination of discrimination against women and capacity building for women. The Women's League of Burma (WLB) is an umbrella organization of 11 women's groups in exile, formed in December 1999.