A STATEMENT BY THE ASIA PACIFIC WOMEN'S WATCH*

We, the women in Asia Pacific Region, support the call of the women of Burma for the Security Council to end impunity for systematic sexual and gender-based violence by the military regime through a referral to the International Criminal Court. The military junta in Burma routinely reigns by use of torture, gang rape of ethnic women, slavery, murder, mass imprisonment, and abduction of children to fill military quotas. The use of SGBV against ethnic women has been documented by women from Burma in multiple reports. Such actions go far beyond a repudiation of democracy; they are criminal violations of international humanitarian and human rights law including genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. We call on the UN Security Council to adhere to its commitments in Resolutions 1325 and 1820 and end impunity for sexual and gender-based violence in Burma by referring the perpetrators to the International Criminal Court./* */

The women of Burma have a right to the justice they have long been denied in their own country. There have been remarkable advances in equality through the recognition that sexual violence is not an inevitable side effect of war but a crime of the most serious nature that must be treated as such. The drafters of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court recognised the seriousness of these crimes and set an international standard by codifying various forms of sexual violence: rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity. In addition, they instituted extensive procedural protections for victims and witnesses of sexual violence.

We have been encouraged by the Court’s commitment to seek justice in the cases of sexual violence, as recently demonstrated in the indictments of Al-Bashir, President of Sudan, and Jean-Pierre Bemba, the Commander in Chief of the Mouvement de Liberation du Congo. As the Prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno Ocampo, stated: Mr. Bemba's arrest is a warning to all those who commit, who encourage, or who tolerate sexual crimes […] There are no excuses for hundreds of rapes. This message must be heard by the military dictatorship in Burma.

Another significant step toward the recognition of the much needed end of impunity for perpetrators of sexual and gender based violence was the Security Council Resolution 1820 passed in June 2008. The Security Council has recognised that sexual violence is a security issue and a threat to peace and that aggravates and perpetuates conflict. In Resolution 1820, the Security Council refers to the ICC and later stresses the importance of ending impunity for [rape and other forms of sexual violence] as part of a comprehensive approach to seeking sustainable peace, justice, truth, and national reconciliation.

The end of impunity for sexual and gender-based crimes in Burma cannot wait. In the spirit of the recent advances that the ICC and the UN have taken to accomplish this goal, we must take steps forward for the women of Burma. It is time for the Security Council to uphold the commitments it made in both Resolution 1325 and Resolution 1820 and to refer the situation in Burma to the ICC, bringing long-awaited justice for the people of Burma and showing the world that sexual and gender-based violence will not be tolerated.

***Asia Pacific Women’s Watch consists of national and regional organisations: All China Women's Federation (China), Asian Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (Malaysia), Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (Thailand), Astivita-Women's Resource and Advocacy Centre (India), Beyond Beijing Committee (Nepal), Centre for Refugee Research, University of New South Wales (Australia), Feminist League (Kazakhstan), Forum of Women's NGOs of Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyzstan), Indonesian Centre for Women in Politics (Indonesia), Japan Women's Watch (JAWW), Korean Women's NGO Network (Korea), MEHR Association of Women's NGOs (Uzbekistan), National Council of Women (Fiji), Pacific Women's Watch (New Zealand), Southeast Asia Women Watch (Philippines), Thai Women Watch (Thailand), Women and Gender Institute, Miriam College (Philippines) Women for Women (Bangladesh) and Isis International (Philippines).