Women's League of Burma: Courage in the Face of Fear
Then he put his rifle barrel against my face - it felt so cold and made me so afraid I can't tell you.
Testimony from Naw Lay Wah From
Shattering Silences: Karen Women speak out about the Burmese Military Regime's use of Rape as a Strategy of War in Karen State
People in Burma live in fear. A soldier's knock at the door can compel them to flee to a life of hunger and uncertainty as refugees. An officer can order them to provide a month of backbreaking, uncompensated labour for the local battalion. An unlucky encounter in their fields with troops can result in the loss of a season's worth of food, beatings and even the murder of a family member.
Burma's military dictatorship does not pay its soldiers well. In remote areas, soldiers are required to be "self-sufficient," a euphemism for living off already impoverished villagers. With an army of over 450,000 soldiers, the people of Burma experience militarization in all aspects of their lives. Sexual violence is part of the strategy to instill terror, to subjugate, and to destroy the social bonds of communities - through tactics such as the gang rape, detention, torture, and murder of women and girls.
On paper, Burma has laws that outlaw such crimes. In reality, a practice of impunity prevails. Those who dare to speak out are silenced by threats. Some disappear. Others are imprisoned, tortured, or killed.
The Women's League of Burma (WLB) is one of the few actors to continue a vocal and unrelenting condemnation of the sexual violence perpetrated by the military. They refuse to let the women in Burma who suffer be forgotten. The WLB's recent report, System of Impunity: Nationwide Patterns of Sexual Violence by the Military Regime's Army and Authorities in Burma, meticulously documents the war crimes being committed against women. WLB recognizes women's trauma, especially when they are asked to retell their stories. An essential element of WLB's work has been to protect the women who have had the courage to speak out, especially those still living inside Burma, and to provide counselling in order that they begin to heal.
Inter Pares is privileged to be able to support the efforts of WLB as they dare to speak out for the women of Burma in the face of fear.
System of Impunity can be found on WLB's Web site at 
www.womenofburma.org.
Defending Civil Liberties, in Canada and Worldwide
One of the most troubling characteristics of the present era is the erosion of the rule of law and the rights of citizens. This phenomenon includes the excesses of those who make laws and are charged with upholding them.
The International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG) is a coalition of over 30 Canadian organizations, including Inter Pares, created in the aftermath of government reaction to the events of September, 2001. Its purpose is to monitor "anti-terrorism" legislation and other security measures that affect civil liberties, human rights, refugee protection, political dissent, and the activities of charities carrying out international cooperation and humanitarian assistance globally. The ICLMG has raised concerns about Canada's anti-terrorism legislation and other counterterrorism measures, the continental harmonization of security policies with the United States, the practice of covert data-sharing among states, the lack of transparency and accountability in the use of security certificates, the erosion of privacy rights, the lack of "due process," and the lack of political oversight over security operations.
The ICLMG also challenges practices that contravene the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, other Canadian laws, and international human rights standards. ICLMG monitors the use of security certificates and secret trials to deport landed immigrants and refugees, and intervenes in individual cases, such as that of Maher Arar, where there have been serious violation of civil liberties and human rights. ICLMG worked to help ensure that the government launch a public inquiry in the Arar case, and Justice O'Connor has granted ICLMG intervener status in his Commission.
Last year the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group organized an international meeting to explore the effects of security legislation on rights, freedoms, and democracy worldwide, during which participants agreed to work together to raise public awareness on the burgeoning worldwide system of "total surveillance" and control of movement. The International Campaign on Citizen Registration and Global Surveillance is mobilizing citizens' organizations to alert the public, the media, and policymakers about the negative impact of harmonized global surveillance on privacy rights, and freedom of movement and association. The working group for the campaign, led by ICLMG, includes Inter Pares, the Canadian Association of University Teachers, Amnesty International Canada, La Ligue des droits et libertés, Statewatch-U.K., the American Civil Liberties Union, the Friends Committee on National Legislation (Washington), the Asian People's Security Network, and Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM).
ICLMG's reports, In the Shadow of the Law and Anti-Terrorism and the Security Agenda: Impacts on Rights, Freedoms and Democracy, are available under Publications.
| Reviewed February 24, 2009 |  |
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