Karen Women's Organization: Empowerment, Equality and Freedom
A recent KWO workshop on conflict resolution.
The motto of the Karen Women's Organization (KWO) is 'empowerment, equality, freedom' - words that succinctly capture the aims, hopes and dreams of Karen women. Karen State is one of the largest in eastern Burma and home to the Karen people as well as many other ethnic nationalities. During Burma's independence struggle in the 1940s, Karen political leaders never entered into an agreement with the central government, but today the Karen people are key in the struggle for democracy and national reconciliation in Burma. As a result, repression by Burma's military dictatorship in Karen State is severe; human rights violations include forced labour, forced relocation, systematic rape, torture, and extrajudicial killings. Hundreds of thousands of Karen people have been displaced over the last fifteen years and few social services such as healthcare or education exist in Karen State. KWO's ultimate goal remains elusive.
Women living in Karen State face grim conditions. Basic subsistence is a struggle, and the climate of fear generated by the military is ever-present. Many Karen women make the difficult choice of fleeing to Thailand to live as 'refugees' or 'illegal migrants'. It is a life of marginalization, vulnerability and insecurity.
Based in Thailand, KWO is entirely run and managed by women from Karen State. KWO offers a range of programs that address women's immediate needs as well as the space to plan for the future. These women are also involved in policy and advocacy work regionally and internationally. KWO believes that if Burma is to change, the prevailing structures of power must change, and that women's voices are critical in this transformation.
KWO's Violence Against Women program is a courageous step in beginning to document and expose sexual violence perpetrated by the military in Burma, and in providing counselling and support for women. The women who work on the Violence Against Women program put themselves at considerable personal risk. KWO's 2004 report, Shattering Silences, which documented the use of rape as a weapon of war in Karen State, generated vehement denial on the part of the military junta in Burma. With limited resources, and in the context of a humanitarian crisis, it is difficult to provide adequate support and services as well as reach women who need them. However, KWO's program has been an important catalyst in exposing the military's crimes while building a strong support network for women.
KWO also takes care to treat women with respect for their privacy and an understanding of the trauma they have experienced. KWO has trained local women, particularly younger women, in the necessary research and interviewing skills, and provided support for the women who have given testimony. For KWO, women are not just 'case studies'. These women are their families and communities.
KWO is also concerned about what will happen to refugee women when the time comes to return to Burma. Under what conditions would a return be considered? Although many international NGOs on the Thai-Burma border have contemplated the scenario of a Karen repatriation, there has been little authentic engagement with the Karen refugee community. In response, a coalition of Karen groups, including KWO, began their own discussions on return issues. KWO also held workshops for women in the refugee camps based on an exchange facilitated by Inter Pares in 2003, which brought together former refugee women from Guatemala and women from the Thai-Burma border to discuss lessons learned from the return of Guatemalan refugees in the mid-1990s.
For KWO, it is imperative that the voices of Karen women and of women from all parts of Burma be heard and included in decision-making about the present and the future. Inter Pares is honoured to support KWO's ultimate dream of empowerment, equality and freedom.
| Reviewed September 7, 2005 |  |
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