Senators Feinstein, McConnell & 30 Others
Ask UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to Investigate
Rape Cases by Burmese Soldiers Over the Last Five Years
September 23, 2002

Washington, DC - U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and 24 of their Senate colleagues have asked Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, to investigate a disturbing report that details rape cases by Burmese soldiers involving at least 625 girls and women. The Senators emphasized the fact that rape as a weapon of war is a war crime that warrants a prompt and appropriate response by the international community.

In a letter to Secretary-General Annan, the Senators wrote: "We would like to bring to your attention the enclosed report entitled, 'License to Rape' co-authored by the Shan Women's Action Network and the Shan Human Rights Foundation.

The well-documented report was based on interviews with refugees on the Thai-Burmese border. It found that the rapes were committed mostly between 1996 and 2001 by soldiers from 52 different battalions, most by officers in front of their troops. The rapes were often extremely brutal: 83% of the 625 were perpetrated by officers, 61% were gang rapes, and 25% ended in the murder of the victims.

In some instances, the bodies were then displayed to local communities. Many of the girls - as young as 5 - and women were gang-raped, or raped repeatedly for periods of up to four months. These crimes often took place within military bases and perpetrators have not been punished. Unfortunately, there is no reason to believe that this systematic use of rape by the Burmese military ended in 2001.

The Burmese military junta has yet to make serious efforts to investigate the events alleged by the report. Instead, it has categorically denied the report, called it "totally false and unjust" and sought to discredit its authors.

Allegations of rape by the military are not limited to the Shan State. Such abuses against women and girls have been reported in Karen State and throughout Burma. Amnesty International and other credible human rights monitoring organizations have repeatedly reported on the use of rape by the military. Moreover, this problem has been addressed in language adopted by the U.N. General Assembly's Third Committee resolutions and the UN Commission on Human Rights Resolutions.

Given the seriousness of these most recent allegations, we strongly urge you to employ your good offices, through your Special Envoy Ambassador Razali Ismail, through the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and through the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Situation in Burma to investigate the contents and the findings of the report.

The use of rape as a weapon of war is a war crime and a grave human rights violation that warrants an appropriate, and timely, response by the international community. The SPDC's vitriolic response to these allegations also could undermine your efforts to promote national reconciliation, tripartite dialogue and the restoration of democracy in Burma -- all of which depend on building confidence among the ethnic peoples victimized by these abuses."

The letter was also signed by Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Patty Murray (D-WA), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Gordon Smith (R-OR), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Paul Wellstone (D-MN), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), George Allen (R-VA), Herbert Kohl (D-WI), John Kerry (D-MA), Arlen Specter (R-PA), Jesse Helms (R-NC), Bill Frist (R-TN), Bob Graham (D-FL), Robert Torricelli (D-NJ), Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Russ Feingold (D-WI), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Kay Hutchison (R-TX), Susan Collins (R-ME), Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), Jon Corzine (D-NJ), and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).

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