Root cause of armed conflict and CRSV
Women’s League of Burma was founded in 1999 and comprises 12 different ethnic women’s organizations. Our Vision is the federal democratic union of Burma is premised in genuine peace, social and political justice, and gender and ethnic equality.
I am pleased to share with you all here this morning to talk about the WPS situation in Burma/Myanmar and how to strengthen the WPS agenda.
It has been more than three years since the start of the brutal military-attempted coup in Burma/Myanmar, which has pushed the country into a humanitarian crisis, displacing over 2.65 million people and the military junta is ongoing committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, including conflict-related sexual violence. Decades of militarization has compounded women’s experience of patriarchal violence, which is worsened during these times of conflict.
Armed Conflict and Violence: Burma/Myanmar has experienced long-standing armed conflicts in various regions/across the country. Women and girls often bear the brunt of the violence associated with these conflicts, including sexual violence, human trafficking, forced labor, and forced recruitment.
Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV): SGBV is a significant threat to women's security in Burma/Myanmar. It includes rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, and forced prostitution. Conflict and displacement exacerbate the risk of SGBV, as women and girls become more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
WLB works on WPS
Since we founded WLB, WLB and its member organizations have focused on working on women peace and security especially promoting women participating in peace, politics, and decision-making body at all levels, and closely working with conflict-affected communities and women survivors to find justice. (documentation, consultation, empowerment, and advocacy, building alliances is an important strategy of WLB). At the same time, we advocate and lobby to the stakeholders including EROs to put the WPS agenda at the political dialogue and peace process.
In 2023, we have an opportunity to develop a comprehensive WPS framework for Burma (by bottom-up approach method). The objective of the framework is to ensure clear guidelines for all democratic stakeholders to address WPS during the revolution and the interim period; a framework to collectively assess the women peace and security situation in Burma/Myanmar, including the opportunities, threats and implications. It also called for inclusive and meaningful participation of women.