Sexual and gender-based violence in Myanmar and the gendered impact of its ethnic conflicts in English C. Sexual and gender-based violence in Kachin and Shan States (i) Context 108. Since June 2011, the protracted conflicts in Kachin and Shan States escalated, characterized both by intense fighting between the Tatmadaw and the EAOs 237 and by EAOs fighting each other.238 Attempts to sign an inclusive peace agreement with all EAOs operating in Kachin and Shan States have failed. 239 Despite a unilateral ceasefire declared by the Tatmadaw from December 2018 to 31 August 2019,240 the Mission found that hostilities continue with adverse effects on the civilian populations, 241 including continued sexual and gender-based violence. 109. The populations of Kachin and Shan States comprise various ethnic and religious groups.242 Many of these groups have struggled for decades for greater autonomy and against what they perceive to be a central government that has favoured Bamar-Buddhists politically and economically.243 These grievances have been aggravated by the Tatmadaw’s counterinsurgency tactics that directly target and adversely affect the civilian population. In certain regions in northern Myanmar, the Tatmadaw intentionally and frequently targets civilian populations that share the same ethnicity as members of EAOs. The Tatmadaw seems to consider all members of an ethnic minority to be members and supporters of an EAO of the same ethnicity. 110. Villages were cleared and land was burned throughout Kachin and Shan States since 2011.244 Thousands of civilians have been displaced. Over 106,500 people have been living in 169 camps in Kachin and Shan since 2011, 36 per cent of them in contested areas and areas controlled by EAOs to which United Nations agencies are denied access.245 The conflicts in Kachin and Shan States are also fuelled by the exploitation of natural resources, land use and major infrastructure projects, and narcotics trading.246 International human rights and humanitarian law violations against ethnic and religious groups in northern Myanmar are committed in a context of severe discrimination on ethnic and gender grounds, often with persecutory intent. This manifests itself in the use of ethnic and sexist 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 The EAOs are: Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Shan State Army-South (SSA-S - Armed wing of the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) and Shan State Army-North (SSA-N - Armed wing of the Shan State Progress Party (SSPP). Notably the SSA-S and the TNLA, and the SSA-S and SSA-N sporadically Despite attempts to sign peace agreements with some of the EAOs since 1961, several groups have been ostracized from the peace process, and hostilities have continued even with some parties to the National Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). The NCA was signed on 12 October 2015 with eight EAOs. Groups that have not signed include the KIA, the MNDAA, the TNLA and the Arakan Army (AA). Among the groups currently involved in hostilities in Kachin and Shan States, only the SSA-S signed the NCA but clashes continue between it and the Tatmadaw, parallel to the peace process. The SSA-N has not yet signed the NCA; A/HRC/39/CRP.2, para. 107; A/HRC/42/50, para. 57-58. Including the KIA, MNDAA and TNLA, see Myanmar Times, Tatmadaw extends ceasefire a second time, to August 31, 2 July 2019; 2393, 2394, 2395, 2396, 2397, 2398; Myanmar Times, “Tatmadaw extends ceasefire a second time, to August 31” (2 July 2019). A/HRC/42/50, para. 57-66. The peoples of Shan State include the Shan, Pa-O, Intha, Lahu, Lisu, Taungyo, Danu, Ta’ang, Ahka and Jinghpaw (Kachin), Shan-Chinese (Han), Shan-Ni and Kokang. The peoples of Kachin State include the Jinghpaw, Shan, Ruwang, Lisu, Zaiwa, Lawngwaw, Lachyit, Rakhine and Bamar. Many of the ethnic minority groups have substantial numbers of Christians among their members. Some groups are predominantly Christian. A/HRC/39/CRP.2, para. 109. A/HRC/39/CRP.2, para. 109. A/HRC/42/50, para. 61. A/HRC/39/CRP.2, para. 110; A/HRC/42/CRP.3. 27