Sexual and gender-based violence in Myanmar and the gendered impact of its ethnic conflicts in English traditional justice systems, ill-suited to provide justice to survivors of sexual and genderbased violence. 9. Conflicts impact different genders differently. Myanmar is no exception to this rule. The Mission found the gendered impact of Myanmar’s conflicts to be multi-faceted, while invariably taking a heavy toll on women and girls. In northern Myanmar, women and girls have borne the brunt of violations, including sexual and gender-based violence, as well as a wide spectrum of violations of their basic economic and social rights against the backdrop of existing gender inequality. In Rakhine, Rohingya women have been subjected to grave sexual and gender-based violence, including gang rape, rape and mutilation. Their situation is exacerbated by gender inequality and wide-spread discrimination against Rohingya, affecting rehabilitation and redress. 10. The Mission found that the obstacles to accountability for sexual and gender-based violence in Myanmar are many. To date, no senior Tatmadaw officer has been held accountable for the widespread sexual and gender-based violence committed against the Rohingya during the 2016 and 2017 “clearance operations”. Some of the obstacles are legal. The Government has also yet to show the necessary political will and courage to effectively address the systemic nature of sexual and gender-based violence committed by its security forces. 11. The Mission concludes this report with a set of recommendations building on its 2018 report specifically aimed at accountability, rehabilitation and redress for victims of sexual and gender-based violence. 12. No perpetrator of rape, gang rape and other sexual and gender-based violence should go unpunished. No victim of these crimes should be deprived of justice. Accountability is as urgent a priority today as ever. This report is a call to action to the Government of Myanmar, to all parties to the conflicts and to the international community to hold perpetrators of rape and other forms of sexual violence to account. II. Introduction “Rape is used in my country as a weapon against those who only want to live in peace, who only want to assert their basic human rights. It is used as a weapon by armed forces to intimidate the ethnic nationalities and to divide our country” State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, 20112 13. In its report to the Human Rights Council in September 2018 3 (hereinafter “the 2018 Report”), the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (hereinafter “The Mission”) concluded that “rape and other sexual violence have been a particularly egregious and recurrent feature of the targeting of the civilian population in Rakhine, Kachin and Shan States since 2011.”4 14. The Mission verified cases of women, men and girls being subjected to abduction, rape, including gang rape, sexual torture, sexual slavery and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence in Kachin and Shan States. In Rakhine State, where sexual and gender-based violence was committed on a massive scale during the Tatmadaw’s “clearance operations” of 2016 and 2017, the Mission documented gang rapes, rapes and other forms of sexual violence. Hundreds of Rohingya women and girls were raped, with 80 per cent of the rapes corroborated by the Mission being gang rapes. The Tatmadaw was responsible for 82 per cent of these gang rapes. 15. Despite the gravity and brutality of the sexual violence, two years after the “clearance operations” that began on 25 August 2017, and one year since the publication of the Mission’s 2018 report, no high-ranking Tatmadaw commander has been held 2 3 4 4 Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, video statement delivered at the Nobel Women’s Initiative “Women forging a new security: Ending sexual violence in conflict conference”. A/HRC/39/CRP.2. A/HRC/39/CRP.2, para. 1372.