Draft:Gender and Sexual Based Violence Against Rohingya Women in Myanmar

Myanmar, following its independence from British colonial rule in 1948, has had a long history of gender and sexual-based violence targeting ethnic minority women. However, this practice has been widely institutionalized by Myanmar's armed security forces, having been cited for utilizing sexual and gender-based violence, including raping, sexual assault, and verbal abuse against girls and women. The United Nations defines violence against women as "any act of gender-based violence that results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women." This state-sponsored violence has systematically targeted Rohingya women and girls. The motivating factors behind these attacks are closely linked to efforts by the government to create an exclusive Burmese national identity resulting in the persecution of the Rohingya ethnic minority group who differ "ethnically, linguistically, and culturally" from the dominant Buddhist groups in Myanmar.

Historical oppression of Rohingya population

The Rohingya have been deprived of their nationality and persecuted in Myanmar while simultaneously being denied protection as stateless people in neighboring countries. The Rohingya community's status, defined by the government as illegal Bangladeshi migrants, dates all the way back to the 1872 Citizenship Law, which revoked Rohingya citizenship. Therefore, under the guise of government anti-Rohingya laws, which aimed to strip the legal rights of the Rohingya population, Rohingya are, in essence, stateless and stripped of their sovereign rights.

Instances of military-led campaigns against the Rohingya population

In addition to using the law to oppress the Rohingya population systematically, there have been numerous instances of government-led campaigns carried out by the armed security forces in 1978, 1992, 2012, and 2016-17. Of these government-led campaigns, "clearance operations" carried out by Myanmar's military in 2016 and 2017 were potentially the most devastating attacks carried out on the Rohingya population, causing over 700,000 to flee across the borders and 6,700 dead within the first month. This campaign launched by the military was in response to an attack by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army on police outposts in Northern Rakatin. The government justified its actions by citing a response to "Myanmar's unity, stability and sovereignty from islamic terrorists." However, Rohingya have been caught in the crossfire of this 'justified' attack on the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army leading to grave atrocities committed against the ethnic minority group at the hands of the Myanmar armed security forces.

Gender and sexual based violence during the 2016-2017 clearance operation

While all Rohingya have been targets of the Myanmar government, gender based sexual violence against Rohinga women who have been doubly marginalized owing to their ethnicity and gender has been a hallmark of the armed security forces operations. The United Nations Human Rights Council released a report in 2019 that noted how widespread and severe the sexual violence carried out by Myanmar's security forces in 2016-2017 demonstrated "intent to commit genocide as well as warrants persecutions for war crimes and and crimes against humanity," detailed "the widespread and systematic killing of women and girls, the systematic selection of women and girls of reproductive ages for rape, attacks on pregnant women and on babies, the mutilation and other injures to their reproductive organs, the physical branding of their bodies by bite marks on their cheeks, neck, breast and thigh, and so severely injuring victims that they may be unable to have sexual intercourse with their husbands or to conceive and leaving them concerned that they would no longer be able to have children." The report went on to verify large-scale gender and sexual-based violence at the hands of the Myanmar military, documenting that of the women and girls raped during the 2016-2017 "clearance operations," 80% were corroborated by the Human Rights Council being gang rapes and Myanmar's military was responsible for 82% of these gang rapes. This violence carried out against Rohingya women often occurs in front of the victim's children, other family members, and neighbors. However, to date, no military officials have been held accountable for the brutality of sexual violence carried out against Rohingya women and girls. Additionally, victims of rape who were fortunate enough to escape the ordeal were not able to access the emergency contraceptives offered in refugee camps since they are time-sensitive medications, and the perilous journey to these camps often took weeks on foot. In essence, the systematic violence carried out by Myanmar's security forces against women and girls is described as a part of a wider campaign of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims.

Discriminatory laws targeting Rohingya women and girls

In tandem with gender-based sexual violence carried out under the guise of military campaigns against terrorists, aiming to promote the eradication of the Rohingya population, the government, with a military dictatorship from 1962 to 2011 and from 2021 onward, has also implemented laws related to abortion and child-rearing, in addition to the absence of humanitarian aid and healthcare, which systematically targets Rohingya women. The two-child policy imposed on the Rohingya community results in Rohingya women undergoing unsafe and life-threatening abortions due to fear of being persecuted since abortions are illegal, even in the case of rape in Myanmar. Therefore, women often induce abortions by pushing a stick through the uterus to abort the fetus. As a result of these conditions, OCHER reported that "unsafe abortions are reported to be the cause of 15 per cent of all maternal deaths in the Rakhine State, compared to the national average of 10 per cent of maternal deaths." Contraceptives are also not available to Rohingya women residing in the Rakhine state. Furthermore, especially since the military coup in 2021 which imposed travel restrictions, required travel permits, the expense of bribes, mistrust, and pervasive discrimination by healthcare providers have led to healthcare and reproductive care being inaccessible for Rohingya women living in the Rakhine state.

International response

China and ASEAN have refrained from intervening in the Rohingya crisis, citing Myanmar's sovereignty and non-interference as justification. China's response has been notably different than that of other countries, primarily the United States and its Western allies, that have condemned Myanmar. China's response of "dialogue and cooperation over condemnation and sanctions" reflects its Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. Therefore, China has come to the defense of Myanmar's armed forces campaigns targeting the Rohingya population. China has been critical in shielding Myanmar from sanctions at the UN and has offered "rhetorical and material support for its handling of the so-called terrorist attacks." This response is strategic for China, which seeks to leverage its "pro-government position on the Rohingya issue to win Naypyidaw's support" for Beijing's political and economic interests. Moreover, China prioritizes economic cooperation and connection "as it believes that economic development can promote peace and stability in the region," associating Myanmar's economic underdevelopment as the root cause of conflict. This approach is strategic as it provides an opportunity to cement bilateral ties and advance its geostrategic and geo-economic interests in the Rakhine state. The Rakhine state has been seen as a gateway to the Indian Ocean and, therefore, has led to two of China's largest investment projects —the Sino-Myanmar oil and gas pipelines and the Kyaukphyu deep-sea port—under the Belt and Road Initiative.

ASEAN's ability to respond effectively to the crisis results from its institutional principles of consensus and "non-interference in the domestic affairs of other member countries." The Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in South-East Asia "promotes dialogue rather than punishment in relations between states, and therefore there are no mechanisms within the ASEAN legal framework by which they can punish any countries or suspend them." As a result of its institutional structure, which has left it caught between key principles and international uproar, ASEAN "has struggled to respond to the crisis and articulate a clear vision and strategy that would help end the cycle of violence and displacement." Thus, with a lack of interference from regional actors and institutions, Myanmar's government has not been held accountable for the atrocities committed against the Rohingya population and has been able to continue to perpetuate its violence on the ethnic minority group.