At least 308 women and girls have been killed by junta forces since the coup in February last year, according to the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), a political coalition of anti-regime bodies. Twelve of those victims, including girls, were raped before being killed, said an NUCC statement issued Sunday (November 27).
The statement, which came two days after the UN launched “16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence” on November 25, also demanded international action against Myanmar’s military regime.
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“Every time conflict breaks out in Myanmar, the military uses gender-based violence including the rape of women and children as a tool,” said the NUCC, an alliance of pro-democracy forces and ethnic armed organizations that serves as a decision-making body in Myanmar’s parallel government.
According to data gathered by the NUCC, the junta’s police and military troops have killed 2,327 people, 308 of whom were women or girls. The data also shows the regime has arrested 16,432 people, 3,434 of whom are female.
The NUCC has also identified 12 cases where junta personnel raped women or girls before killing them. It has logged another 40 cases in which women and children have been reported raped, killed and their bodies burned to destroy evidence.
The NUCC said the military has adopted rape, torture and sexual abuse of civilians as a weapon of war, and continues to commit these and other war crimes with impunity almost daily.
