A total of 1,132 women have been killed and 5,649 arrested by the Myanmar military junta since the February 2021 coup, according to a new report by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
The AAPP said it collected the data between the start of the coup and the end of August this year. But the figures reflect only cases that could be verified by the rights group and the actual number of victims is probably much higher, it added.
Ever since the military ousted the elected civilian government of the National League for Democracy (NLD), women across the country have taken the lead in an anti-military protest. Although many were killed, arrested, tortured and subjected to sexual violence, women have remained steadfast in their commitment in all parts of the resistance.
In the report titled “Women Behind Bars in the Spring Revolution”, the group said the main causes of the women’s deaths were shelling, bombing, and torture to death under interrogation in prisons and police stations.
So far this month, another eight women have been killed in prisons, four slaughtered under interrogation, and two murdered in police stations, it said.
Yangon Region saw the most women arrested and imprisoned with 1,440, followed by Mandalay with 929, Sagaing with 705, Bago with 428, Tanintharyi with 424, Magwe with 314, Ayeyarwady with 288, Mon with 275, Shan with 249, Kachin with 197, Kayin with 116, Naypyitaw with 83, Rakhine with 52, Chin with 50, Kayah with 45. The location of another 54 deaths or arrests was unidentified.
Women face the constant threat of arbitrary detention both in areas of intense conflict and in non-combat zones, which the junta justifies with politically based allegations. Most women who were arrested have been subjected to severe physical, emotional and sexual abuse from the moment of their arrest, during interrogation, and throughout their time in prison.
Some female prisoners were killed during interrogation without anyone knowing. Some parents have also been arrested and imprisoned when their children, who are active in politics, could not be caught, said Ma Zu Zu May Yoon from the Women’s Organization of Political Prisoners (WOPP).
The former political prisoner added that detainees include pregnant women, and that her group is trying to support female political prisoners who remain behind bars by delivering medicine and food to them.
“Despite being subjected to relentless oppression by the junta—including inhumane violence, torture, interrogation that violates human dignity, sexual violence without regard for their sense of shame, and brutal killing after rape—whether during their detention or under other circumstances, women from all walk of life continue to actively participate in the struggle to end the dictatorship and are ready to rebuild the country post-revolution,” the AAPP said.
The rights group urged the international community and relevant state actors to increase their support and cooperation in strengthening accountability mechanisms against the junta, who committed these brutal crimes, and to take swift action against those responsible.
