WUNRN
BURMA/MYANMAR – WOMEN RESIST PROPOSED
“LAWS ON PROTECTION OF RACE & RELIGION” – RESTRICTIVE TO WOMEN’S EQUALITY,
RIGHTS, FREEDOM
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Statement of
Women’s Groups and CSOs on Preparation of the Draft Interfaith Marriage Laws in
Myanmar – See website link for full Statement & Signatures
“The proposed
Interfaith Marriage Act not only discriminates against Myanmar Buddhist women,
women of other faiths residing in Myanmar, and indigenous people, but also
places the responsibility of preserving race, religion, culture and traditions
solely on women. “ Laws include the Religion Conversion Law, Interfaith
Marriage Law, Population Control Law, & Monogamy Law.
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Women’s Rights Activists Resist
Myanmar’s Proposed ‘Laws On Protection Of Race And Religion’
Interview with a
Representative from the Myanmar/Burma Women’s Network and the Women’s League of Burma about
the Proposed ‘Law On the Protection of Race and Religion’ - AWID
10/31/2014 - Earlier this
year, the government of Burma/Myanmar published four draft Bills, known
together as the “Laws On Protection Of Race And Religion”. If implemented, the
Bills would further restrict women’s equality and freedom, fail to comply with
international human rights standards,[1] and add to the discrimination against the already
persecuted Rohingya people. The draft Bills have been widely condemned,[2] including by women’s rights activists in Burma/Myanmar
who have come together to fight them under an umbrella group known as the
Women’s Network of Myanmar. The Network has openly spoken out against the laws
in a letter to the President and ajoint public statement released by 97 civil society
organisations, further endorsed by 166 women’s rights, development, human
rights networks and faith based organisations.[3] The extreme religious nationalist 969 group released
their own statement soon after, accusing the women’s rights
organizations and CSOs of being ‘traitors’. Several women human rights defenders received threatening online
messages and phone calls – including death threats.
The laws, which include
the Religion Conversion Law, Interfaith Marriage Law, Population Control Law,
and the Monogamy Law, violate human rights in several different ways.[4] The Bill imposes a patriarchal concept of marriage
that assumes women pass from property of the father to the husband, violates
the right to exercise freely and without fear of intimidation their belief,
religion, choice of partner and sexuality and has the potential to violate
their freedom of expression, association and movement.[5] For instance, it forces people to provide reasons for
conversion and undergo an investigation by a registration committee to receive
approval (or not) on what should be a personal decision. It also restricts the
rights of Buddhist women forcing them to obtain permission from their parents
and government officials in order to marry non-Buddhist men. This Bill also
forces non-Buddhist men to convert to Buddhism before marrying Buddhist
women. Furthermore, the Bill proposes discriminatory measures aimed at
controlling the growth of the Muslim population in the country; and adds
to the large number of laws in Myanmar that restrict and regulate women’s
sexuality, marriage and inheritance rights. Thus, the purpose of the four draft
Bills is to, essentially, foster a nation of one religion
and one ethnicity, while marginalizing or even criminalizing others, thus
hindering Burma’s/Myanmnar’s transition to democracy, to rights-based
Constitutional protections, to national peace processes and instead escalates
inter-communal conflict – which has long existed.
Activists assert that the
laws not only contravene international human rights, but given a complicated
context where extremist monks are inciting religious nationalist fervour
amongst the Buddhist-majority population, the passing of the bill is a
political tool in the lead up to the 2015 election. As Thin Thin Aung,
from the Women’s League of Burma notes, “What the monks say,
many people do. Our group has been called traitors. It's very difficult for
ordinary people to speak out”. According to the last news received it was
expected that the government would finalize the drafting of these laws by
October 2014.
A
Synopsis of Religious Nationalism in Myanmar
The drafting of these
Bills is part of a long history of systematic persecution in Burma of the
Rohingya people. The Rohingya people of the Rakhine State in North West Myanmar
are a stateless Muslim minority group not recognized among the 134 official ethnic groups of the country, and viewed by
authorities and locals as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Outbursts of violence
against Rohingyas by Buddhists in 2012 and 2013 led to the deaths of hundreds
of people with 150,000 Rohingya’s currently housed in camps for internally
displaced people that restrict their access to livelihood, food, water, travel
and education.
Alongside the simmering
ethno-religious tensions in the Northwest, a group of influential Buddhist
monks have been ‘running a broad anti-Muslim campaign’ since the political
transition in 2011. However, this anti-Muslim sentiment has been long standing,
reinforced by the military regime, and extreme monks who spread hatred and
violence and dehumanization of the Rohingya people further marginalizing them
from mainstream Buddhist society. This inter-communal conflict and
tension has spread to other parts of Burma/Myanmar backed by political
players and extremist Buddhist monks, also known as 969 movementled by U Wirathu and the Association of Protection of Race and Religion (Mabatha),
who have been the primary supporters of the aforementioned Interfaith Marriage
Bill.[6] In fact, Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN Special
Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Burma, notes that the “ persecution
against the Rohingya community could amount to crimes against humanity”.[7] Human Rights Watch described it as ‘ethnic cleansing’ and
the Global Minorities Alliance calling it ‘a silent
genocide’.
Reifying Buddhism as a
common thread in Myanmar’s national and political identity is the easy path to
take – particularly for a country with a very recent past of protracted ethnic
conflict, historically ruled by a military regime, now taking tentative steps
towards reform.
Further more, claims
of radicalization and recruitment of Rohingya men, especially
youth, by Islamist groups supported by Saudi Arabia, while never proven to be
true, has served as ammunition to fuel to the argument of a fear of an Islamist
invasion of Burma, thus strengthening, deepening, and solidifying sentiments of
patriotism and survival amongst Buddhists. In simpler terms, the cleansing of
the Rohingya people is construed to be a necessary act of violence for the
survival of Myanmar’s ‘authentic’ national identity.
According to the UN
Refugee Agency (UNHCR), there are also 200,000 to 500,000 Rohingyas in
Bangladesh, with authorities there announcing in early September, 2014 that they will send
back over 2,000 Rohingya refugees to Myanmar – straight back into communal
tensions between Buddhists and Muslims. International aid workers fled Rakhine
State in April 2014 after being targeted by Buddhist mobs who threw rocks at
homes and offices over perceived humanitarian bias towards Rohingyas.
International aid organizations in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh were
also been asked to cease operations by the government in an attempt to make
life as difficult as possible and deter others from seeking refuge.
With international shock
and disappointment, Aun San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader and the Nobel
Peace Prize laureate, is allowing the persecution of the Royingya to continue
with impunity, even denying that there is any specific violence or marginalization
directed towards them
Women's
Rights Activists Spearheading the Counter-Movement
The counter-movement to
religious nationalism and the Bills in particular has been led by women’s
rights activists, students, intellectuals and other civil society organizations.
Indeed, Women’s Groups and CSOs state: “We believe that current
faith–based political activities, including the arguments against interfaith
marriage currently taking place in the country, are not in accordance with the
objectives of the peaceful coexistence of all faiths and the prevention of
extreme violence and conflict, but are instead events and ideas designed to
distract the public before the 2015 election . . . There are religious and
ethnic differences among the nationals of Myanmar, and developing initiatives
based on religion hinders the implementation of national solidarity and current
peace building processes.”[8]
The Interfaith Marriage
Bill in particular, threatens to significantly curb women’s freedoms as well as
placing the responsibility of preserving race, religion, culture and traditions
solely on women. Women’s rights activist May Sabe Phyu has said “Women are portrayed as mentally and physically
inferior to the men… whether it’s about faith or marriage or how many children
to have – women should have the right to make their own decision about their
life, and adopting this law will restrict freedom of choice.”
The Women’s Network of
Myanmar/Burma have raised important questions in relation to the Bill -
representative Agatha Nu Nu asking: “why [do] they (969 and Mabatha) propose to
have religious conversion and interfaith marriage bills in which they are
considering only Buddhist women? The state should … adopt International laws
and have anti-violence against women laws.” As highlighted in their public
statement, elements of the proposed law do not meet international human rights
standards, and do not comply with the Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW) that the Government acceded to in 1997.
Holding the government
accountable to international human rights conventions and the reminder that
Myanmar’s transition to democracy is being monitored, further underscoring the
importance of international pressure and solidarity with the with the women’s
right activists and CSO’s advocacy efforts. A women’s network
representative told AWID recently “we are all watching every single step of
both the government side and the movement of 969”. She says they will continue
their collective action based on what steps the government takes.
___________________________________________
[1] Myanmar acceded to Convention to Eliminate All Forms
of Discrimination against Women CEDAW in 1997
[2] For example, Human Rights Watch argues that the law
would politicize religion and encourage further repression and violence against
religious minorities.http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/05/29/burma-drop-draft-religion-lawSee
also:http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/11/us-myanmar-religion-usa-idUSKBN0EM2NZ20140611;http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=48094#.VA5ZofmSyGc;http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/29/world/asia/myanmar-interfaith-marriage-laws/
[3] And to a broader range of politicians including the
Lower House speaker Thura Shwe Mann
[4] http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/04/22/burma-end-ethnic-cleansing-rohingya-muslims;http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/27/us-myanmar-969-specialreport-idUSBRE95Q04720130627;
and http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/2/25/rights-group-blastsmyanmaroverrohingyapolicies.html
[5] APWLD condemns attacks and threats against women
human rights defenders in Burma / Myanmar targeted for opposing the Interfaith
Marriage Bill,
[6] For some analysis of these two groups, see: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/07/opinion/the-people-vs-the-monks.html?_r=0; http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/27/us-myanmar-969-specialreport-idUSBRE95Q04720130627; http://www.aljazeera.com/video/asia-pacific/2013/06/201368111727397847.html
[7] Tomas Ojea Quintana as quoted in “UN envoy warns of possible
‘crimes against humanity’ in Burma” in The Star, April 8th, 2014.
Available onlinehttp://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/04/08/un_envoy_warns_of_possible_crimes_against_humanity_in_burma.html
[8] Statement of Women’s Groups and CSOs on preparation
of draft Interfaith Marriage Law in Myanmar - See more at:
http://humanrightsinasean.info/campaign/statement-women%E2%80%99s-groups-and-csos-preparation-draft-interfaith-marriage-law-myanmar.html#sthash.cmedgJYW.dpuf