Events

Advisory Opinion of the International Tribunal on Crimes against Women in Burma

June 28, 2010

Myanmar, Human Rights Violation under armed conflicts/military operation, Violence against Women

【Please find a report of the tribunal here.】

First, before offering
the opinion of the Tribunal, we would like to express our respect for everyone
who helped make this trial a reality.
We would also like to express our gratitude to everyone in the audience
who participated with us in order to become a witnesses of history.

We would particularly like
to give our deepest thanks to the Burmese women who participated as
witnesses. Thank you for speaking before
the Tribunal about your painful experiences in spite of the emotional scars that
still remain. Your testimony moved
all of us deeply. We are truly grateful
that you traveled all the way to Japan to participate in this Tribunal.

Although the Union of
Burma officially became the Union of Myanmar in June 1989, we shall refer to it
here as “Burma”, in accordance with the name of this Tribunal.

According to the statute
of the Tribunal, the International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women of Burma is
“an ad hoc tribunal for the purpose of discovering the truth regarding serious
human rights violations against women occurring in” the Union of Burma since 1988.
The “crimes against humanity” for
which this Tribunal has jurisdiction are as defined in Article 7 of the Rome
Statute of the International Criminal Court (the “Rome Statute”) (Article 2).

Thus, the task for this
Tribunal is to determine whether or not there are facts that constitute “crimes
against humanity” committed against women in Burma, and whether the defendant Than
Shwe should be held liable for these crimes.

In order to make a
finding of crimes against humanity, it is necessary to find not only that “murder,”
“enslavement,” “imprisonment or other severe
deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of
international law,” “torture,” “rape and sexual violence” as set forth in the
indictment were actually perpetrated, but also that the acts were “directed
against a civilian population” and “committed as part of a widespread or
systematic attack.”

The many reports and
documents submitted to the Tribunal as evidence, such as those authored by the United Nations
Special Rapporteur on the Situation of
Human Rights in Myanmar, convincingly demonstrate that the terrible
experiences of the women who testified in this Tribunal today were not simply isolated
individual experiences, but were rather shared by numerous Burmese women.

This indicates that the
human rights violations experienced by women in Burma were likely committed “as
part of [] widespread or systematic” acts against ordinary citizens like yourselves,
who were not combatants.

The prosecution asserts
that liability for such human rights violations should be borne by Than Shwe,
the Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, Minister of Defense,
and Commander in Chief of Defense Services.

However, the Tribunal
was not able to find based on the evidence presented, that Than Shwe as a
superior officer committed crimes against humanity. Even though gross human rights violations are likely being committed
in Burma, even though the defendant indisputably holds the highest position in
the current military junta, and even though there is ample reason to suspect
that the military junta has taken no measures to address or punish the
perpetrators of these human rights violations, the evidence must clearly prove
the defendant’s involvement in these in order to say that the defendant is guilty
of crimes against humanity under Article 7 of the Rome Statute.

Even so, it can be easily
deduced from the evidence presented to the Tribunal that human rights
violations of a “widespread or systematic” nature continue to occur against
women under the Burmese junta led by Than Shwe. Consequently, we can conclude that it is highly probable
that the human rights violations suffered by the women of Burma rise to the
level of crimes against humanity.

In light of the powerful
evidence of human rights violations that most likely constitute crimes against
humanity, we the Tribunal request that the international community including Japan
and members of the international community including ourselves act as follows
in response to violations of the human rights of the women of Burma:

1That the
international community reaffirm that violence against women is a crime no
matter where it takes place nor whom it is committed by, and that countries have
the responsibility of prosecuting crimes occurring therein and are responsible
for taking appropriate measures including the implementation of just
punishment. In particular, that it
makes clear to those countries that have ratified the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) that to have
ratified is to have stated one’s intent to eradicate violence against women in
accordance with the rules of the international community.

2Thus far,
through the work of the U.N. Special
Rapporteur, the
international community has shared information showing that human rights
violations are being committed against women in Burma, that such violations
remain unpunished, and that it is very likely that crimes against humanity are being
committed. That the international
community continue to gather and share all forms of information relevant to
these crimes in the future.

3Given
that it is highly probable that the human rights violations suffered by Burmese
women qualify as crimes against humanity, that the international community affirm
the necessity of taking measures beyond the mere sharing of information.

4Despite
the numerous reports, resolutions, and recommendations issued by the
international community over the years, we have seen no indication that Burma,
as a member of the international community, has responded to the international
community’s pleas and taken measures to stop violence against women or properly
punish the perpetrators. Thus,
given the likelihood that human rights violations still continue in Burma, that
the international community recognize that the situation has gone far beyond
the stage where simply depending on the Burmese government to take its own independent
measures to address these violations can be justified.

5Because
it is strongly suspected that the human rights violations against the women of
Burma described to this Tribunal constitute crimes against humanity, that the
international community affirm that the situation demands the formation and
deployment of an independent international investigative body under the
authority of the U.N. Secretary-General or the U.N. Human Rights Council.

6If the
activities of this independent international investigative body fail to improve
the situation, that the international community demand, as a next step, that
the U.N. Security Council consider passing a resolution referring the situation
to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

7Given
that it is highly likely that human rights violations strongly indicating the
perpetration of crimes against humanity will continue even if the U.N. takes further
proactive actions such as those described in paragraphs 5 and 6 above, that the
international community as well as members of the international community such
as ourselves further make efforts to find effective methods for assisting those
women who are victimized by, and fighting against, the oppression.

8Finally, in
light of the fact that Japan is a part of Asia, that the government of Japan
and the Japanese people affirm that we have a greater obligation than that of Western
countries to support Burmese people.
That we more effectively gather and share information about the situation
of women in Burma and provide information on human rights violations to the
government and people of Burma in order to further their understanding. That we offer as much true humanitarian
support as possible to people suffering oppression in Burma as well as those
who have fled and are living abroad.