Please find a report of the tribunal here.<\/a><\/span>\u3011<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
First, before offering
\nthe opinion of the Tribunal, we would like to express our respect for everyone
\nwho helped make this trial a reality.
\n<\/span>We would also like to express our gratitude to everyone in the audience
\nwho participated with us in order to become a witnesses of history.<\/span><\/p>\nWe would particularly like
\nto give our deepest thanks to the Burmese women who participated as
\nwitnesses.\u00a0 <\/span>Thank you for speaking before
\nthe Tribunal about your painful experiences in spite of the emotional scars that
\nstill remain.\u00a0 <\/span>Your testimony moved
\nall of us deeply.\u00a0 <\/span>We are truly grateful
\nthat you traveled all the way to Japan to participate in this Tribunal.<\/span><\/p>\nAlthough the Union of
\nBurma officially became the Union of Myanmar in June 1989, we shall refer to it
\nhere as “Burma”, in accordance with the name of this Tribunal.<\/span><\/p>\nAccording to the statute
\nof the Tribunal, the International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women of Burma is
\n“an ad hoc tribunal for the purpose of discovering the truth regarding serious
\nhuman rights violations against women occurring in” the Union of Burma since 1988.
\n\u00a0<\/span>The “crimes against humanity” for
\nwhich this Tribunal has jurisdiction are as defined in Article 7 of the Rome
\nStatute of the International Criminal Court (the “Rome Statute”) (Article 2).<\/span><\/p>\nThus, the task for this
\nTribunal is to determine whether or not there are facts that constitute “crimes
\nagainst humanity” committed against women in Burma, and whether the defendant Than
\nShwe should be held liable for these crimes.<\/span><\/p>\nIn order to make a
\nfinding of crimes against humanity, it is necessary to find not only that “murder,”
\n“enslavement,” “<\/span>imprisonment or other severe
\ndeprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of
\ninternational law<\/span>,” “torture,” “rape and sexual violence” as set forth in the
\nindictment were actually perpetrated, but also that the acts were “directed
\nagainst a civilian population” and “committed as part of a widespread or
\nsystematic attack.” <\/span><\/p>\nThe many reports and
\ndocuments submitted to the Tribunal as evidence, such as those authored by the United Nations
\nSpecial<\/span><\/em> Rapporteur on the Situation of
\nHuman Rights in Myanmar, <\/span><\/em><\/span>convincingly demonstrate that the terrible
\nexperiences of the women who testified in this Tribunal today were not simply isolated
\nindividual experiences, but were rather shared by numerous Burmese women.<\/span><\/p>\nThis indicates that the
\nhuman rights violations experienced by women in Burma were likely committed “as
\npart of [] widespread or systematic” acts against ordinary citizens like yourselves,
\nwho were not combatants.<\/span><\/p>\nThe prosecution asserts
\nthat liability for such human rights violations should be borne by Than Shwe,
\nthe Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, Minister of Defense,
\nand Commander in Chief of Defense Services.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\nHowever, the Tribunal
\nwas not able to find based on the evidence presented, that Than Shwe as a
\nsuperior officer committed crimes against humanity.\u00a0 <\/span>Even though gross human rights violations are likely being committed
\nin Burma, even though the defendant indisputably holds the highest position in
\nthe current military junta, and even though there is ample reason to suspect
\nthat the military junta has taken no measures to address or punish the
\nperpetrators of these human rights violations, the evidence must clearly prove
\nthe defendant’s involvement in these in order to say that the defendant is guilty
\nof crimes against humanity under Article 7 of the Rome Statute.<\/span><\/p>\nEven so, it can be easily
\ndeduced from the evidence presented to the Tribunal that human rights
\nviolations of a “widespread or systematic” nature continue to occur against
\nwomen under the Burmese junta led by Than Shwe.\u00a0 <\/span>Consequently, we can conclude that it is highly probable
\nthat the human rights violations suffered by the women of Burma rise to the
\nlevel of crimes against humanity.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\nIn light of the powerful
\nevidence of human rights violations that most likely constitute crimes against
\nhumanity, we the Tribunal request that the international community including Japan
\nand members of the international community including ourselves act as follows
\nin response to violations of the human rights of the women of Burma:<\/span><\/p>\n1That the
\ninternational community reaffirm that violence against women is a crime no
\nmatter where it takes place nor whom it is committed by, and that countries have
\nthe responsibility of prosecuting crimes occurring therein and are responsible
\nfor taking appropriate measures including the implementation of just
\npunishment. \u00a0<\/span>In particular, that it
\nmakes clear to those countries that have ratified the Convention on the
\nElimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) that to have
\nratified is to have stated one’s intent to eradicate violence against women in
\naccordance with the rules of the international community.<\/span><\/p>\n2Thus far,
\nthrough the work of the U.N. Special<\/span><\/em>
\nRapporteur, <\/span><\/em><\/span>the
\ninternational community has shared information showing that human rights
\nviolations are being committed against women in Burma, that such violations
\nremain unpunished, and that it is very likely that crimes against humanity are being
\ncommitted.\u00a0 <\/span>That the international
\ncommunity continue to gather and share all forms of information relevant to
\nthese crimes in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n3Given
\nthat it is highly probable that the human rights violations suffered by Burmese
\nwomen qualify as crimes against humanity, that the international community affirm
\nthe necessity of taking measures beyond the mere sharing of information.<\/span><\/p>\n4Despite
\nthe numerous reports, resolutions, and recommendations issued by the
\ninternational community over the years, we have seen no indication that Burma,
\nas a member of the international community, has responded to the international
\ncommunity’s pleas and taken measures to stop violence against women or properly
\npunish the perpetrators.\u00a0 <\/span>Thus,
\ngiven the likelihood that human rights violations still continue in Burma, that
\nthe international community recognize that the situation has gone far beyond
\nthe stage where simply depending on the Burmese government to take its own independent
\nmeasures to address these violations can be justified.<\/span><\/p>\n5Because
\nit is strongly suspected that the human rights violations against the women of
\nBurma described to this Tribunal constitute crimes against humanity, that the
\ninternational community affirm that the situation demands the formation and
\ndeployment of an independent international investigative body under the
\nauthority of the U.N. Secretary-General or the U.N. Human Rights Council.<\/span><\/p>\n6If the
\nactivities of this independent international investigative body fail to improve
\nthe situation, that the international community demand, as a next step, that
\nthe U.N. Security Council consider passing a resolution referring the situation
\nto the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.<\/span><\/p>\n7Given
\nthat it is highly likely that human rights violations strongly indicating the
\nperpetration of crimes against humanity will continue even if the U.N. takes further
\nproactive actions such as those described in paragraphs 5 and 6 above, that the
\ninternational community as well as members of the international community such
\nas ourselves further make efforts to find effective methods for assisting those
\nwomen who are victimized by, and fighting against, the oppression.<\/span><\/p>\n8Finally, in
\nlight of the fact that Japan is a part of Asia, that the government of Japan
\nand the Japanese people affirm that we have a greater obligation than that of Western
\ncountries to support Burmese people.
\n<\/span>That we more effectively gather and share information about the situation
\nof women in Burma and provide information on human rights violations to the
\ngovernment and people of Burma in order to further their understanding.\u00a0 <\/span>That we offer as much true humanitarian
\nsupport as possible to people suffering oppression in Burma as well as those
\nwho have fled and are living abroad.
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nJune 27, 2010<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nInternational Tribunal
\non Crimes Against Women of Burma<\/span><\/p>\nChief Judge:Hiroko
\nGoto<\/span><\/p>\nJudge:Hideaki
\nKubori<\/span><\/p>\nJudge:Miho
\nShikida<\/span><\/p>\nJudge:Osamu
\nNiikura<\/span><\/p>\nJudge:Kunio
\nHamada<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Advisory Opinion of the International Tribunal on Crimes against Women in Burma \u3010Please find a report of the tribunal here.\u3011 \u00a0 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.\u00a0 Thank you for speaking before the Tribunal about your painful experiences in spite of the emotional scars that still remain.\u00a0 Your testimony moved […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[17,20],"countries":[245],"class_list":["post-67","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-event","tag-human-rights-violation-under-armed-conflictsmilitary-operation","tag-violence-against-women","countries-myanmar"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4568,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67\/revisions\/4568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67"},{"taxonomy":"countries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/countries?post=67"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}