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 News and factual programmes that deal with sexual subjects should: avoid sensationalism and treat material involving sexual violence or sadism with particular care. Portraying sexual violence in Burma - by Tin Htar Swe, Desk Editor, Burmese Service It was getting dark and I sat uneasily for over an hour in a makeshift hut in a field near the Thai-Burmese border. I came here (in July 2002) to meet a Shan villager who said she had been raped repeatedly by Burmese soldiers inside Burma. Since the coup in Burma in 1988, when the new military regime expanded its army from over 100,000 troops to some 400,000, there have been numerous reports of rape and other forms of sexual violence committed by Burmese troops in Shan State. In 2002, two Shan NGO's compiled a report detailing 173 cases involving 625 girls and women. In their report, Licence to Rape, the Shan Human Rights Foundation and Shan WomenΓβs Action Network (SWAN) accuse the Burmese authorities of officially condoning rape as "a weapon of war" against the civilian population. The Burmese authorities have dismissed these allegations. A Shan girl's account I waited for my interpreter to return with the girl. I heard footsteps and saw a slim woman in her late twenties. She took us back to the day when she was kidnapped by Burmese troops in the field. Her ordeal began when the troops stopped to camp for the night. The soldiers raped her, she said. The next day, she was taken along with an army unit of 80 soldiers. Her suffering continued for ten nights until she was left abandoned in a field. My aim was to present an accurate and impartial story to the listeners but when I heard the details of her ordeal it was hard for me to remain dispassionate. Cultural sensitivities The Burmese section broadcast her story. We let her tell her story while at the same time taking into account the cultural sensitivities of the Burmese audience, which brings together all age groups. Households normally have only one radio and the entire family, as well as some of its neighbours, listen to the output. My interviewee described her ordeal at length; I cut most of the details out. There is stigma attached to rape in Burma Γβ many would blame the woman rather than the lack of rule of law. It was almost impossible to get the government's view on the alleged sexual violence of Burmese soldiers. The only kind of response we obtained were a few lines, in a fax, stating that all the allegations were false. |
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