Women’s group submits human rights report to UN

25 March 2015
Women’s group submits human rights report to UN
Women are under threat in conflict zones in Myanmar, according to Women's League of Burma. Women preparing plastic bags for transplanting teak and iron timber tree seedlings in In Gan village, Kachin State. Photo: OXFAM Hong Kong

Women’s League of Burma submitted a human rights report, including the violent police crackdowns on student protestors and the brutal rape and murder of two Kachin female teachers, to the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review, WLB general secretary Daw Julia told Mizzima.
“Our report includes five topics including wartime sexual violence, drug abuse, and peace. Our report also includes the violent crackdown on student protest,” Daw Julia said on March 24. 
WLB submitted its report to the United Nations on March 23.
On March 5, security police and civilians wearing red armbands called Swan Arr Shin launched a violent crackdown on protestors outside Yangon City Hall. On March 10, police launched a violent crackdown on the students’ protest camp in Letpadan. Earlier, on January 19, two Kachin female teachers, both aged 20, were raped and murdered in Kaungkhar Village, Pan Sai Township, Muse District in northern Shan State.
The case is included in the WLB report because wartime sexual violence against women continues in Myanmar, says the WLB.  
The United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review is a process that involves a review of human rights situations of all UN member states once every four years. The UPR receives not only reports submitted by governments but also reports submitted by civil organizations.  
Myanmar is still on the list of the world's worst human rights abusers. So along with submitting reports for the UPR every four years, it has to join in the system of Special Procedures, in which human rights experts with mandates have to report on the human rights situation in the relevant country once a year.