I really think it is a good idea to do visa runs to Laos or Cambodia rather than give these thugs 1 satang of money. Pete
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BANGKOK, Thailand - A report issued Monday by a human rights group accuses Myanmar's military of killing, raping and torturing ethnic Karen women as part of its battle against the minority group over the past 25 years.
The report by the Karen Women's Organization cites in often gruesome detail the cases of 959 women and girls in Myanmar's eastern Karen state from 1981-2006. Thousands of other cases of abuse involving women are also noted.
Similar allegations, denied by Myanmar's ruling junta, have been made in recent years, including a report from a parallel group detailing widespread sexual assaults against women of the Shan ethnic group that sparked an international outcry.
Myanmar's Ministry of Defense did not respond to a request for comment on the KWO report.
According to the report, written by exiled members of the group working along the Thailand-Myanmar border, women have been frequently gang-raped by members of the military and sometimes killed afterward.
In every case, the assailants — both soldiers and officers — escaped punishment.
"Rape has been and continues to be used as a method of torture to intimidate and humiliate the civilian population, particularly in the ethnic states. Women and children are subjected to forced labor and are displaced from their homes," the report said.
In one case, the report said a 20-year-old was raped by four men inside a hut on her farm.
"After raping her, they killed her by shooting into her vagina," the report said. "No action was taken."
Another woman was raped by soldiers of the 101st Infantry Battalion, who then killed her and cut off her ears to get her earrings, according to the report.
Large numbers of Karen women — some of them pregnant or carrying newborn babies — also have been forced to work as porters and laborers for the Myanmar army, it said.
"If we were tired and could not continue, the soldiers kicked us in the back," the report quoted 33-year-old Naw Mu Thoo as saying. She said she suffered three miscarriages after being forced to carry heavy loads.
Some of the assaults have been directed against families believed to be supporting rebels of the Karen National Union, which has been fighting for autonomy from the central government for decades.
Since 1996, more than 3,000 villages have been destroyed or abandoned in eastern Myanmar and more than 1 million people displaced because of the fighting, according to the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, an aid agency for refugees.
The government opened a major offensive against the insurgents in late 2005, which the group says has driven another 82,000 people from their homes.
The KWO report calls on Myanmar's government to stop all forms of sexual violence and other abuses and urges the U.N. Security Council to pass a binding resolution demanding the junta implement a nationwide cease-fire and withdraw its troops from ethnic minority areas. Similar calls in the past have led to little or no action.
On Sunday, Myanmar announced a peace deal with a splinter group of ethnic Karen rebels, but David Thaw, a spokesman for the Karen National Union in Thailand, said it did not include the majority of the KNU and would not impact fighting on the ground.