October 18, 2016
The Tatmadaw has ordered villagers in Bor Ga Za Bil ( Yai Khut Chaung Kwa Son), Maungdaw to hand over 15 women. They have not asked for anyone specific, but have communicated privately the women should be of young age.
Since the order was given on Sunday, terror has gripped the neighbourhood. This was a common practice during the riots of 2012 which involved military personal approaching community elders from village tracts to hand over a quota of women who were used to ‘entertain’ Tatmadaw personal. Those women who were handed over lost all social standings and had to migrate out of the country. In this way, dozens of women lost their honour, in addition to suffering the trauma of sexual assault. Many families refused to hid their daughters, often by burying them loosely. But in these cases, the army killed male members of the households.
Throughout the country, the army has often faced allegations of systematically raping women from ethnic minority groups.
The army however alleges 15 women from the village gave food and shelter to Muslim rebels, but did not make accusations against anyone specific.
Since last Sunday, many Muslim women have been kidnapped and taken to undisclosed locations by the army while at least three have been murdered after gang rape. The fate of the kidnapped women are not known but relatives fear they might be killed following rape.
