“National Race Protection Law” Protects No One

At a convention of over 1,500 monks from around the country in Rangoon on 27 June, senior Buddhist monks said that they endorse a draft law that would place restrictions on marriages between Buddhist women and non-Buddhist men, ostensibly “to protect our race and religion.”

The proposed “national race protection law” states that non-Buddhist men wishing to marry a Buddhist woman would have to convert to her religion. They must also obtain permission from the woman’s parents and local authorities before marrying or risk 10 years in jail.

The proposed bill is in clear violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which states in Article 16(1) that, “Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family.”

The bill also violates the Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) […]

Burma: The Current State of Women in Conflict Areas – A Shadow Report to the 22nd Session of CEDAW

The report focuses on education, health, State-perpetrated violence against women, and poverty, particularly as these issues relate to women in Burma’s rural conflict areas.

Burma’s ruling military regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), in its various incarnations, has controlled the country since 1962. One of the SPDC’s chief preoccupations since it seized power has been to maintain “national unity and solidarity,” which it has attempted to accomplish through force […]

In the Shadow of the Junta

A report compiled by the Women’s League of Burma and member organizations, focusing on the problems faced by women and girls in rural areas, including ethnic lands, as a result of armed conflict.

After signing the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1997, Burma’s military regime submitted reports to the CEDAW Committee in 1997 and 2007. This Shadow Report seeks to address issues that were not adequately documented by the junta in those reports. […]