Joint Statement by Burmese Women in Malaysia

Joint Statement by Burmese Refugee Women in Malaysia:

Raise our voices, claim our rights!

2011 Refugee Conference, Sydney, Australia

As the people of Burma flee seeking protection and hope for a future, the world also bears witness to the courage of women refugees and their tenacity to survive despite the odds. Burmese women organizations in Malaysia express this joint statement with the women and people of Burma, in recognition of their justness of their struggle.  We also stand together, firmly asserting that all governments, especially that of Malaysia and Australia, respect and promote our right to seek asylum and all our fundamental basic human rights, while exercising their power to protect us against violence, abuse and persecution.

Burmese refugee women face deep-rooted patriarchal attitudes, cultural norms, practices and traditions that stereotype and discriminate against them, while justifying and “normalizing” violence at home.  These pervasive attitudes also mean that ‘domestic violence’ is often not considered an “issue” by male community leaders, thereby not only limiting the access to any form of protection for survivors, but also legitimizing the physical, sexual and emotional violence husbands and male members of the family inflict of wives, mothers, sisters and daughters. The State’s failure to recognize the status of refugees in Malaysia also means that victims of violence face tremendous difficulties in accessing legal protection and access to justice. Their deemed ‘illegality’ renders the women silent in fear. In addition to these forms of gender-based violence, there are many records highlighting other forms of wide spread and severe human rights violations refugees in Malaysia are subjected to. We, refugee women in solidarity with women around the world, are calling for the rights of all refugees in Malaysia to be recognized and protected.

As the Myanmar government continues to oppress, marginalize and abuse the people of the land, women will continue to flee these persecutions. We call on governments to open their shut eyes to our realities, and to immediately stop their policies and actions that further threaten our survival, and deepen the denial of our dignities and basic right to health, education, livelihood, safety and life.

The commodification of women through the attitudes, policies and practices of , or condoned by the State , further intensifies the sexual exploitation and abuse refugee women face. Without the protection that legal status and accepted documentation provide, refugee women are at the mercy of their employers, who frequently withhold pay or sexually harass and exploit them. Our ‘illegality’ further prevents us from reporting these crimes, as we risk being arrested, detained and even deported.

The threat of being trafficked into sex work is also a very real one for refugee women. We’ve fled to Malaysia, believing that we would be protected and treated as human beings. Instead, many of our sisters have been trapped in these prisons of slavery, living lives of fear and uncertainty. Many more, after fleeing into Malaysia, are seen as ‘illegal migrants’, and have been sent back into these threatening environments, vulnerable to being trafficked again. The traffickers, meanwhile, a hardly ever prosecuted, free to continue committing crimes with impunity.

We women, from all over Burma, pledge to work hand-in-hand actively and persistently, in this on-going struggle for recognition and dignity in Malaysia. We stand together, with the hope that it will inspire also other women all over the region to keep fighting for their rights and for the voices of women to be heard.

We, the Burmese women are one with the rest of the world in calling Malaysia to ratify the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.

We the Burmese women, call on all exploited women of the world, to link arms and strengthen our solidarity against the intensifying onslaught of all puppet, undemocratic governments, against our lives and livelihood.

We call on the women of the world to come together and support the struggling women of Burma, and the millions of struggling women across the globe.

We appeal to the government of Australia, to halt all plans to send asylum seeks and refugees to Malaysia.  We ask that Australia remember the commitment it has made as a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention and uphold its legal and ethical obligations to asylum seekers.

We collectively demand that the Malaysian government awaken to the call for human rights, recognize our basic rights, and ratify the UN Convention on Refugees.

We collectively demand that ASEAN countries exercise their influence over Burma’s regime to end the persecution of the people of Burma and to ensure that the human rights of all Burmese women, in all countries of ASEAN, are respected.

This statement is endorsed by the following organizations.

1. Alliance of Chin Refugees – Mang Tha

2. Alliance of Arakan Refugees

3. Chin Women Organization

4. Malaysian Karen Women Organization

5. Mon Women Refugee Organization

6. Organization of Karenni Development

Statement issued through:

TANMA Federation

c/o TENAGANITA

38, Jalan Gasing,

46000,

Petaling Jaya,

Malaysia.

Phone no.; 6-03-7770 3691 / 6-03-7770 3671

Fax no.: 6-03-7770 3681

For more information, please contact Elodie Voisin at:

Email: elodie.v@tenaganita.net Website: www.tanmawomen.org

Phone no.; 6-03-7770 3691 / 6-03-7770 3671

Fax no.: 6-03-7770 3681