A/HRC/39/CRP.2 We never filed any complaint. The soldiers are outside the law. Complaining to the authorities is like complaining to the soldiers themselves.999 4. Sexual and gender-based violence 438. Ethnic Rakhine women have been subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence by Tatmadaw forces.1000 This has primarily taken place in the context of forced labour and has occurred across Rakhine State. Rakhine women who have been raped by Tatmadaw soldiers face rejection by their families or communities and fear being subjected to further sexual violence. Incidents have occurred prior to and throughout the period examined by the Mission. 439. In many incidents, women and girls, who are forced by Tatmadaw soldiers to carry out cooking, cleaning or manual labour, were also subjected to rape or sexual assault. For example, an interviewee from Kyauktaw Township, who had been subjected to forced labour over a period of two decades, was beaten by soldiers and raped on several occasions by a Tatmadaw captain. When she refused to return, the interviewee’s husband was threatened by the Tatmadaw. She fled Myanmar, fearing that soldiers would return and rape her again. She described the last occasion she was raped: At the end of the day [working at the military camp] the “chief” told me to wait, together with about ten other women. He chose about four or five women, and we were taken away one by one. I initially refused to go, but two or three soldiers beat me. In the room I was raped by one soldier, while two others stood outside the closed door. He had three stars on his uniform. 1001 440. Another woman from Rathedaung Township described being sexually assaulted while undertaking forced labour: As I was washing the clothes of the soldiers, one of them came from behind and grabbed my breasts. He took off my bra and kissed me on the cheek. He touched my breasts with his hands. He touched me and rested his head on my shoulder. I didn’t resist because I was afraid he would kill me.1002 441. Ethnic Rakhine men subjected to forced labour also reported witnessing rape by Tatmadaw soldiers against Rakhine women. One former porter reported witnessing the rape of a group of women by the roadside in Mrauk-U Township: We were resting by the roadside and the military had brought a group of four or five women from villages on the way. While we were there, they raped the women. They first made the porters move away so that we couldn’t see. But I could still hear the women crying and saying things like, “what are you doing, stop” and also heard them being beaten. Afterwards, they sent the women back to their villages. I heard this each time I was taken portering.1003 442. Rape and other forms of sexual violence against ethnic Rakhine have also coincided with instances of forced evictions and other forms of pecuniary exploitation (unlawful tax collection) by the Tatmadaw. One male interviewee from Kyaukpyu Township noted that the rape of young women had occurred in 2014 during land confiscation coordinated by military camp No. 543.1004 A Rakhine woman reported that when she was 17-years old, she had been raped at gunpoint by a captain from the Tatmadaw South Western Command in Minbya Township. This happened after her family was unable to provide the Tatmadaw with part of their harvest of rice, framed as a “tax”. The captain said she should marry him in exchange”. When she refused, she was raped.1005 999 1000 1001 1002 1003 1004 1005 DI-041. DI-014, DI-036, DI-041, DI-044, QI-072, QI-073, QI-075. QI-072. DI-044. QI-075. QI-073. DI-036. 107