H.E. Mr. Hla Myint
Ambassador of the Union of Myanmar to Japan
140-0001 4- 8-26, Kitashinagawa, Shinagawa-ku,
Tokyo, Japan

Re: Request for immediate release and human rights protection of four minors who were victims of rape.

Your Excellency:

We, the undersigned, should like to express our great concern over the recent rape and arrest of four girls, who were minors, in northern Kachin State.

We leaned that the four girls, between 14 and 16 years of age, were arrested last month and are now held at Putao Jail, after an independen new agency reported that the girls were gang raped by army officers and soldiers and given hush money in early February. We are seriously concerned about these events and fear that those responsible may remain unpunished and the four girls will once again victimised. We should like to request the Authority of Myanmar to:

– Take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the four girls and ensure that they have access to medical and psychological assistance as requested;
– Ensure their immediate release in the absence of valid legal charges, and if such charges exist, ensure that they are given a prompt and fair trial, in which their procedural rights are guaranteed at all times;
– Order a thorough and impartial investigation into the rape allegations, in order to identify all those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
– Guarantee respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with international law and human rights standards, including the recommendations issued by the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar contained in his report A/HRC/4/14.

Thank you very much for your kind attention.

The Asia-Japan Women’s Resource Center