In conjunction with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Amnesty International urges Asean leaders, who will meet in Vientiane on Nov 29-30, to work towards better protection of women and girls in conflict areas.

In a statement today, the human rights movement's campaign coordinator in Malaysia, Josef Roy called on the leaders meeting at the Asean summit to publicly condemn human rights violations against women, including rape and other sexual crimes.

"A high level team should be established to conduct a comprehensive enquiry into violence against women in Aceh and Myanmar (Burma) and it should make public the truth about the situation," he said.

He urged the unit to recommend measures to ensure full accountability of those responsible for committing these crimes and to adopt special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence in situations of armed conflict.

"During conflicts, violence against women is often used as a weapon of war to dehumanize the women themselves or to persecute the community to which they belong," he said.

"In Aceh , women have been subjected to human rights violations including unlawful killings, arbitrary detention and torture during the military emergency. Between 1989 and 1998, 3,000 women were widowed as a direct result of conflict," he added.

Numbers to increase

Amnesty is of the view that these numbers will increase given that Indonesia has renewed its military operations in Aceh since May 2003.

"In Burma, human rights groups have documented numerous cases of rape against women by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)," he said, referring to the ruling military party.

A report from the Burmese ethnic-based organisation - Shan Women's Action Network (Swan) - claims that 61 percent of rape cases documented in the country were gang rapes and 83 percent were committed by high-ranking military officers.

"The lack of prosecution for rape means that rape by armed forces occur with impunity.

"Violence against women is never normal, legal or acceptable and should be never tolerated or justified. Everyone, especially governments, have a responsibility to put a stop to it and to redress the suffering it causes," said Roy.

In a separate press statement, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) urged parties to respect existing international humanitarian laws to prevent violence against women in times of war.

"This day is an opportunity to promote global awareness of violence against women. The ICRC is particularly concerned about sexual violence in wartime, a widespread problem that is not limited to rape," it said.

ICRC named enforced prostitution, sexual slavery, sexual exploitation and trafficking, forced pregnancy, forced termination of pregnancy, enforced sterilisation, inappropriate medical examinations and strip searches as extended crimes against women.

"If international humanitarian law were better observed, the suffering faced by women in war would be greatly reduced," it said making references to the 1949 Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols of 1977 as well as the Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Campaign launched

Meanwhile, in a joint statement, Malaysian NGOs comprising Women Aid Organisation (WAO), Malaysian Aids Council (MAC) and Sisters in Islam (SIS) said it will be launching a '16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence' campaign today.

The public education campaign will run from Nov 25 and will end on the International Human Rights Day on Dec 10.

Volunteers from these organisations will be at the Putra LRT station in KLCC today and tomorrow to distribute brochures and leaflets on gender violence issues.

"WAO joined this global campaign six years ago with immense support from the media and the private sector. We are especially pleased that other NGOs are onboard this year," it said.