The Shan Human Rights Foundation and Shan Women's Action Network have confirmed the ongoing use of rape as a tool of warfare against ethnic minority women in Burma in their new report, "License to Rape." This report documents at least 625 cases of brutal rape by Burmese soldiers, many of them officers, against Shan women in Burma's Shan State, and suggests these figures represent but a small sample of the horrific abuses committed in secret by Burma's military.

Burma's illegimate military regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), has condemned both the report and the accompanying outcries by governments including the U.S. In a letter to the U.S., the SPDC claimed that, while the reports seem to implicate Burmese soldiers, "you will find that they are nothing but unverified testimonies said to have been provided by the so-called victims on the other side of the border." These denials come in the face of a report that includes detailed, persuasive testimony and statistics indicating that 83% of the 625 were perpetrated by officers, 61% were gang rapes, and 25% ended in the murder of the victims.

"License to Rape" describes a well-documented phenomena in Burma, the use of rape by soldiers to promote terror, quell dissent, and draw civilians--women--into that country's armed conflict. EarthRights International has similarly documented military rape against ethnic minorities in its report, "We are not Free" and in School for Rape.

ERI unequivocally condemns the use of rape as a tool of war and terror, and calls upon the SPDC to immediately and thoroughly investigate these all-too-persuasive claims. Additionally, ERI calls upon the SPDC to end the culture of impunity for military officers and soldiers alike, which makes these brutal violations not only possible but likely to continue.