A woman with an intellectual disability was raped by a close relative during the 2018 rainy season in T'Nay Hsah Township, Hpa-an District. The local village authorities subjected the perpetrator to physical punishment, after which he was released. The victim received no compensation. She gave birth to a child who was adopted by someone living abroad. [1]
Part 1- Incident Details
Type of Incident | Raped |
Date of Incident (s) | 2018 Rainy Season |
Incident Location (Village, Township and District) |
A----village, T'Nay Hsah Township, Hpa-an District |
Victim Information | |
Name | Naw[2] H--- |
Age | [Censored for security reasons] |
Sex | Female |
Ethnicity | Karen |
Family | Single |
Religion | Buddhist |
Village | A--- village, T'Nay Hsah Township, Hpa-an District |
Part 2 - Information Quality
1. Explain in detail how you collected this information. |
I got this information from a local primary school principal, Naw U---, on May 8th 2019. |
2. Explain how the source verified this information. |
Naw U--- met with Naw H---when the later was pregnant. |
Part 3 - Complete Description for the Incident
Describe the Incident(s) in complete detail. |
During the 2018 rainy season, Naw H--- was raped by a close male relative in A--- village, Ta Nay Hsah Township. He lured the victim into his hill farm and raped her in his hut.
Naw H--- has an intellectual disability. She did not tell anyone about the rape, but the village leaders questioned her when she started showing signs of pregnancy. At first, she did not tell them who the true perpetrator was, but she ultimately accused her relative after giving birth to a child.
The village leaders arrested and interrogated him on April 27th 2019. He admitted that he had raped Naw H---. Therefore, the village leaders subjected him to physical punishment, after which he was released. The perpetrator was not brought before a formal court of law.
The victim received no compensation and still lives in the same village as the perpetrator. Currently, Naw H--- is staying with another close relative, and her child was adopted by someone living abroad. |
Part 4 - Permission for Using the Details
Did the victim(s) provide permission to use this information? Explain how that permission was provided. |
The victim gave us permission to use this information. The source also wants us to use this information because she said that the case has not been properly handled by the village authorities. She does not want this kind of incident to happen again. |
Footnotes:
[1] The present document is based on information received in May, 2019. It was provided by a community member in Hpa-an who has been trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions on the ground. The names of the victims, their photos and the exact locations are censored for security reasons.
[2] Naw is a S'gaw Karen female honorific title used before a person's name.