Meet the teenage girls from Myanmar enrolling in karate classes to protect themselves against government troops
The Women’s League of Burma says it has documented more than 100 cases of rape and sexual violence against ethnic women by the military army since 2010
Every afternoon, dozens of teenage girls at the school for displaced children line up on the grounds, dressed in white uniforms with belts of various colours: yellow, blue, white. They kick high and jump with glee before settling into their exercises, shouting in Japanese as they punch into the air.
The reason many of these girls are in this class is sobering: They want protection from their own country’s military.
Mostly between 13 and 16, they have lost their homes, and in some cases their families, to the long-running civil war in Myanmar’s Kachin state – a war in which soldiers have been repeatedly accused of raping girls and women, but rarely prosecuted. This karate class offers some small sense of power to the vulnerable.
For all the girls, we teach them how to protect themselves when someone tries to sexually assault them and how to fight back
“For all the girls, we teach them how to protect themselves when someone tries to sexually assault them and how to fight back,” instructor Hkun Naw said. “Basically teaching the girls to make themselves safe.
“We wanted to make sure all the internally displaced children have the right to do something that gives them joy, and to be confident.”
More than 100,000 people in Kachin state, in Myanmar’s north, have been forced from their homes by fighting between government troops and ethnic Kachin rebels who have sought greater autonomy for decades. A 17-year-long cease-fire ended in 2011.