We strongly believe that sustainable peace cannot be achieved in Burma without delivering justice to women survivors of violence, and holding accountable the perpetrators of human rights violations.

KWO is implementing the “Strengthening Women Survivors Project” in partnership with “Asia Justice and Rights” (AJAR) which is a regional justice and rights organisation based in Jakarta. AJAR works to strengthen justice and rights initiatives in contexts where mass human rights violations have taken place.

Through this project KWO assists women survivors of serious rights abuses in parts of Karen State. About 150 women have been able to participate and many of them are, or have been, village chiefs, throughout the years of conflict with the Burma Army.

One highlight of this project has been the “Survivor Exchanges” where more than a hundred women have been able to meet together, share their experiences, and gain comfort and recognition from their peers, and being rejuvenated for future action.

Several useful resources for empowerment, addressing Human Rights violations, and gender justice have been produced as part of this partnership project. AJAR produced a training manual titled ‘Unlearning Impunity: A Guide to Understanding and Action for Women Survivors’. We released a joint report with AJAR titled ‘Speaking Truth for Peace,’ and more recently KWO’s own ‘Kill Me Instead of Them: a Report on the Resilience of Karen Women Village Chiefs’. A Briefing Paper, in collaboration with the Women’s League of Burma (WLB) titled ‘Access to Justice for Women Survivors of Gender-based violence committed by state actors in Burma’ has also been generated as part of this project.