Dispatch from Bangladesh: “We are not afraid of anything. We want our stories to be told”

Nobel Women’s Initiative

We also met with Rohingya teacher, lawyer, and researcher, Razia Sultana, to discuss her newly launched report “Rape by Command: Sexual violence as a weapon against the Rohingya”.

Yesterday was the sixth-month anniversary of the latest cycle of military violence in Burma. Nobel Peace Laureates, Tawakkol Karman and Mairead Maguire visited the Kutupalong and Balukhali refugee camps near Cox’s Bazar, where they heard from five Rohingya women who survived rape at the hands of the Burmese military.

“The military surrounded and burned the houses. They took all the young beautiful girls and raped them.”

Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi joined the delegation today, as they met with Commissioner for Refugees, Relief and Repatriation, Abul Kalam. In the afternoon the laureates visited the women’s spaces at the Thyankhali refugee camp to meet with Rohingya women where they were told more stories of rape, torture, and murder.