Empowering Women in Myanmar

By Hnin Eizali

BANGKOK, Thailand – “It was really heart-breaking as a young, 18-year-old student to be put [into jail]. I never had the experience and never thought I would be in jail one day,” explained Wai Wai Nu, the founder and director of the Women Peace Network and a Rohingya - a minority group in Myanmar - activist.

Panel on inclusive civic spaces for marginalized youth at the Case for Space

Today, Wai Wai Nu hopes to have a platform to build peace and understanding between Myanmar’s different ethnicities.

"I thought that was injustice to me. Without doing any crime, I was put in jail,” said Wai Wai Nu reflecting on her 7 years in jail.

The Women Peace Network works to ensure that the Arakan state is a place where all people can live together in equality, peace and prosperity.

Suppressed by an authoritarian government from a young age, Wai Wai Nu found inspiration in her struggle to become a human rights activist. As a result of her activism, she was sent to jail by the government along with her father.

“In my case, we were put in jail with the whole family because we belong to the minority called Rohingya, which is not recognized by the government as an indigenous people and a nationality within the Myanmar. They used to recognized us as a nationality and an indigenous people within the country until the 1980s,” says Wai Wai Nu.  

According to Wai Wai Nu, other political activists in Myanmar were also put in jail. However, for some activists, the government would often trouble relatives, friends and other acquaintance. She met many young people, especially women, in jail.

She commented, “Many of them are not supposed to be in the prison.” The youth who were very young, very innocent, and with no future, faced many different kinds of exclusions in the prison.

When she was in jail, she realized that 70% of the women were very young –  between 16 and 30. Wai Wai Nu expressed that they are not the kind of people who should be in the prison. She said, “My condition is much better than others. Because I know what’s going on. And I know what I want to be in the future.”

The Women Peace Network conducts women’s empowerment trainings, offers legal education seminars, and organizes human rights and peace building activities for women across Myanmar.

Wai Wai Nu continues working to reduce discrimination and hatred among Buddhist and Muslim communities and to improve the human rights situation of Rohingya people in Myanmar.

(Copyright: UNESCO/Hnin Eizali – this content was first published as part of the Youth Newsroom of the Regional Roundtable “Youth at the Heart of the Agenda 2030: The Case for Space” here: http://www.case4space.org/newsroom)