Statement by Kachin Feminist Initiatives Against the Sham Election Organized by the Military Council

We, the Kachin Feminist Initiatives (KFI), vehemently oppose the 2025 sham election organized by the State Security and Peace Commission (SSPC). This election is a military strategy intended solely to legitimize the military dictatorship as the rightful government, and it is nothing more than a pretense completely devoid of freedom, fairness, and inclusivity.

This election will grant impunity for over seventy years of crimes, including the systematic killing, torture, and arbitrary arrest of ethnic peoples and the strategic use of rape and murder against ethnic women as a weapon of war.

Furthermore, this election will severely undermine the prospects for genuine peace and political dialogue and will likely exacerbate human rights violations, as highlighted by the following points:

This election violates fundamental democratic principles.

• Political prisoners remain unjustly detained.
• Daily airstrikes and military pressure are carried out against civilians, targeting them as enemies in ethnic states and regions.
• Freedom of expression is systematically suppressed through various means, including the interrogation, arbitrary arrest, torture, and detention of individuals who voice dissenting opinions or write commentaries regarding the election.
• The people of Myanmar are enduring brutal military violence, displacement, systematic oppression, torture, and killings.

The sham election organized by the Military Council cannot be fully held nationwide and will further enable the continued systematic and widespread commission of sexual violence against women as a weapon. Therefore, the Kachin Feminist Initiatives urge ASEAN nations and the international community to fully reject this fraudulent election and stand in solidarity with the people of Myanmar.

Demands to the International Community

While the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has filed an application for an arrest warrant against the Myanmar military Commander-in-Chief on charges of the forced deportation and persecution of the Rohingya, participating in this current election, whether as an observer or by offering endorsement, will make [one] complicit.

1. Instead of participating as observers in the sham election organized by the murderous State Security and Peace Commission (SSPC) which aims to gain international recognition as a legitimate government—engage directly with the National Unity Government (NUG) and Ethnic Revolutionary Organizations (EROs).
2. Halt all diplomatic engagement, trade, and support that grant impunity to the Military Council. Instead, initiate processes that support justice for genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity.

Contact information.

Seng Mai:         : +959755214601

San Htoi:          : +66 641956721

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