May Sabai Phyu

May Sabe Phyu (Burma) accepts the International Women of Courage Award in 2015

May Sabai Phyu (also May Sabe Phyu, born 5 August 1976) is an activist from Kachin state in Burma (Myanmar).[1] She works for human rights, freedom of speech, peace, justice for Myanmar’s ethnic people.[2][3] She works to stop violence against women.[4] In 2015, she won the U.S. State Department's International Women of Courage Award.[1][5][6]

Work

In 2008, May Sabai Phyu started the Women’s Protection Technical Working Group during Cyclone Nargis.[7] After the storm, 14 out of every 100 families were headed by women, many of them widows. Because of this, more women were in the sex trade for money or food. The Working Group helped women to find housing, sex education, and jobs.[8]

After the problems of the storm were ended, the Working Group became the Gender Equality Network. May Sabai Phyu was the Senior Coordinator.[9] In 2012, this group helped the government write the National Strategic Plan for the Advancement of Women. The organization also works for gender equality and makes plans to stop violence against women and girls.[10]

May Sabai Phyu is a leader of the Kachin Peace Network. She led a protest against the civil war between Myanmar Government troops and the Kachin Independence Army. She spoke at Human Rights Workshops in Myanmar for human rights and for the rights of people with disabilities.[11]

Other websites

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "အမိ်ဳးသမီး သတၱိရွင္ဆု ေမစပယ္ျဖဴ လက္ခံရယူ". ဗီြအိုေအ. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  2. "Let the flowers bloom, not bullets". afsc.org. Archived from the original on 20 April 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  3. "AWIU » 2015 IWOC Awardees". Archived from the original on 2017-05-18. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
  4. "2015 International Women of Courage Award Winners - International Women of Courage Celebration". Archived from the original on 2017-03-27. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
  5. "Biographies of 2015 Award Winners".
  6. https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/03/05/state-department-honors-international-women-of-courage
  7. "Gender Equality Network (GEN – formerly the Women's Protection Technical Working Group) - lrc myanmar". lrcmyanmar.org. Archived from the original on 14 July 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  8. "Women's Protection Assesments: Post Cyclone Nargis, Myanmar". ReliefWeb. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  9. "Eleven Myanmar". elevenmyanmar.com. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  10. "CSOs Urge Thein Sein to Open Up Political Space in Burma". The Irrawaddy. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  11. "Myanmar National Disability Conference" (PDF). Myanmar National Disability Conference’s Steering Committee WCRPD. Retrieved 16 May 2015.