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espite a global campaign to end violence against women since the fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, armies and armed groups continue to target women with impunity in conflict areas in Indonesia, Timor Leste and Myanmar, report says.

In a report entitled Surviving on Their Own: Women'€™s Experiences of War, Peace and Impunity, Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR) conducted participatory research on how women experience violence in conflict areas and struggle to survive in situations where impunity is the norm.

The research recounts shocking, in-depth stories of 140 women survivors from Indonesia, Timor Leste and Myanmar. Out of 140 women interviewed, only 10 women were able to bring their case to court.

Kemala Chandrakirana, executive board of Indonesia for Humanity, said during the launching of the report on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Conference on Gender Equality and Women'€™s Empowerment in Bangkok that the world might have seen Middle Eastern countries as hot spots where violence against women was pervasive.

'€œActually, the Southeast Asian region is one the most dangerous places for women living in armed conflict areas. Violence against women has been going on for more than four decades,'€ Chandrakirana said.

In Indonesia, for instance, the New Order regime (1965-1998) was frequently accused of using military force to quell dissent. In 1965-1966, the Indonesian military and armed groups were implicated in the killing of an estimated 500,000 to 1 million people and allegedly detained thousands of members of left-leaning women'€™s organizations; artists and teachers were apparently the targets of killings, illegal detention and sexual violence.

The New Order government dealt with dissent by using force in the far reaching provinces of Papua, former East Timor (now Timor Leste) and Aceh as well as against those defending certain rights in other parts of Indonesia.

Although there were peace processes in the conflict zones of Aceh, Maluku and Poso (1999-2005), it is argued that women were not able to participate in a significant way.

An important exception was the Aceh Peace Talks where the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) had a woman as part of their negotiating team.

In Papua, civil society groups are campaigning for a peace dialog with the central government. Indigenous women are involved in the campaign but Jakarta has been accused of not responding positively.

When the nation of Timor Leste was in the process of being formed in 1999, there were reports that women experienced unlawful detention, rape and torture during the United Nations-sponsored referendum. Many claimed to have been forcibly displaced and some remained as forgotten refugees in Indonesia'€™s West Timor.

In Myanmar, women have experienced discrimination and violence due to political or ethnic conflict.

The research showed the general neglect of women across Southeast Asia. Saidah from Aceh said that during the conflict, women had taken care of members of the Acehnese rebel groups but after the war was over, the former rebels, who are now the leaders of Aceh, did not care about women'€™s conditions.

Juariah from Buru Island recalled how she and others were forced to confess involvement in the abortive coup blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party in 1965, while in fact they were innocent.

Lucilia da S. Alves from Dili, Timor Leste, said her father and brother died for the country'€™s independent. '€œMy mother and I also struggled to protect Xanana Gusmao when he hid from the [Indonesian] military. But after independence, nobody remembered our sacrifice.'€