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What is the role of militarization in the treatment of women? A: Militarization is one of the reasons that women are being suppressed. All the military officers in the Burmese army are male. They assume that they have power because they are military plus they are men. So they have a two-power position to suppress women. And traditionally, women are defined to obey the man and then, because the military rules Burma, women have to obey them. Because there is military rule in Burma, women are doubly violated in terms of their rights. There are many reasons that women suffer more than men. In ethnic areas, the majority of the refugees are women. The women and men live in one household. When the military impresses porters, the men work and the women have to take care of the family. When a woman is a porter, the family has to go there. This is how women face a double violation of their rights. Q: What is your experience in working for lesbian and gay rights in Burma? A: As an advocate working for human rights, I think that gay and lesbian rights should not be excluded by what you say is human rights because we are all human. In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone is born equally. What about gays and lesbians, they are also human so their rights should be included in the overall term “human rights.” That is why I’m working for lesbian and gay rights in Burma, but I’m not advocating that they should be given the first priority, but they should not be treated in a discriminatory way. Don’t allow any discrimination because of the sexual orientation, just treat them like other people. Q: Like other NGOs and activists, you gather information from people. What do you offer to them? A: I feel uncomfortable collecting information from the people because I'm just taking something from them. I feel that I should give something back. It is good to collect information and send it to the international organizations and they take action against the State Peace and Development Council but still we need something from our people. People just giving information and doing nothing for human rights is not a good sign. That is why I decided to do some kind of training to give the knowledge about human rights and give a chance for people to think about their basic rights. This is good for the future of Burma so that people know about their rights, so they know how to prevent abuses. If they know how to advocate then they can protect their human rights. Even after we get democracy or even after the SPDC is overthrown so people with the kind of basic knowledge can be helpful for the foundation of civil society for the future of Burma. Q: How did you feel when you heard that you won the award from Columbia University? A: At first I felt happy and proud of myself because this is recognition by an international organization and academic school from the US giving the award to me. Then I felt more responsible for the people inside Burma. This is my 3rd human rights award. The increased recognition makes me more responsible to work harder than before for the people. Even though, I’ve received three human rights awards, human rights violations still go on in Burma. This means that I have to work harder.