May Sabai Phyu

May Sabai Phyu, also transcibed as May Sabe Phyu (Burmese: မေစံပယ်ဖြူ) is a Kachin activist from Burma. She is active in promoting human rights, freedom of expression, peace, justice for Myanmar’s ethnic minorities, anti-violence in Kachin State, and lately in combating violence against women and promoting gender equality issues.

In 2008, she was instrumental in the forming the inter-agency Women’s Protection Technical Working Group during the Cyclone Nargis response. The group was formed to alleviate hardships caused by the storm. Immediately, the storm changed household composition, leaving 14 out of every 100 households headed by women, the majority of these being widows. In addition, there was a sharp rise in the number of women engaging in sex for money, food or favors. As these households were vulnerable, both in terms of poverty and safety, the group immediately focused on methods to provide satisfactory housing, sex-education, job training and support networks. Due to the group’s efforts, eighteen months after the cyclone, conditions for these vulnerable women appeared to have returned to normalcy.

After the disaster relief situation stabilized the Working Group evolved into the Gender Equality Network with May Sabai Phyu as Senior Coordinator. In 2012, this group assisted the government in the drafting of the National Strategic Plan for the Advancement of Women. The organization actively works for gender equality and the development of strategies to mitigate and prevent violence against women and girls.

She is the coordinator of the Kachin Peace Network. She was charged and fined for leading a protest against the ongoing civil war between Myanmar Government troops and the Kachin Independence Army. She has spoken at Human Rights Workshops in Myanmar advocating for the rights of people with disabilities and the promotion and protection of human rights.

She was honored with a International Women of Courage Award by the State Department of the United States of America in 2015. After Zin Mar Aung, she is the second woman from Burma to receive that award.