UN investigators said on Tuesday that systematic torture, gang rape, and atrocities against minors are examples of how crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by the Myanmar military have “escalated at an alarming rate”.
According to the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) of the United Nations, as the country’s war spins out of control, over three million people are thought to have been forced to leave their homes in the previous six months.
“We have collected substantial evidence showing horrific levels of brutality and inhumanity across Myanmar,” said IIMM chief Nicholas Koumjian.
“Many crimes have been committed with an intent to punish and induce terror in the civilian population.”
In its annual report, covering July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, the IIMM said the conflict in Myanmar had “escalated substantially” in that time, “with reports of more frequent and brutal crimes committed across the country”.
According to the investigators, they have gathered substantial proof of more extensive and brutal war crimes, including as airstrikes on hospitals, schools, and places of worship that don’t appear to be military targets.
They also mentioned beheadings and open exhibitions of bodies with disfigurements and genital mutilations as physical abuses inflicted on inmates.
Investigators are investigating cases of arbitrary arrest and “manifestly unfair trials” of those who are thought to be the military junta’s opponents, as well as other illegitimate forms of imprisonment.
“Thousands of people have been arrested and many tortured or killed in detention,” the IIMM said.
