In the midst of escalating violence and the lack of the rule of law, the UN on Tuesday presented allegations of brutal torture and a general deterioration of the rights situation in Myanmar.
James Rodehaver, the head of the UN rights office’s Myanmar team, said, “Myanmar is plumbing the depths of the human rights abyss.”
Speaking to reporters in Geneva, he stated that “massive regressions in human rights that have been provoked by a vacuum of rule of law” had been revealed in the office’s most recent assessment on the situation in the war-torn nation.
“Myanmar military has created the crisis by instrumentalising the legal system, criminalising nearly all forms of dissent against its attempts to rule the country,” he stated.
Following the military’s overthrow of Aung San Suu Kyi’s administration and takeover of power in 2021, Myanmar has been in unrest.
Both more recent pro-democracy forces and long-standing ethnic rebel organizations are posing a challenge to the junta’s authority.
According to the report released on Tuesday, there have been at least 5,350 civilian deaths since the coup, over 3.3 million displaced persons, and about 27,4000 arrests.
Reporters were informed by rights office spokesperson Liz Throssell that “credible sources indicate that at least 1,853 people have died in custody, including 88 children and 125 women.”
According to Rodehaver, the situation of human rights in Myanmar has gotten worse and mass arrests have persisted since the rights office’s last report was released fifteen months ago.
He expressed special alarm about the “horrific conditions” and “pervasive” torture and ill-treatment in detention institutions.
“Detainees interviewed by our office describe methods such as being suspended from the ceiling without food or water, being forced to kneel or crawl on hard or sharp objects, the introduction of animals such as snakes or insects or other wild animals in order to provoke fear and terror in individuals,” he stated.
He added that other people had told stories of being beaten with motorcycle chains, iron poles, bamboo clubs, batons, rifle butts, leather strips, and electric wires.
“Asphyxiation, mock executions, electrocution and burning with tasers, lighters, cigarettes and boiling water” were among the other incidents reported.
“There are truly some of the most depraved behaviour utilised as methods of torture in these detention centres,” Rodehaver stated, in addition to “extremely disturbing reports … of sexual violence both against male and female detainees” .
The UN rights office emphasized how critical it is that individuals responsible for the wide range of atrocities face justice immediately.
“The lack of any form of accountability for perpetrators is an enabler for the repetition of violations, abuses and crimes,” cautioned Throssell.
She stated that UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Turk was again urging the UN Security Council to report the Myanmar issue to the International Criminal Court.
