Myanmar: War crimes escalating 'substantially,' UN says

The military junta in Myanmar is increasingly committing war crimes, including torture and sexual violence, in an attempt to suppress opposition, the UN said in a report released on Tuesday.

"We have collected substantial evidence showing horrific levels of brutality and inhumanity across Myanmar," said Nicholas Koumjian, chief of the UN's Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM).

The report, which covers July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, said the conflict had "escalated substantially" and "at an alarming rate."

Reports of torture and arbitrary violence

Investigators said they found evidence of torture, sexual abuse and abuse against children "with reports of more frequent and brutal crimes committed across the country."

They cited physical mutilations against detainees, beheadings and public displays of disfigured and sexually mutilated bodies.

The report found violent war crimes had intensified, with reports of aerial attacks on schools, religious buildings and hospitals which did not appear to have a military target.

"Thousands of people have been arrested and many tortured or killed in detention," the IIMM said, with opponents of the regime being arbitrarily detained and given "manifestly unfair trials."

Resistance groups also accused of war crimes

The military returned to power in February 2021 after only a decade of civilian rule since the previous military junta held power.

The coup toppled Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government and violently put down anti-military protests.

However, the army has had a harder time dealing with an armed resistance made up of long-established ethnic rebel groups and the more recent pro-democracy forces.

The IIMM was launched in 2018 by the US Human Rights Council to collect evidence pertaining to the worst crimes that had been committed in the country, including crimes against the Rohingya minority, much of which took place under civilian rule.

The investigators have focused mostly on crimes perpetrated by the military, but have also found evidence of crimes committed by resistance groups.

"This includes summary executions of civilians suspected of being military informers or collaborators," the investigators said.

ab/nm (AFP, dpa)