Sex-based violence in Myanmar
Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls – February 2025
Introduction
Human Rights Myanmar is a civil society organisation dedicated to promoting civil and political
rights in Myanmar. This submission highlights the sex-based violence faced by women and girls,
particularly in the context of the 2021 military coup, in response to the UN Special Rapporteur’s
call for input. Drawing from HRM’s report The Gendered Impact of the Myanmar Coup on Free
Expression and other reports such as: Daring to Defy: Myanmar's Patriarchy, this document
details how sex-based violence has been systematically employed as a tool of repression.
Sex-based violence against women and girls
In Myanmar, violence against women and girls is deeply entrenched in patriarchal norms and
has been exacerbated by the military coup. Since 2021, women and girls have faced extrajudicial
killings, arbitrary detentions, sexual violence, and torture. These acts are not incidental but
represent a deliberate strategy to reinforce male dominance, silence dissent, and instil fear.
Targeted killings of women
In addition to the hundreds of women killed by indiscriminate artillery and airstrikes against
civilian areas, at least 380 women and girls have been specifically targeted and unlawfully killed
by the military.1 Of these, at least 216 were shot, including 50 who were summarily executed.
The targeting of women for execution constitutes a grave violation of Article 6 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which enshrines the right to life.
At least 119 of the 380 women specifically killed were held in custody by the military at the time
of their deaths, including 28 who were shot. The deprivation of liberty without due process,
combined with summary executions of detainees, amounts to enforced disappearances and
extrajudicial killings. These acts violate the prohibition against arbitrary deprivation of life
under international law and reflect a broader pattern of targeted violence against women as a
means of punishment and control. The military’s systematic impunity for these killings further
entrenches structural discrimination against women and girls.
At the time of submission, 216 women and girls had been shot, 74 killed in detention using unknown means, 71 burned to death,
two tortured to death, and one beheaded. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners maintains a daily count of individuals
detained or killed by the military.
1