A/HRC/39/CRP.2 (d) ARSA 1272. ARSA also committed serious human rights abuses, including the killing of dozens of suspected informants and the burning of the Rakhine village of Ah Htet Pyu Ma on 25 August 2017. Although the Government has claimed that ARSA burned Rohingya villages, the Mission found no indication of this. Other abuses allegedly perpetrated by ARSA, including several incidents where Rakhine and members of other ethnic groups, including the Mro, were killed, require further investigation, as does the killing of up to 100 Hindu men and women from Kha Maung Seik. The Mission’s primary source information on the latter incident corroborates the killing, but is inconclusive as to the perpetrator. Other militant or criminal groups were also active in the region and may have been responsible also for abuses. 5. Violations of international law 1273. The “clearance operations” of both 2016 and then again of 2017 in northern Rakhine State were brutal and disproportionate. They were undertaken in total disregard for human life and dignity, without any respect for human rights, in complete and consistent violation of all cardinal principles of international humanitarian law. Violations of this gravity and scope are only possible when driven by absolute contempt for the victims against which they are perpetrated. 1274. This section provides a brief overview of the kinds of violations of international law perpetrated in the course of the “clearance operations”, focusing on international human rights law and international humanitarian law. The extent to which these serious human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law may amount to serious crimes under international law is examined in chapter VIII below. (a) International human rights law 1275. The use of excessive force is prohibited under international human rights law. 2833 For the use of force not to be excessive, it must comply with the principles of legality, necessity and proportionality, and the degree of force should be limited to the minimum necessary in the circumstances. It must be targeted at individuals using violence, or at averting an imminent threat. These criteria were manifestly not fulfilled in the “clearance operations” of 2016 and from 25 August 2017 in Rakhine State. The operations have thereby given rise to an overwhelming breadth of violations against civilians in Rakhine State, in particular the Rohingya, under international human rights law. The widespread killings in Rakhine State violated the right to life, a non-derogable right, which forms part of customary international law. The Mission considers that the estimate of 10,000 persons killed as a consequence of the 2017 “clearance operations” alone, is conservative. 1276. The endemic rapes, mass gang rapes, and sexual violence against Rohingya women and girls, and sometimes men and boys, violated the rights of these victims to security of the person, and the right to be protected from torture and other ill-treatment. Violence against women and girls, including sexual and gender-based violence, is also a form of discrimination prohibited by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Myanmar’s failure to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish acts of sexual and gender-based violence violates its obligations as a State party to this convention.2834 The deliberate killing and indiscriminate attacks on children and infants also violated the Convention on the Rights of the Child. As a State party, Myanmar is obligated to guarantee children, that is, all persons under the age of 18, the rights to life, survival and development, and to protection from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury and abuse, including sexual abuse; and not to be tortured, nor suffer other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 2835 Under the CRC, governments must do everything they can to protect and care for children affected by armed conflicts. In the context of the clearance operations, rather than being protected and cared for, children and infants were directly targeted and killed, often as their parents looked on. 2833 2834 2835 See chapter II, section C: Legal framework. CEDAW, arts. 2 and 15. CRC, arts. 1, 4, 6, 7, 19, 24, 28, 34, 37. 313