A/HRC/39/CRP.2
384. The impact of sexual and gender-based violence on women and men reported to the
Mission is severe, varied and long-lasting. The Mission found one case of rape that resulted
in death caused by contracting HIV. 844 Other injuries reported by women included
experiencing pain in the vagina and lower abdomen region during sexual intercourse. 845
Similarly, men who experienced sexual torture in detention continue to suffer enduring
physical and psychological injuries, including bleeding from the anus, loss of cognitive
function, loss of emotional control, loss of erectile function and inability to work. 846
385. The lack of specific medical expertise related to rape exacerbates the effects of sexual
violence in the region. As victims are predominantly women, this creates gender-based
inequality in access to medical services. In several cases, women did not have the access to
medical attention and women have fallen pregnant, sometimes even after seeing a doctor
immediately after the rape, because they were not given medication to prevent pregnancy. 847
A 2017 report by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in
Myanmar had also found that the limited capacity of providers, as well as restrictions on
women’s freedom of movement due to increased militarization, limited access to life-saving
services for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.848
2.
Landmines
386. There is no systematic nationwide collection of casualty data related to landmines, but
across Myanmar at least 1,000 people have been killed or injured by anti-personnel landmines
since August 2011 across 14 states and regions. 849 Of the recorded incidents in recent years,
Kachin and Shan States have among the highest number of landmine casualties, and numbers
are increasing.850 For example, from 2016 to April 2018, the United Nations recorded 199
casualties in Kachin State including 42 deaths, and 182 casualties in Shan State, including 48
deaths.851 Despite the signing of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement in October 2015, which
committed all parties to end the use of landmines and cooperate on mine-clearance
operations, new landmines continue to be laid.852
387. Several victims and witnesses reported instances where civilians were injured or killed
due to landmines.853 Individuals informed encountering landmines in forest areas, either
while detained by the Tatmadaw or while fleeing fighting, 854 while travelling to their tea
plantations or farm,855 and in or around villages.856 The Mission was unable to verify the party
responsible for laying the mines in these cases, but credible reports indicate that both the
Tatmadaw and EAOs have laid landmines. 857 Credible reports indicate that Tatmadaw
soldiers lay landmines in villages they have attacked or after civilians have fled, or on roads
frequently used by civilians. 858 Civilians have also laid landmines in order to protect their
property.859
844
845
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
94
PI-007.
PI-063, PI-068.
PI-052, PI-055, PI-056.
PI-066, PI-067, PI-068, PI-069, QI-098.
A/HRC/34/67, para. 56.
Myanmar Information Management Unit, Townships with Known Landmine Contamination (2017)
and Casualties in Myanmar (December 2016).
Ibid. K-064, V-306, V-307.
K-064.
V-308.
PI-103, PI-104, PI-094, PI-085, PI-046, PI-045, DI-061, PI-076.
PI-016, PI-104, PI-085, PI-046, PI-045. See also this chapter, section A.6: Forced labour.
PI-016, PI-094.
DI-061, QI-094, PI-046, PI-098.
K-137, K-144, PI-045, PI-049, PI-094, PI-098, SI-003, V-309.
PI-045, PI-049, PI-094, PI-098, SI-002, SI-003.
PI-085; G. Cathcart, “Landmines as a form of community protection in Eastern Myanmar”, in
Conflict in Myanmar: War, Politics, Religion, 2nd ed., N. Cheesman, N. Farrelly, eds. (ISEAS, 2016),
pp. 127-131.