A/HRC/39/CRP.2 by 20 soldiers in a forest heard the soldiers call the girls “witches” and tell them “we will torture you Kachin bitches until you are extinct”. 374 218. The brutality and cruelty of the sexual violence committed by the Tatmadaw is not only present in reports of persecution. Patterns of accompanying extreme physical violence and torture, including by groups rather than individual Tatmadaw soldiers, reflect a widespread culture of tolerance, if not an explicit policy, towards humiliation and the deliberate infliction of suffering on civilians. Both the opportunistic and more calculated commission of sexual violence against women and their relatives in their homes reinforce the Tatmadaw soldiers’ confidence in, and enjoyment of, absolute impunity for such violations. Sexual violence facilitated by insecurity 219. The Mission received credible reports of opportunistic and isolated sexual violence facilitated by the prevailing context of insecurity that were not directly connected to armed conflict.375 In these cases, sexual violence is a violation of international human rights law when committed by public officials, at their instigation or with their consent or acquiescence, but also when the State does not demonstrate diligence to protect persons from sexual violence by non-State agents and entities, including by investigating such acts and punishing perpetrators in accordance with national law. 376 5. Arbitrary deprivation of liberty and enforced disappearance 220. The Tatmadaw has engaged in arbitrary arrest and detention, in many cases amounting to enforced disappearance. Men and women, and in some cases children, were taken from their villages and detained for forced labour or because of suspected links to EAOs. Victims have been held incommunicado in unofficial places of detention for periods between a day and two years. Most were not informed of the reason for arrest, nor brought before a judge. (a) Legal framework 221. International human rights law enshrines the right to liberty and security of the person and to freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention,377 as well as the State’s obligation to ensure that people arrested or detained are informed of the reasons for arrest or detention, and are brought before a court promptly, regardless of whether this right of challenge is exercised or not.378 Freedom from arbitrary detention is a rule of customary international law; it is even considered peremptory law (jus cogens), that is, it cannot be limited or derogated from.379 An arrest or detention violates international human rights law if it is unlawful, meaning that is not imposed on such grounds and in accordance with such procedure as are 374 375 376 377 378 379 56 PI-069. PI-007, PI-093, PI-110. United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, art. 4 (c), (d) and (o); ICCPR, art. 2; United Nations Human Rights Committee, “General Comment No. 31 - The Nature of the General Legal Obligation Imposed on States Parties to the Covenant” (CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add. 13), para. 15 and 18; United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, “General recommendation No. 28 on the core obligations of States parties under article 2 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women” (CEDAW/C/GC/28), para. 17, and “General recommendation No. 35 on gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19” (CEDAW/C/GC/35), paras. 24-25. UDHR, art. 9; ICCPR, art. 9(4); CRC, art. 37(b); CAT, art. 11; ICRMW, art. 16(1), (4) and (9); CRPD, art. 14; CPED, art. 17. ICCPR, art 9(3). See e.g. United Nations Human Rights Committee, “General Comment No. 24: Issues Relating to Reservations Made upon Ratification or Accession to the Covenant or the Optional Protocols thereto, or in Relation to Declarations under Article 41 of the Covenant” (CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.6), para. 8; “General Comment No. 29: Article 4: Derogations during a State of Emergency” (CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.11), para. 11.