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A/HRC/57/18 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 11 July 2024 Original: English Human Rights Council Fifty-seventh session 9 September–9 October 2024 Agenda item 4 Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention Report of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar* Summary The present document is the sixth report submitted by the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar to the Human Rights Council pursuant to resolution 39/2. It covers the activities carried out by the Mechanism between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024, highlighting progress on investigations, approaches and methodologies, challenges and areas for additional support. During the reporting period, the conflict in Myanmar escalated substantially, with reports of more frequent and brutal crimes committed across the country. The Mechanism possesses substantial evidence that a variety of war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed. While the great majority of information collected by the Mechanism concerns crimes committed by the Myanmar security forces or affiliated militias, the Mechanism has also received credible information regarding crimes committed by some armed groups fighting against the military. The Mechanism is examining evidence of alleged crimes regardless of the affiliation or ethnicity of the perpetrators or victims. Despite the complex and evolving situation in the country, the Mechanism made important progress across its various investigations, with almost 28 million items of information and evidence collected from over 900 sources by the end of the reporting period, including: witness statements; photographs; videos; audio materials; documents; maps; geospatial imagery; social media posts; and forensic evidence. To enable these vast quantities of material to be searched, analysed and utilized to build case files, the Mechanism has developed and optimized innovative technologies. During the reporting period, the Mechanism made significant strides in its investigations into crimes committed following the military takeover in February 2021. Evidence has been collecting related to the violent suppression of protests; torture and other abuses in detention, including sexual and gender-based crimes; unlawful imprisonment of perceived opponents of the military regime, including arbitrary detention and manifestly unfair trials; indiscriminate or intentional artillery and aerial attacks against civilians or civilian objects; killings of civilians or fighters detained during operations; and the intentional burning of civilian dwellings and other civilian buildings. In relation to the clearance operations carried out by the Myanmar security forces in 2016 and 2017, which forced almost three quarters of a million Rohingya to flee to * Agreement was reached to publish the present report after the standard publication date owing to circumstances beyond the submitter’s control. GE.24-11995 (E)

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Evidence of an escalation in brutal atrocities committed by Myanmar military – Myanmar Mechanism Annual Report

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Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM)

Date Published: Aug 13, 2024

Abstract: Geneva, 13 August 2024 – There is substantial evidence that brutal war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Myanmar military have escalated at an alarming rate across the country, according to information collected and analysed by the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (Mechanism) and detailed in its Annual Report released today.

The Report focuses on the period 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024 – a time when armed conflicts increased across Myanmar as the challenges to military rule intensified.

During this time, the Mechanism collected significant evidence of more intensive and violent war crimes, such as aerial attacks on schools, religious buildings and hospitals where there was no apparent military target, and physical mutilations against people detained during the armed conflicts, including beheadings and public displays of disfigured and sexually mutilated bodies.

“We have collected substantial evidence showing horrific levels of brutality and inhumanity across Myanmar. Many crimes have been committed with an intent to punish and induce terror in the civilian population,” said Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the Mechanism.

The Mechanism is also investigating the unlawful imprisonment, including arbitrary detention and manifestly unfair trials, of perceived opponents of the military junta. Thousands of people have been arrested and many tortured or killed in detention. There is abundant evidence of systematic torture, including severe physical and mental abuse such as beatings, electric shocks, strangulations and sleep deprivation. There is also evidence of gang rape, the burning of sexual body parts and other violent sexual and gender-based crimes committed in detention. The victims include people of all genders and ages, including children.

“No one has been held accountable for any crimes, which emboldens perpetrators and deepens the culture of impunity in the country. We are trying to break this cycle. I believe the Mechanism has made considerable progress in building criminal cases against those most responsible for these crimes,” said Koumjian.

The findings in the Report are based on information and evidence collected from more than 900 sources, including more than 400 eyewitness testimonies, and additional evidence such as photographs, videos, audio material, documents, maps, geospatial imagery, social media posts and forensic evidence.

While the vast majority of information collected by the Mechanism concerns crimes committed by the Myanmar security forces, there is also credible evidence of crimes committed by armed groups which are fighting against the military. This includes summary executions of civilians suspected of being military informers or collaborators.

While the Mechanism is working hard to investigate the high volume of crimes committed since the military takeover in February 2021, it also maintains its commitment to the investigation of earlier crimes committed against the Rohingya during the Myanmar military’s 2016 and 2017 clearance operations. In particular, the Mechanism has analysed the movements of military units, the resettlement practices and policies intended to attract the migration of non-Rohingya people to Rakhine State, and the quantities and qualities of weapons possessed by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army at the time of the clearance operations.

The Mechanism has shared these analyses, along with a vast volume of evidence, with authorities working on ongoing cases concerning the Rohingya at the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice and in Argentina. The Mechanism is proactively sharing evidence that may be relevant to the proceedings and is also responding to targeted requests from these authorities for specific information and analysis.

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