A/HRC/56/CRP.8 hypersexualized forms of rape, torture, harassment, and other forms of sexual abuse. For example, gay men have been anally raped and transgender women’s breasts have been a focus of ridicule and torture. 67. The junta has committed widespread sexual violence during arrest, interrogation, and detention. Women and LGBT people are especially vulnerable to this type of violence. Women report beatings targeting their breasts and hips as well as groping during body searches. Threats of rape and other sexual violence are common. Some interrogators use sexually explicit or abusive questions, including questions about their sex lives and relationships with other activists. The sexualized questioning of women detainees is grounded in traditional cultural norms in which a woman’s value is assessed in relation to her chastity and is intended to shame and degrade the detainee. 68. Sexual violence against LGBT people has been especially pervasive in detention settings. One LGBT activist reported how soldiers kick detainees in their genital areas, stating that this tactic was used “so that [they] don’t forget [their] original ‘gender.’” Rights groups reported that transgender women are placed in male cells and that there have been cases where prison guards force other prisoners to rape gay men. In one case, a transgender woman arrested for organizing support to PDF members and protestors was stripped and tortured for 12 hours. Security forces burned her breasts with cigarettes, beat her genitals with batons, put paper clips on her nipples, beat and interrogated her at gunpoint, asked her sexually explicit questions, threatened her with scissors, and threatened to drown her. These specific tactics are reportedly not uncommon in the treatment of transgender women who are in detention. 69. A transgender man committed suicide in March 2023 after he was forced to strip and endured verbal and physical abuse in detention. In another case, a gay man who participated in peaceful protests recounted how soldiers tortured and humiliated him and his friends due to their sexuality, including stripping the men, mimicking sex with them, hitting them on the buttocks, and rubbing their genitals against the detainees’ heads. A gay male political prisoner said: They asked us if we wanted to have sex with them; they appeared to have lost their senses from alcohol. They did anything they wanted to us—they rode on our shoulders like we were toys. …. They made us feel shame about our bodies. They banged our heads with their guns so many times that I had a lot of wounds. My buttocks became so purple that I couldn’t even sit and my calves were so swollen I couldn’t walk for days.55 70. The Special Rapporteur has received information that newer female recruits into the junta’s armed forces have reportedly experienced physical and sexual abuse from higherranking officials, causing some to flee from military training. These risks extend to women who have been forcibly conscripted by the SAC. B. Growing incidence of sexual violence by resistance forces 71. The Special Rapporteur has received alarming reports of sexual violence perpetrated by members of resistance forces, including ethnic resistance organizations and peoples’ defense forces. The incidence of these cases appears to have increased since the launch of opposition offensives in northern Shan State, Rakhine State, Kayah State, and Kachin State, which have increased the scope of conflict and displacement in Myanmar. Local organizations and analysts suggest that such cases are generally committed by opportunistic 55 Testimony shared with the Special Rapporteur by an LGBT organization. 19