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A/HRC/57/18 civilians protesting the military coup in February 2021. The security forces consisted not only of police but also military forces, sometimes dressed as police. Such forces applied lethal or near-lethal force to suppress protests in circumstances where it was not justified, causing civilian deaths and serious bodily injury. The Mechanism has obtained reliable evidence of security forces using live ammunition against protesters in Yangon, Mandalay, Bago, Tanintharyi, Kachin and Magway. Measures were often taken by security forces to prevent or delay injured persons from receiving medical assistance. Furthermore, the Mechanism has collected credible information that security forces sought to conceal the cause of death of protesters, including by falsifying autopsy reports and using other means to provide false information to the family members of those killed. 22. The Mechanism has collected abundant evidence of systematic torture of individuals in detention, particularly in military detention facilities. The means of torture included: beatings with bamboo sticks; inflicting electric shocks; pulling out fingernails with pliers; burning skin with a cigarette lighter; sleep-deprivation and long periods in stress positions; dousing detainees in petrol and setting them alight; waterboarding; strangulation with plastic bags or other materials; breaking fingers; and forcing detainees to punch each other or to witness violence against other detainees. The Mechanism has also received credible information that some individuals were killed in detention. Detainees were held in inhumane conditions, deprived of food and water and often did not receive medical care following their mistreatment. Physical abuse of detainees was often accompanied by severe mental abuse, including death threats or threats of serious violence, including rape, against detainees or family members. 23. The Mechanism has also collected reliable evidence of sexual and gender-based crimes in detention committed against all genders, including children under age 18, including: rape (gang rape and multiple rapes), inter alia, through the insertion of objects into anal and genital openings; burning of sexual body parts with cigarettes; injury to reproductive body parts; sexualized touching; forced full or partial nudity; invasive body searches accompanied by sexual humiliation; the use of sexualized, misogynist or homophobic slurs; and threats of sexual violence or violence based on gender or sexual orientation. 24. The Mechanism has found that physical and mental torture was often used to induce detainees to provide information or purported confessions or to affirm statements that they were not even allowed to read. These statements were then relied upon in subsequent judicial proceedings to convict detainees. Attempts by lawyers or the accused to object to the reliance on such “confessions” on the basis that they had been elicited through torture were summarily dismissed by judges or not even considered. Those arrested included protesters, politicians, journalists, political activists, civil servants participating in strikes, persons associated with the civil disobedience movement or suspected of having any affiliation or involvement with armed groups opposed to the military regime, suggesting that the authorities aimed to convict opponents of the military regime. 25. In sum, the Mechanism possesses substantial evidence that a variety of crimes against humanity have been committed in relation to the suppression of post-coup dissent, including: torture; rape and other forms of sexual violence; persecution based on intersecting grounds, including gender, sexual orientation, perceived political affiliation, religion and ethnicity; enforced disappearance; imprisonment; murder; and other inhumane acts. Crimes committed in relation to ongoing armed conflict 26. The Mechanism continues to collect and analyse evidence of crimes connected to various ongoing armed conflicts throughout Myanmar, including in Sagaing and Magway Regions and in Shan, Chin, Kachin, Kayah, Kayin and northern Rakhine States. Investigations of past and new incidents involve, in particular: (a) indiscriminate or intentional artillery and aerial attacks against civilians or civilian objects; (b) killings of civilians or fighters detained during operations; and (c) the intentional burning of civilian dwellings and other civilian buildings. The Mechanism has collected evidence of the continued frequent use of air-to-surface bombs, causing significant numbers of civilian casualties without any apparent military target in the vicinity. The objects of such attacks have included internally displaced persons’ camps, schools, religious buildings and health facilities. The reporting period has also been marked by continued acts of physical mutilation 8 GE.24-11995

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

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