UN-backed investigators allege torture and sex crimes in Myanmar detention facilities
Nicholas Koumjian was speaking as the international independent team he heads released its latest annual report on Tuesday, focusing on a one-year period running through June 30.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, triggering a civil war. After peaceful demonstrations were put down with lethal force, many opponents of military rule took up arms, and large parts of the country are now embroiled in conflict.
The team said it has made advances in identifying security personnel involved in operations at the detention facilities and 'perpetrators who have summarily executed captured combatants or civilians accused of being informers.' Perpetrators included security forces, affiliated militias and opposition armed groups, it said.
The report 'details the documented torture in Myanmar's detention facilities which includes beatings, electric shocks, strangulations, gang rape, burning of sexual body parts and other forms of sexual violence,' a summary of its findings said.
'Our report highlights a continued increase in the frequency and brutality of atrocities committed in Myanmar,' Koumjian said. 'We are working towards the day when the perpetrators will have to answer for their actions in a court of law.'
'We have uncovered significant evidence, including eyewitness testimony, showing systematic torture in Myanmar detention facilities,' he said.
His team has opened new investigations into atrocities committed against communities in Rakhine state as the military and the opposition force known as the Arakan Army battle for control of the territory.
More than 700,000 people from the Rohingya minority fled to neighboring Bangladesh in 2017 to escape persecution in Myanmar. About 70,000 others crossed the border last year when the Arakan Army effectively took over Rakhine.
The Independent Investigative Mechanism on Myanmar has been working since 2018 under a mandate from the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council to help document rights abuses and violations in the country.
It has shared evidence with authorities looking into cases involving the Rohingya at the International Criminal Court and the U.N.'s International Court of Justice.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
40 minutes ago
- Reuters
South Korea's former first lady arrested after court issues warrant, Yonhap reports
SEOUL, Aug 12 (Reuters) - South Korea's former first lady Kim Keon Hee has been arrested after a court late on Tuesday issued a warrant to arrest her following accusations of graft that she denies, the Yonhap news agency reported. Kim is South Korea's only former first lady to be arrested, joining her husband, ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol, in jail as he faces trial, following his ouster in April, over a botched bid to impose martial law in December. Earlier in the day, Kim, wearing a black suit, bowed as she arrived at court, but did not answer reporters' questions or make a statement. After the hearing ended she left to await the ruling at a detention centre in Seoul, the capital, in line with customary practice. The arrest warrant was issued by the Seoul Central District Court. The charges against her, punishable by years in prison, range from stock fraud to bribery and illegal influence peddling that have implicated business owners, religious figures and a political power broker. She has been accused of breaking the law over an incident in which she wore a luxury Van Cleef pendant reportedly worth more than 60 million won ($43,000) while attending a NATO summit with her husband in 2022. The item was not listed in the couple's financial disclosure as required by law, according to the charge. Kim is also accused of receiving two Chanel bags together valued at 20 million won and a diamond necklace from a religious group as a bribe in return for influence favourable to its business interests. The prosecution sought Kim's arrest because of the risk of her destroying evidence and interfering with the investigation, a spokesperson for the special prosecutor's team told a press briefing after Tuesday's hearing. The spokesperson, Oh Jeong-hee, said Kim had told prosecutors the pendant she wore was a fake bought 20 years ago in Hong Kong. The prosecution said it was genuine, however, and given by a domestic construction company for Kim to wear at the summit, Oh said. Kim's lawyers did not immediately comment on Tuesday but they have previously denied the accusations against her and dismissed as groundless speculation news reports about some of the gifts she allegedly received. Yoon is on trial on charges of insurrection, which could result in life imprisonment or even the death penalty. The former president, who also faces charges of abuse of power among others, has denied wrongdoing and refused to attend trial hearings or be questioned by prosecutors. ($1=1,391.3000 won)
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
South Korean court orders arrest of impeached former president's wife
A South Korean court on Tuesday ordered the arrest of Kim Keon Hee, the wife of impeached former president Yoon Suk Yeol, making her the first former first lady to be arrested in the country's history. The Seoul central district court ruling creates an unprecedented situation where both members of a former presidential couple are simultaneously in custody. Her husband, Yoon Suk Yeol, was sent back into detention in July as prosecutors investigate his failed attempt to impose martial law in December last year. A special counsel was established after Lee Jae Myung was elected president in June to investigate 16 criminal allegations against Kim. However, Wednesday's arrest warrant covered only three charges. Prosecutors allege she earned over 800 million won (£428,000) through manipulating the stock prices of Deutsch Motors, a local BMW dealership, between 2010 and 2012, by conspiring with others to artificially inflate shares. She is also accused of receiving over 270 million won worth of illegal political funding through free opinion polling services, and using this to influence candidate selections for the conservative People Power party in the country's 2022 byelections. The third charge involves accepting luxury gifts including Chanel handbags and expensive jewellery from the Unification Church through a shaman intermediary, in exchange for favourable treatment of development projects in Cambodia. Kim was questioned for over seven hours by investigators last week before the arrest warrant was sought. On issuing the warrant, judge Jeong Jae-wook cited 'concerns about evidence destruction' as the primary reason for detention, according to Yonhap News. The decision came after Kim spent four and a half hours in court, where she denied all charges against her. During the hearing, Kim reportedly expressed frustration about her personal affairs being scrutinised, telling the judge she was 'upset that even issues from before my marriage keep being brought up'. She will be held at Nambu detention centre in south-western Seoul, separate from her husband, who has been in custody at Seoul detention centre since July. Once considered to wield enormous influence behind the scenes during her husband's presidency, the former arts exhibition company executive was embroiled in a series of issues throughout his term, including the infamous Dior bag scandal, which prosecutors are now also reinvestigating. In recent weeks, both her master's and doctoral degrees were revoked over thesis plagiarism.
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
A China-led global system alongside that of the US is Xi Jinping's ultimate aim
I enjoyed reading George Magnus's article (Why Peak China may finally have arrived, 11 August). However, focusing on peak economic growth misses the bigger picture and underestimates China in ways that could weaken western policy responses. China's central goal is national power, and we are far from its peak national power. The Chinese economic miracle has taken place under the US-led global system. China built factories along its coast, filled container ships, and sent its goods to developed markets, effectively plugging into an existing network of shipping routes, ports and railways. However, just as easily as China joined this system, so too can it be forcefully unplugged. This is a core national security concern and, for more than a decade, China has been building an alternative to this US-led order. The belt and road initiative has created new trading networks across the global south; the Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (Cips) allows China and its partners to move money beyond the gaze of the US government; the 'Made in China 2025' policy has established China as a global leader in science and technology; and the modernisation of its military will allow China to project power beyond its borders. On his first and only visit to the US since the pandemic, Xi Jinping declared to Joe Biden that 'Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed'. Policymakers should understand this as a statement of intent. Even with slower growth, the party commands enough of the nation's wealth and resources to pursue its ultimate aim: a parallel, China-led global J SinclairVisiting assistant professor of finance, California Institute of Technology Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
