6 days ago
Myanmar junta arrests children as young as two and uses ‘systematic torture', says UN
Myanmar junta detained children as young as two years old and subjected them to torture, sexual abuse, and beatings to often use them as proxies for their parents, a United Nations-led investigation has found.
The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) – covering a period from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025 – has found evidence of ' war crimes and crimes against humanity committed' in Myanmar with an increasing frequency since the 2021 military coup.
The investigation covering a one-year period draws on more than 1,300 sources, including nearly 600 eyewitness testimonies, photographs, videos, documents, maps and forensic evidence.
The report found evidence of a rise in mass imprisonment without due process, indiscriminate airstrikes and artillery and drone attacks causing civilian deaths, burning of homes, hospitals, schools, religious sites and widespread torture, including sexual violence in detention.
It said gathered evidence from eyewitnesses indicating that children – aged ranging from two to 17 years – have been detained and subjected to 'torture, ill treatment or sexual and gender-based crimes'.
These children are often detained in place of their parents, who are suspected to be associated with opposition groups or movements but remain absconding.
The report uncovered a pattern of intensifying 'systematic torture' in Myanmar's military-run detention facilities using methods of electric shocks, strangulations and gang rapes.
'We have uncovered significant evidence, including eyewitness testimony, showing systematic torture in Myanmar detention facilities,' said Nicholas Koumjian, head of the mechanism formed in 2018 to analyse evidence of serious violations of international law.
'We have made headway in identifying the perpetrators, including the commanders who oversee these facilities and we stand ready to support any jurisdictions willing and able to prosecute these crimes.'
It comes as the nationwide fighting between the military and armed pro-democracy forces as well as ethnic armed militias, has intensified in the country since military coup of February 2021, when the army overthrew the civilian-run government of Aung San Suu Kyi and the detained civilian leaders, including president Win Myint.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced since as fighting continues between the junta and the resistance forces in many areas, with both sides accused of using civilians as informants, forced conscriptions and targets.
The report said investigators had made progress in identifying individual members and units of the security forces linked to operations at specific detention sites, including direct perpetrators of sexual and gender-based crimes as well as senior commanders.
But the names were being withheld to avoid alerting those under investigation.
'It's very important that perpetrators believe that somebody is watching, somebody is collecting evidence,' said Mr Koumjian said.
'Our report highlights a continued increase in the frequency and brutality of atrocities committed in Myanmar,' he added.
'We are working towards the day when the perpetrators will have to answer for their actions in a court of law.'
The military-ruled government has consistently denied carrying out attacks on civilians.
A spokesperson for Myanmar's military-backed government did not immediately respond to the UN's requests for comment. The military-backed government has not responded to over two dozen requests by the UN team for information about the alleged crimes and requests to access the country, the UN report said.
