Myanmar military stepping up civilian killings and arrests, says UN report

By Emma Farge and Cecile Mantovani

GENEVA (Reuters) -Myanmar's military government has ramped up killings and arrests in an apparent bid to silence opponents and recruit soldiers in an escalating conflict, with tens of thousands detained since a 2021 coup, a U.N. report said on Tuesday.

The military came to power in February 2021 after deposing the elected civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi and triggering nationwide street protests that it violently crushed.

The protest movement has since turned into a widening armed rebellion and fighting has flared on multiple fronts, prompting authorities to introduce conscription in February.

The report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, based partly on remote interviews with hundreds of victims and witnesses since investigators are denied access, said that 5,350 civilians had been killed by the military since the coup.

Of those, 2,414 died in the period covered by the U.N. report between April 2023 and June 2024, with hundreds killed by airstrikes and artillery attacks, amounting to an increase of 50% versus the previous reporting period.

A Myanmar junta spokesman did not respond to calls seeking comment.

The report also revealed the scale of detentions across the country. Nearly 27,400 individuals have been arrested since the coup including more than 9,000 in the latest reporting period, the report said, citing a list of named individuals it compiled. Many are thought to be in military training centres, it said.

Among those seized by authorities are children who were taken when the parents could not be located "as a form of punishment for political opposition", the report said.

It detailed cases of abuse of detainees that amount to torture, such as suspension from the ceiling without food or water; the use of snakes and insects to instil fear; and beatings with bamboo sticks and motorcycle chains.

U.N. rights office spokesperson Liz Throssell told a press briefing that at least 1,853 people have died in custody since the coup, including 88 children.

"Many of these individuals have been verified as dying after being subjected to abusive interrogation, other ill-treatment in detention or denial of access to adequate health care," she said.

High Commissioner Turk repeated a recommendation that the rights violations in Myanmar be referred to the International Criminal Court.

(Reporting by Emma Farge and Reuters Staff; Editing by Alex Richardson and Gareth Jones)