GENEVA, Sept 17 (Askume) – Myanmar’s military junta has stepped up killings and arrests in an apparent effort to neutralise opponents and recruit soldiers in the escalating conflict , with thousands of people detained, a United Nations report said on Tuesday.
The military came to power in February 2021, overthrowing the elected civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi and sparking street protests across the country, which the military violently suppressed.
The protest movement has since evolved into a wider armed insurgency, with fighting breaking out on multiple fronts, prompting authorities to begin conscription in February.
A report by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, based on hundreds of remote interviews with victims and witnesses since investigators were denied access, said 5,350 civilians had been killed by the military since the coup.
Of those, 2,414 people died during the period covered by the UN report from April 2023 to June 2024, hundreds of them from airstrikes and shelling, a 50% increase from the previous reporting period.
A spokesman for Myanmar’s junta did not respond to calls seeking comment.
The report also revealed the scale of detentions across the country, with nearly 27,400 people arrested since the coup, including more than 9,000 during the most recent reporting period. Many are believed to be held in military training centres, reports said.
The report said those taken by authorities included children, who were taken “to punish political opponents” when their parents could not be found.
The report details cases of detainee abuse that amounted to torture, such as hanging from the ceiling without food and water; using snakes and insects to instill fear, and beatings with bamboo sticks and motorcycle chains;
At least 1,853 people have died in custody since the coup, including 88 children, Liz Troxel, a spokeswoman for the UN human rights office, said at a news conference.
“Many of these individuals are confirmed to have died after being subjected to abusive interrogations, other abuses in custody, or being denied access to appropriate health care,” he said.
