UN Report Reveals Widespread Torture and Atrocities in Myanmar

Nang, 28, a mother of three, is pictured with her son, Tun Lin, at their home in Namsang Township, Shan State.

Myanmar’s security situation has deteriorated significantly, with the nation still reeling from the devastating earthquake in March last year and ongoing military offensives driven by the civil war. In 2025, the humanitarian crisis reached a critical point, with the United Nations (UN) highlighting severe human rights abuses inflicted on civilians by the military and armed groups.

On August 12, the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) released its annual UN-mandated report, stating that it had made significant progress in documenting violations and identifying perpetrators. The report details ongoing atrocities, including torture of civilians in military-run detention facilities, coordinated aerial strikes on schools, hospitals, and homes, and the continued ethnic cleansing of Rohingya refugees.

“We have uncovered significant evidence, including eyewitness testimony, showing systematic torture in Myanmar detention facilities,” said Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the Mechanism. “We have made headway in identifying the perpetrators, including commanders overseeing these facilities, and we stand ready to support jurisdictions willing and able to prosecute these crimes. Our report highlights a continued increase in the frequency and brutality of atrocities committed in Myanmar.”

The report covers developments from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, drawing on more than 1,300 sources—including 600 eyewitness testimonies, substantial photographic and video evidence, and forensic material. Since the 2021 coup, the Myanmar military has detained large numbers of civilians, many arbitrarily arrested on suspicion of opposing the regime, and subjected them to brutal, systematic torture.

According to 2024 figures from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), since 2021, approximately 6,000 civilians have died from violence, including nearly 2,000 in military custody. Humanitarian experts have expressed alarm over the military’s use of enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, and physical torture to silence opposition.

“Thousands of Myanmar detainees are suffering in silence in interrogation facilities and prisons across the country, where healthcare, access to legal services, and food are inadequate,” said Joe Freeman, a Myanmar researcher at Amnesty International. “Torture and other ill-treatment in Myanmar detention facilities are common, but few people can lodge complaints or stop the abuse without risking serious retribution, from beatings to solitary confinement to sexual violence.”

Eyewitnesses described some detainees as children, some as young as two years old, acting as “proxies” for their parents. Detainees have endured beatings, electric shocks, strangulations, killings, and even removal of fingernails with pliers, particularly during interrogations.

Numerous detainees also suffered sexual and gender-based violence, including rape, forced insertion of objects, burning of sexual body parts, forced nudity, invasive searches, sexualized touching, and denial of menstrual hygiene and postnatal care. Eyewitness accounts also describe detainees being targeted with homophobic and misogynistic slurs and threats of physical violence.

The report confirmed that perpetrators include many high-level commanders. Myanmar’s military responded to international criticism by reaffirming its priorities of peace and stability while blaming “terrorists” for recent hostilities.

The Mechanism highlighted a significant rise in hostilities in Rakhine State from clashes between the military and the Arakan army ethnic armed group. Evidence links Arakan army members to human rights abuses against Rakhine, Rohingya, and other civilians, including summary executions, beheadings, and torture.

The military and its affiliates are also linked to indiscriminate killings of women, children, and the elderly, aerial bombardments, shellings in Arakan-controlled areas, and blocking critical entry points in Sittwe, severely restricting civilian movement and humanitarian aid.

During the reporting period, the Mechanism also investigated crimes from the 2016–2017 clearance operations that destroyed Rohingya villages, displaced thousands into Bangladesh, and caused widespread insecurity and gender-based violence. UNHCR figures show that recent hostilities displaced over 150,000 Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh in 2025.

The Mechanism interviewed Rohingya in displacement shelters and violence-affected villages to collect witness-based evidence linking individuals to the crimes. Investigators are collaborating with civil society, NGOs, media, and governments to identify perpetrators and end impunity, providing evidence only with informed consent from affected communities.

Investigators warned of continued access challenges due to insecurity, and recent UN budget cuts threaten fact-finding operations. The Mechanism’s 2025 budget was reduced to 73 percent, requiring a 20 percent staff reduction in 2026. Funding for witness security and research on sexual violence and crimes against children is projected to run out by year-end.

“It’s very important that perpetrators believe someone is watching and collecting evidence,” said Koumjian. “All of this affects our ability to document crimes and provide evidence useful to jurisdictions prosecuting these cases.”