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GENEVA: United Nations investigators said on Tuesday they have found evidence of systematic torture by Myanmar security forces and identified some of the senior perpetrators.

The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIIM), formed in 2018 to analyze evidence of serious violations of international law, said victims were subject to beatings, electric shocks, strangulations and other forms of torture like the removal of fingernails with pliers.

“We have uncovered significant evidence, including eyewitness testimony, showing systematic torture in Myanmar detention facilities,” Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the Mechanism said in a statement accompanying the 16-page report.

The torture sometimes resulted in death, the report said. Children, who are often unlawfully detained as proxies for their missing parents, were among those tortured, it said.

A spokesperson for Myanmar’s military-backed government did not immediately respond to 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.

The military says it has a duty to ensure peace and security. It has denied atrocities have taken place and has blamed “terrorists” for causing unrest.

The findings in the report covering a one-year period through to June 30 were based on information from more than 1,300 sources, including hundreds of eyewitness testimonies as well as forensic evidence, documents and photographs.

The list of perpetrators identified so far includes high-level commanders, the report said. An IIIM spokesperson declined to name them, saying investigations are ongoing and it wanted to avoid alerting the individuals.

The report also said that both Myanmar security forces and opposition armed groups had carried out summary executions in the conflict, and it had identified those responsible.

A government spokesperson and an opposition spokesperson were not immediately available for comment.

Myanmar has been in chaos since a 2021 military coup against an elected civilian government plunged the country into civil war. Tens of thousands of people have been detained since then in an attempt to silence opponents and recruit soldiers, the United Nations says.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing ended a four-year state of emergency last month and announced the formation of a new government, with himself as acting president, ahead of a planned election.

The IIIM is investigating abuses in Myanmar since 2011, including both crimes committed against the mainly Muslim Rohingya minority in 2017 when hundreds of thousands were forced to flee a military crackdown and violations affecting all groups since the coup.

The IIIM said that it is supporting several jurisdictions investigating the alleged crimes, such as Britain. However, the IIIM said in its report that UN budget cuts are threatening its work. “These financial pressures threaten the Mechanism’s ability to sustain its critical work and to continue supporting international and national justice efforts,” it said.

NEW DELHI: Indian officials say at least 68 people are unaccounted for a week after a deadly wall of icy water swept away a Himalayan town and buried it in mud.
On top of four people reported to have been killed, it takes the likely overall toll of the August 5 disaster to more than 70 dead.
Videos broadcast by survivors showed a terrifying surge of muddy water sweeping away multi-story apartment blocks.
Disaster officials said Tuesday that they were searching for corpses in the wreckage of the tourist town of Dharali in Uttarakhand state.
Gambhir Singh Chauhan, from the National Disaster Response Force, said sniffer dogs had identified several sites indicating there was a body but when “when digging started, water came out from below.”
Chauhan said teams were also using ground penetrating radar in the grim search.
More than 100 people were initially reported as missing.
But with roads swept away and mobile phone communications damaged, it has taken rescuers days to cross-check the list.
The local government now lists 68 people as missing, including 44 Indians and 22 Nepalis. Nine soldiers are on the list.
Deadly floods and landslides are common during the monsoon season from June to September, but experts say climate change, coupled with poorly planned development, is increasing their frequency and severity.
Climate change experts warned that the disaster was a “wake-up call” to the effects of global warming.
No official cause of the flood has been given, but scientists have said it was likely that intense rains triggered a collapse of debris from a rapidly melting glacier.
Himalayan glaciers, which provide critical water to nearly two billion people, are melting faster than ever before due to climate change, exposing communities to unpredictable and costly disasters.
The softening of permafrost increases the chances of landslides.