Briefing Paper: The legacy of mass torture and the challenge for reform in Myanmar

By Asia Justice and Rights, Legal Clinic Myanmar and Wimutti Voluntteer Group • June 26, 2016

Briefing paper Torture has a long history in Myanmar and has been widely employed by the military regimes in power after 1962. State security forces and government officials committed torture with impunity in prisons, interrogation centers, police cells, immigration and detention facilities, and throughout conflict-affected ethnic areas. Authorities used torture not only to extract information and false confessions, but also to punish, degrade, humiliate, and instill fear among political dissidents, journalists, human rights activists, and anyone suspected of criticizing the state. Even after a shift to a pseudo-civilian government in 2010, civil society organizations continued to document the same practices by police and military, and the UN Human Rights Council continues to call on the government to end such violations.