Rights group reports torture and neglect of women in Myanmar prisons

Women detained in Myanmar are being subjected to widespread torture, sexual violence and life-threatening medical neglect, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday, according to the South China Morning Post. The rights organisation’s report highlights what it described as chronic ill-treatment of thousands of female prisoners. The available material identifies beatings, electric shocks and sexual violence among the abuses reported, as well as failures in medical care that can put prisoners’ lives at risk.

The allegations are set against Myanmar’s continuing conflict following the military’s seizure of power in a February 2021 coup. The source describes the country as impoverished and says a protracted civil war has devastated several regions. The report says the conflict has killed about 100,000 people and displaced more than 3.5 million.

Those figures are included in the source material, which does not identify the methodology behind them or specify the period covered. The available extract does not provide the names of prisons, individual testimonies, a response from Myanmar’s authorities or details of the recommendations made by Human Rights Watch. It does, however, present the organisation’s central claim that women detainees face severe physical and sexual abuse alongside dangerous neglect of their health.