Myanmar’s military junta may have committed systematic human rights violations, with many of them amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity since it seized power last year, according to a new United Nations investigation.

The UN human rights report, the first comprehensive probe since the February 1, 2021, coup that ousted the elected civilian government and jailed prominent leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi, records atrocities by security forces who have violently suppressed resistance, at times using air strikes and heavy weapons on heavily populated areas.

The military has shown a flagrant disregard for human life, said Michelle Bachelet, the UN high commissioner for human rights, pointing to accounts of victims being shot in the head, burned to death, tortured, arrested arbitrarily and used as human shields.

The report found detainees were tortured during interrogation, including suspension from ceilings, electrocution, injection of drugs and some subjected to sexual violence, including rape.

“The appalling breadth and scale of violations of international law suffered by the people of Myanmar demand a firm, unified, and resolute international response,” Ms Bachelet said.

Almost 1,700 people have been killed by the junta since last year, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.