Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday accused [report] the Myanmar military of committing sexual crimes against Rohingya women and girls.

HRW conducted interviews with 52 women and girls who fled from the Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships. Twenty-nine of them were identified as survivors of rape. Survivors reported experiences of gang rape, and murder of children and elderly.There was also one case of sexual violence against a male.

In addition to interviewing 52 female refugees, HRW also consulted with 17 representatives from other human rights organizations, including UN operatives. HRW hypothesizes the lack of concrete numbers of victims may be because police and medical workers often lack adequate equipment and training to properly document the incidents. In most cases, a lot of time has past since the actual incidents, making it more difficult to gather forensic evidence.

According to HRW, “Burma’s government should end the violations against the Rohingya immediately, cooperate fully with international investigators, including the Fact-Finding Mission established by the UN Human Rights Council, and allow humanitarian aid organizations unimpeded access to Rakhine State.”