THE destruction of 13 Christian crosses is among the "wide range
of religious-freedom violations" in Burma documented in a new
report from the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO).
Threats to Our Existence: Persecution of ethnic Chin
Christians in Burma draws on more than 100 interviews,
primarily covering incidents that took place between March 2004 and
April 2012. Thirty-four of the interviews were conducted in Chin
State, a north-western area of Burma that is home to about 500,000
ethnic Chin, who are largely Christian.
The rest were carried out with Chin refugees who have fled to
India and Malaysia. Formed in 1995 by a group of Chin activists,
CHRO is registered in Canada and conducts advocacy and training
campaigns.
Many of the issues discussed in the report cross with other
human-rights abuses, such as forced labour, torture, and sexual
violence. The report alleges that 15 Buddhist pagodas or
monasteries have been built with forced labour extracted from Chin
Christians, and that, in 24 cases, permission to construct or
renovate a Christian building was "effectively blocked" by the
Ministry of Religious Affairs.
It also lists more than 40 separate incidents of torture or
ill-treatment, and 24 official complaints of human-rights abuses,
including rape and extra-judicial killing, lodged by Chin
Christians at government level, where no action was taken against
the alleged perpetrators.
Of "paramount concern" to Chin people, the report suggests, are
the government's Border Areas National Races Youth Development
Training schools (known as "Na Ta La" schools), which "arguably
function as a cornerstone of the unwritten policy of forced
assimilation". Chin Christian attenders told CHRO that they faced
forced conversion to Buddhism, and monks, Buddhist laymen, and
soldiers tracked down attenders who fled, it reports.
Since 1999, Burma has been designated as a Country of Particular
Concern under the International Religious Freedom Act of the United
States. The latest International Religious Freedom report notes
some improvements for Christians, including the easing of
restrictions on church-building, and a "positive relationship" with
the Ministry of Religion. The government also passed a new law to
protect freedom of assembly and procession. But, the report states
that constraints on respect for, and protection of the right to
religious freedom continued.
A recent UN survey found that Chin State remained the poorest
state in Burma, and that 73.3 per cent of the people were below the
poverty line. The UN special rapporteur on Burma reported this
month that, despite positive signs of change, there remained
"serious and ongoing human-rights concerns". Ending discrimination
against ethnic minorities was "essential for national
reconciliation".
The programme director of CHRO, Salai Ling, said: "President
Thein Sein's government claims that religious freedom is protected
by law, but in reality Buddhism is treated as the de-facto state
religion. The discriminatory state institutions and ministries of
previous military regimes continue to operate in the same way
today. Few reforms have reached Chin State."
The report calls on the international community to support an
independent international investigation of human-rights violations
in Burma. www.chro.ca