The regime continues to violate religious freedom, most recently attacking churches in Kachin State and imposing new restrictions on church activities. Christians and Muslims continue to face serious restrictions, discrimination and, in some areas, persecution. Among Burma’s ethnic nationalities, religion is a factor in driving the regime’s policies of persecution, particularly among the Muslim Rohingyas, the predominantly Christian Chin, Kachin and Karenni, and the significant Christian population among the Karen.
Within a wider context of appalling human rights abuses, the situation of religious persecution in Burma is among the most severe in the world. The US State Department has categorised Burma as one of the world’s worst violators of religious freedom in every annual report since 1999.
Although religious and ethnic persecution are bound up together, there is a distinctively religious dimension. Christians are denied promotion in government or military service. The regime offers allurements to Christians in some areas to convert to Buddhism, and Within a wider context of appalling human rights abuses, the situation of religious persecution in Burma is among the most severe in the world. The US State Department has categorised Burma as one of the world’s worst violators of religious freedom in every annual report since 1999. children have been taken into monasteries where they are forced to become novice monks. Severe restrictions are in place on the construction, extension and renovation of churches and church buildings, printing and publishing Christian literature and holding church meetings.
In Karen State, churches have been burned down, church activities have been disrupted and, in one village in March 2004, a regime-sponsored militia ordered Christians to construct a pagoda, forbade them to build a cross and used a loudspeaker to blare out Buddhist propaganda during Christian worship services. In January 2009, in Rangoon, it was reported that at least 100 churches were ordered to close.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide - Focus on Burma
2011.11.01 Christian Solidarity Worldwide - Visit to the Thailand-Burma Border, October 2011