Yangon (AsiaNews) – Religious freedom is systematically violated in Myanmar. Violence strikes without distinctions Christians and Muslims and sometimes Buddhists as well.

A report by Forum 18, an organisation dedicated to religious freedom, accuses the military regime of gross violations of human rights. The issue was one of the topics discussed at the recent Europe-Asia (ASEM) meeting held in Hanoi (Vietnam) on October 7-9. However, the international community remains reluctant to act as some voices have made clear. Nobel laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu said that "the words of protest [. . .] from world leaders ring hollow when they do not translate into action".

Here is a short outline of the situation of the country's main religious groups.

Christians

The largest Christian community lives in Chin State in the north-west part of the country near the Indian border. They constitute about 90 per cent of the local population.

Human rights activists allege Chin Christians are subject "to systematic persecution". The military junta, they charge, have sent hundreds of Buddhist missioners into the state to convert Christians. Converts are promised special privileges such extra supplies of rice, the opportunity to attend prestigious schools and exemption from forced labour.

Chin children have been taken from their families on the pretext of providing them with a good education but were instead sent to Buddhist monasteries where they are trained to be Buddhist monks. Some of the mostly 11-year-old boys have not been able to see their parents.  

Printing Bibles in the Chin language is also considered illegal. In 2000 alone, about 16,000 copies were seized and burnt.

The government has also closed down more than 80 churches around the capital Yangon in 2001 and has denied Christians the right to meet in places built in the last hundred years. Since 1994 all applications for new churches have been turned down. Gatherings that exceed five people other than for Sunday mass require a permit.  

The International Labour Organisation has documented cases where forced labour was used to prevent people from celebrating religious holidays. Last year an entire village was ordered to work through the Christmas season preventing the Christian residents from celebrating Christmas and the New Year. They had to carry by hand food supplies and ammunitions for the soldiers.

Muslims

The Muslim community is also victim of religious persecution. The worst case involves the Rohingya, a minority that lives in Rakhine State in western Myanmar. Not only have they been denied Myanmar citizenship but the government has arbitrarily confiscated their properties, destroyed their homes and burnt their crops. Thousands had to move to neighbouring Bangladesh.

Intolerance vis-à-vis Muslims touches other areas as well. Refugees in camps along the border with Thailand speak of soldiers forcing them to eat pork just to humiliate them.

Buddhists

Buddhists have not escaped religious persecution when they have voiced criticism against the regime. Ethnic Shan live primarily in the mostly Buddhist north-east corner of the country, but they, too, have been subjected to the same abuses visited upon Christians and Muslims: rape, forced labour and discrimination.

The long arm of the regime has also reached beyond the border of the country. The wife of Myanmar's ambassador to Great Britain told Buddhist monks in London, Birmingham and Manchester not to take part in events organised by the Colindale monastery (north London) because of its support for democratic groups in exile. Id they did not cooperate, monks would have their passport revoked.

Buddhists constitute around 89 per cent of Myanmar's 46 million people. Christians and Muslims are 4 per cent each.