Christian minorities are massacred by Buddhists in Myanmar

For years the military junta that governed Myanmar has applied stringent discriminatory measures against all non-Buddhist religious groups in the name of the ‘one nation, one race and one religion’ policy.

The change in political regime in 2015 with the victory of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi did not have much effect on the issue of religious persecution. It has begun a difficult process of pacification and national reconciliation.

In recent months, the world media has highlighted the humanitarian crisis of the Rohingya ethnic group, which is being massacred in Myanmar in a conflict with ethnic cleansing. The issue was even addressed by the United Nations, which threatened to intervene.

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Fleeing the massacre spurred by radical Buddhist leaderships, some 370,000 Rohingyas fled Myanmar to Bangladesh. It is estimated that the death toll could reach 100,000.

However, the predominantly Christian Kachin, Chin and Naga minorities suffer the same type of institutionalized religious discrimination. Christians are seen as a foreign religion, which would confront the nationalist view, which established Buddhism as the only acceptable national religious form.

In predominantly Buddhist areas, dominated by the ultranationalist monks of the Ma Ba Tha movement, it is almost impossible for Christians to enjoy freedom of worship. In December 2016, a Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) report highlighted some of the worst episodes of intimidation and violence against Christians in China.

These violations include attacks on churches and places of worship, arrests of leaders on charges of ‘forced conversions and brainwashing’ and expropriation of lands owned by Christians.

The Armed Forces of Myanmar (Tatmadaw) have damaged and destroyed many places of worship. With almost total impunity, they continue to commit human rights abuses, such as sexual violence within churches and the torture of shepherds.

In Kachin, after more than five years of conflict, more than 120,000 people were forced to flee and live in desperate conditions, hoping to return. As long as the conflict persists, there are no real prospects for Kachin internally displaced to return to a situation of security and dignity.

Deaths of members of the Kachin (north), Chin (west) and Naga (northeast) ethnicities are often ignored, since religious discrimination is often institutionalized.

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