Religious Persecution in Myanmar

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/01/28/world/AP-AS-Myanmar-Chin.html?ref=world

Carina Gibson

Jan. 28, 2009

11:26 A.M.

In the remote parts of the northwestern mountains of Myanmar (also known as Burma), Christians known as the Chin people, are subject to awful and brutal torture. About 90 percent of the Chin people are adherents the American Baptist Church. Myanmar’s military regime has committed acts of torture, extrajudicial killings, religious persecution and forced labor. Over 100,000 people have escaped to outskirts of India to avoid the persecution they face. The country’s military based government has been known to commit atrocities and human rights violations against the ethnic minorities, despite the governments repeated denial of such charges. People have been forced out of their homes to go work for the army to build roads, army barracks, sentry posts, all unpaid labor. The Human Rights Watch reports that ''the Chin are unsafe in Burma and unprotected in India.” The government has attempted to abolish the minority cultures by destroying crosses and churches, interfering with worship services, and forcing Buddhism by ways of threats and inducements. Over half a million minority people have been displaced in eastern Myanmar. Refugees have received assistance in Thai border camps as they flee the brutal military campaigns. Some refugees have also sought protection in Malaysia, and continuous efforts of humanitarian assistance are being made.

The constant persecution that we see happening throughout the world is devastating and saddening. Outside efforts to end such atrocious acts should be continuously tried and efforts to publicize these human rights violations are the key to reaching better assistance. It is difficult to work with Nations that deny their acts of violence and continue to carry out such acts, but the least we can do as a nation, and as citizens, is to learn and reach out in order to provide as much aid as possible. Myanmar is rather isolated, and efforts to reach out to their citizens can be difficult, and I have so much respect for the people working to end this violence.