CHRO

CHRO Welcomes the Publication of “Carrying the Cross

For Immediate Release

 

CHRO Welcomes the Publication of “Carrying the Cross

 

 

CHRO Welcomes the Publication of “Carrying the Cross: the Military Regime’s Campaign of Restriction, Discrimination and Persecution of Christians in Burma,” Calls for UN Special Rapportuer on Religious Freedom and Belief to Investigate Abuse of Religious Freedom in Burma

 

9 February, 2007

Ottawa, CANADA

 

Chin Human Rights Organization welcomes the publication of a new report “Carrying the Cross: the Military Regime’s Campaign of Restriction, Discrimination and Persecution of Christians in Burma” by London-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide, which provides a comprehensive analysis of issues of religious freedom under Burma’s military regime.

 

The CSW report complements and adds yet more evidence to existing reports of systematic denial of religious freedom and persecution of minority Christians by Burma’s ruling State Peace and Development Council. Burma remains one of the world’s worst violators of religious freedom in the United States State Department’s list.

 

Chin Human Rights Organization has long been concerned by the systematic discrimination, denial and persecution of Christians in Burma. In 2004, CHRO published its first comprehensive report on persecution of Chin Christians, “Religious Persecution: A Campaign of Ethnocide against Chin Christians in Burma” which provided evidences of destruction of churches, crosses, torture and humiliation of pastors, abduction and forced conversion of Chins to Buddhism who constitute more than 90 per cent of the population of Chin State.

 

“The CSW report clearly demonstrates that persecution of Christians and other religious minorities is a nationwide phenomenon, which Burma’s military regime uses as part of its ‘Burmanization’ campaign,” says Salai Bawi Lian Mang, Director of Chin Human Rights Organization. “Persecution and discrimination of Christians are no isolated incidents but systematic. They are all manifestation of a conformist ideology of the military junta which tries to make Burma a country based on ‘One race, one language, one religion’ or Burman, Burmese and Buddhist,” he adds.

 

Chin Human Rights Organization also welcomes a motion that has been recently initiated in the British Parliament calling for an immediate end to persecution of Christians and other religious groups in Burma. CHRO calls on the United Nations Special Rapportuer on Religious Freedom and Belief to conduct an investigation into the issue of religious freedom in Burma.

 

For more information please contact:

CHRO Director Salai Bawi Lian Mang at 510 981 1417, Email: [email protected] e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , and Salai Za Uk Ling co-author of Religious Persecution: A Campaign of Ethnocide Against Chin Christian in Burma at 60 1737 45546 Email: [email protected] e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

 

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