Population
45 million
65% Burmese
10% Shan
7% Karen
4% Rakhine & Chin
Kachin, Mon, Chinese, Indian and Assamese minorities
Capital City
Yangon (Rangoon)
Leadership
Head of State
& Prime Minister
General Than Shwe
Religion
87% Theravada Buddhist
5% Christian
4% Muslim
3% animist
Myanmar
Ambassador to the U.S.
Ambassador
Myanmar Embassy to the USA
2300 S Street NW
Washington DC 20008
Phone: (202) 332-9044
or (202) 332-9045
BIO
For the past two years, the United States State Department has designated Burma as a ‘Country of
Particular Concern’ for violating religious freedom. Government
restrictions on speech, press, assembly, and movement,
including diplomatic travel, have made it difficult to obtain timely
and accurate information on human rights abuses, including
religious persecution.
The Constitution of Burma stipulates that ‘the national race shall
enjoy the freedom to profess their religion provided that the
enjoyment of any such freedom does not offend the laws or the
public interest’. In practice, however, the Burmese junta closely
monitors and restricts the organization, activities and expression
of all religions, including Buddhism. This is partly because
Buddhist clergy and religious minorities have in the past been
politically active and partly because the regime tends to view
religious freedom in the context of threats to national unity.
In Burma, virtually all organizations have to register with the
regime. Only registered organizations can buy or sell property
or open bank accounts. Any association with ‘illegal’ or
unregistered organizations will automatically attract long prison
sentences with hard labor. Gatherings of five of more people are
illegal and families are required to register houseguests.
These restrictions on civil liberty naturally impact religious
communities. At the same time, in an attempt to bolster its
legitimacy among the Buddhist majority, the regime discriminates
heavily against members of minority faiths. State-controlled
media frequently depicts SPDC officials paying homage to
Buddhist monks, making donations at pagodas, participating in
ceremonies, etc.
Christian and Muslim communities experience extreme difficulties
in obtaining permission to construct or repair places of worship,
particularly on prominent sites or near major roads. Most old
church buildings are dilapidated and in urgent need of repair.
New churches have resorted to converting residential
apartments for church use. Since the 1960's, Christian and
Islamic groups have encountered great difficulties in translating,
printing and importing religious literature. Religious publications,
like secular ones, remain subject to state censorship. In some
districts, translations of the Bible and the Koran into indigenous
languages are outlawed.
CSW continues to receive credible reports from diverse
regions of
the country that government officials and security forces compel its
citizens, especially in rural areas, to contribute money, food, or
uncompensated labor to state-sponsored projects to build,
reno-
vate, or maintain
Buddhist religious shrines or monuments. The
regime calls these contributions "voluntary donations" and
im-
poses them on both Buddhists and non-Buddhists.
Order
Ben Rogers's book
"A
Land Without Evil"
In ethnic minority areas, there are frequent reports of security forces looting and destroying churches or
mosques. In one such area, security forces reportedly ordered largely Christian villages to provide women
to become Buddhist nuns and restricted assemblies at Christian pilgrimage sites. Authorities in Rangoon have
also instructed Chin and Kachin Christians to use the term "religious center" rather than "church" to describe
their worship facilities.
RECENT
CRACKDOWNS
Recently the regime has embarked on a major campaign
against the Evangelical communities across the
country. More than 80 churches in and around Rangoon have been
closed down by the SPDC since
mid-June 2001. According to reliable sources from within the country, the authorities are
using violent
clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in an
area to the north of Rangoon as an excuse to put pressure
on
local township leaders to close down some of the
premises used for churches.
The targeted churches include Myanmar Biblical Church,
Shalom Evangelical Baptist Church, Zion Baptist
Church, Shwehninsi Evangelical Baptist Church, Shwepitha Baptist
Fellowship, Reform Presbyterian
Church, Grace Assembly of
God, Local Pentecostal Church, Emmanuel Assembly of God,
Free Baptist
Church and Jesus Charity Church.
At least two Christian children homes, Agape Orphanage
House and
Agape Orphanage Ministry, were also closed down.
More than 17 pastors went into hiding. At least five
foreigners have been ordered to leave the country. One
minister was arrested and his whereabouts remain
uncertain.
Several townships outside of Rangoon were also targeted. In
Shwe Pyi Tar Township, north of Rangoon,
20 churches have
been closed. In Hlaing Tai Yar Township, west of Rangoon,
the regime closed all
churches. Christians are allowed to
meet in private homes but they have been warned not to
sing. In North
Dagon Township, northeast of Rangoon, pastors have been summoned and warned.
By separate order, known as ‘The Higher Policy of the State
Peace and Development Council’, the junta has
banned worship services in buildings less than a century old. This
order, issued in early July this year, will
effectively outlaws most of the public Christian worship.
Pastors and church leaders from Mandalay Division,
Shan
State, Rakhin State, Sagaing Division, Rangoon and various
other regions have been warned of dire
consequences should
they choose to defy the order.
The regime has also demanded that churches over a
hundred
years old silence their church bells on Sundays and remove
symbols of the cross from their
buildings.
On July 31, 2001, a minister of the Full Gospel Assembly Church in Kalaymyo Township was
forced to demolish the
cross from the church building.