Christian persecution in Burma

September 26, 2007 Urgent Action - Burma: Time to Pray and Protest

Dear Friends,

This is an absolutely critical time for Burma, and so I am writing to ask for your urgent prayers and support. The Burmese community in exile will be holding demonstrations on Thursday 27 and Friday 28 September from 12-1pm at the Burmese Embassy (19A Charles Street, London W1J 5DX – nearest tube: Green Park) – we would be delighted if you could join them in solidarity.

For many years Burma has been one of the world’s worst, and most under-reported, human rights tragedies. This week, however, it has dominated the media. The courage of tens of thousands of Burmese people who have continued to demonstrate despite the regime’s bloody crack down is inspiring. It is vital that we stand with them in solidarity at this momentous time. For the first time in almost 20 years there is a chance of a breakthrough – and we know that prayer is the most important and effective form of advocacy!

Last week I returned from a visit to the Chin people on the India-Burma border, with two British Parliamentarians, John Bercow MP and Baroness Cox. We heard numerous eye-witness accounts of horrific human rights violations, including brutal torture, rape, forced labour and religious persecution. We heard accounts of the horrific treatment of prisoners, and how in one jail prisoners were roasted over a hot fire, repeatedly stabbed and then put into a tub of salty water. These are some of the depths to which this regime will sink. For more information and a copy of our report please see www.csw.org.uk

Following our visit, CSW has been in demand by the media. BBC News 24, BBC World, CNN, Sky News, Premier Christian Radio, the Press Association and others have interviewed us. Baroness Cox has written about Burma in today’s Daily Telegraph, and John Bercow MP has an article in The Independent.

The next 24 hours will be critical. Please pray:

For the people who continue to protest, for strength, courage and protection;
For those who have been beaten up and arrested, that they would be freed;
For the regime, that it would exercise the utmost restraint, release political prisoners including democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and engage in meaningful dialogue with the democracy movement and the ethnic nationalities;
For the international community, that it would act now, with one voice, to help bring about change in Burma.

Please share this with your church leaders and other friends, and encourage people to pray for Burma today and in the coming days.

Yours in Christ
Ben Rogers
Advocacy Officer, South Asia

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September 5, 2007 Urgent Action - Burma: Prayers answered, don't stop now!

Dear Friends,

I am writing to thank you for your support and prayers for Burma over the past few weeks, and to give you some encouraging news.

As a result of a major campaign by Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) and Burma Campaign UK, which was only possible with your support, the UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has issued an unprecedented statement on Burma. He has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, instructed the Foreign Secretary to discuss Burma with EU partners this week, and pledged personally to raise Burma with other world leaders as soon as possible. You can see the full statement here: http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page13011.asp

This is the second major success CSW has had on Burma this year, and it shows that advocacy – including your prayers, letters and participation in protests – work! It follows the report by the House of Commons International Development Committee earlier this summer, which supported calls for the UK to provide cross-border aid to the internally displaced people in Burma – something CSW has been campaigning for over several years.

However, while we can be greatly encouraged by these significant successes, we cannot stop now. We need to ensure that pledges are translated into action. I am therefore requesting you to do two more things for Burma.

DAY OF ACTION ON CHINA
Would you join us in raising awareness in your community on Tuesday September 18? The international protest has been called by Burma campaign groups around the world, and takes place on the anniversary of the current military regime’s takeover in 1988.

As you may be aware, China is key to the situation in Burma. China has sold billions of dollars worth of arms to the military regime in Burma, including tanks, armored personnel carriers, jet attack aircraft, small arms and light weapons, logistical and transportation equipment, and coastal patrol ships. It has also provided billions of dollars in revenue to the regime through economic investment. And most significantly, China vetoed a proposed resolution on Burma at the UN Security Council earlier this year. China has influence with the regime and could make a major difference to the situation if it chose to use its influence for good.

We are calling specifically for China to stop undermining UN actions on Burma, and to support the UN Secretary-General’s involvement in the situation; to call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners in Burma; to publicly insist that the regime engage in meaningful tri-partite dialogue with the National League for Democracy and Burma’s ethnic groups; and to publicly indicate that it will not veto peaceful, non-violent UN Security Council resolutions on Burma.

DAY OF PRAYER – A REMINDER
Please also remember Burma on Sunday September 9, a special worldwide day of prayer for Burma.

Thank you again so much for all your support, which enables us to be a voice for the voiceless.

Yours in Christ,
Ben Rogers
Advocacy Officer, South Asia

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August 31, 2007 Urgent Action - Pray and Fast for Burma

Dear Friends,

I am writing to ask you and your church to join with us in a special day of prayer for Burma on Sunday 9 September, and to take part in a worldwide day of fasting on Tuesday 4 September in solidarity with the people of Burma.

Over the past ten days some of the biggest demonstrations in a decade have been taking place in Burma. Hundreds of people have marched peacefully almost every day since 19 August in protest at the military regime’s decision to raise fuel prices by 500 per cent. They have shown extraordinary courage and dignity, continuing to risk attack, arrest, torture and even death.

In response, the regime has launched a brutal crack down. Over 100 people have been arrested so far. Peaceful civilian demonstrators, including women, have been attacked with iron rods and bamboo sticks by the police and the junta’s proxy mobs. Almost all the leading pro-democracy activists have been detained, and may be sentenced to up to 20 years in jail. Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi, leaders of the 1988 democracy movement, are among those arrested. They have already served 16 and 15 years in prison respectively, and endured some of the worst forms of torture.

Burmese exiles and campaign groups around the world are asking for our support. They have called for a global hunger strike on Tuesday 4 September, and a day of prayer on Sunday 9 September. I hope that you will be able to ask your church to pray for Burma during intercessions on Sunday 9 September. We would be delighted if you would also join the hunger strike on Tuesday 4 September – and make it a day of fasting and prayer! If you decide to participate in either of these actions, we would be grateful if you would notify us at CSW or alternatively register in the “Day of Prayer” section of the Burma Campaign UK website - http://burmacampaign.org.uk/crackdown.php We are organising these actions in partnership with Burma Campaign UK.

Please pray for:

The release of all who have been detained, including Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi;
An end to the violent assaults on peaceful demonstrators, and the disbanding of the junta’s civilian proxy organisation the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) which is carrying out many of the attacks;
The release of democracy leader and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, in her 12th year of house arrest;
An end to the military regime’s attacks on ethnic minorities and the continuing violations of human rights, including the use of rape, forced labour, torture, human minesweepers, the forcible conscription of child soldiers, religious persecution, the destruction of villages, crops and livestock, the displacement of civilians and extra-judicial killings;
Action by the international community, including the British Government. Burma should be addressed as a matter of urgency by the UN Security Council and the European Union, and pressure be put on China, India and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to use their influence with the regime in Burma;
Meaningful dialogue and true national reconciliation between the regime, the democracy movement and the ethnic nationalities.

Thank you so much for your support. Please join with us in standing in prayer and solidarity with the people of Burma at this time, and please keep us informed of the actions you take.

Yours in Christ

Ben Rogers

Advocacy Officer, South Asia

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May 3, 2007 Urgent Action - Aung San Suu Kyi's Birthday

Free Burma Rangers relief team member Saw Lee Reh Kyaw was executed by the Burma Army on 10 April 2007.

Lee Reh was captured two days earlier as he was providing humanitarian assistance to villagers in Karenni State. He was then taken to the Burma Army headquarters where he was interrogated and tortured before being shot dead.

Lee Reh was captured after patrolling Burma Army troops attacked Ha Lee Ku village, killing one pro-democracy Karenni (KNPP) soldier. On 9 April 2007 the Burma Army also arrested the headman and secretary of the village, although their whereabouts remain unknown.

In Karen State, three Burma Army battalions burned down four villages on 22 April 2007. One villager was killed in the attack as he tried to escape. More than one thousand people fled the villages and are now in hiding.

These attacks follow a month of smaller attacks against villagers in northern Karen State, during which five people were killed and a nurse was shot and severely wounded.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s National Director, Stuart Windsor, said: “The tragic and brutal death of Saw Lee Reh Kyaw, who was providing much needed assistance to the Karenni people, illustrates the brutality of the Burmese regime. Their total disregard for the lives and needs of the Burmese people is horrifying. The international community, and particularly Burma’s neighboring governments, must send a clear signal to the ruling military junta that these violations of human rights cannot be tolerated.”

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. In 2006, the Burma Army began its worst offensive against civilians in Karen State in almost a decade. Over 27,000 civilians were displaced in Karen State last year, and several thousand have been displaced so far this year.

2. In 2006, over 86,000 were displaced in eastern Burma as a whole.

3. Since 1996, over 3,000 villages in eastern Burma have been destroyed by the Burma Army, and it is estimated that one million people are internally displaced.

The Burma Army has launched fresh attacks against villages in northern Papun District, Karen State in recent days, killing at least three people and displacing more than 1,000.

On 20 March, Burma Army troops attacked Tha Da Der and Hta Kaw To Baw villages, causing more than 400 civilians to flee into hiding. On 18 March, villages in Toungoo District were shelled, and on 15 March troops from Burma Army Infantry Battalions 379 and 380 attacked Saw Ka Der in southern Mon Township, causing at least 600 villagers to flee into the jungle.

According to the Free Burma Rangers, “these are the most recent examples of increased Burma Army activity throughout the three northern districts of Karen State: since the end of February it has launched multiple attacks in villages, boosting supplies to its camps, increasing its use of forced labour and severely restricting the movement of people in villages under its control.”

On 21 February, troops from Burma Army Light Infantry Battalion 590 killed two Karen men, Saw Echo Win Naing from Paw Pi Der village and Saw San Myint from Htee Htaw Loh, close to the Shwegyin River. Three days later, troops from Light Infantry Battalion 378 shot and killed 22 year-old Saw Mah Sha Htoo, a student, and wounded his brother Saw Hser Nay Say as they were returning home from buying rice.

The Free Burma Rangers report that villages in the area are running low on rice supplies, and are facing increasing extortion and demands for forced labour.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s National Director, Stuart Windsor, said: “These reports reach us almost daily. The situation in Karen State, and in other parts of Burma, is desperate. We would urge the European Union to strengthen the Common Position on Burma, when it is reviewed next month, in order to send the regime a strong, clear message that its current behaviour – the killing, the rape, the torture – cannot go on.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

For information about the Free Burma Rangers and their reports see www.freeburmarangers.org
CSW regularly visits the Karen on the Thai-Burmese border and recently returned from visiting Internally Displaced Karen People with the Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell MP.

A new report documenting the use of rape against ethnic women in Burma was launched today, as Burma’s regime marks “Armed Forces Day”.

Unsafe State: State-sanctioned sexual violence against Chin women in Burma, published by the Women’s League of Chinland, documents 38 cases of sexual violence committed with impunity by the Burma Army throughout Chin State, in western Burma near the India border.

Almost half the cases documented were gang rapes, and at least a third were committed by officers. Sexual violence is typically accompanied by extreme brutality, including severe torture and murder. One woman was stripped naked and tied to a cross, in “a savage act of mockery against her Christian beliefs”, the report claims.

“These horrors are being sanctioned by the state in Burma,” said Cheery Zahau, a spokesperson for the Women’s League of Chinland. “How can the civilised world accept this junta among their ranks? And how can countries like India and China be arming these rapists?”

The Burma Army has quadrupled its military presence in Chin State in recent years, and the militarization is expected to increase further if plans go ahead to export natural gas from the Burmese coast by pipeline through Chin State to India.

Stuart Windsor, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) National Director said: “The Chin people are among the most forgotten people in the world, and their suffering is horrendous. The use of rape, accompanied by religious persecution and forced labor, should not be tolerated. It is time for the international community to act.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Unsafe State follows several other reports from other ethnic women’s groups on the use of rape by the Burma Army, including License to Rape by the Shan Women’s Action Network, Shattering Silences by the Karen Women’s Organization, and State of Terror by the Karen Women’s Organization.
CSW recently hosted a delegation of Chin activists including Cheery Zahau to raise awareness in London, Brussels, Berlin and Washington, DC about the plight of the Chin.
CSW has made two fact-finding visits to the Chin people on the India-Burma border.

To view the full report, click here

For further information on the Women’s League of Chinland, click here

A delegation of Chin and Kachin activists from Burma will today finish a week-long visit to Washington, DC, where they briefed senior US Government officials on the continuing violations of human rights by Burma’s military regime. The visit follows the launch of the Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) report, Carrying the Cross: the military regime’s campaign of restriction, discrimination and persecution against Christians in Burma and is the final phase of a tour which included visits to London, Brussels and Berlin.

On Wednesday February 7, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper, considered the mouthpiece of the junta, carried statements from the Catholic Bishop's Conference of Myanmar, Myanmar Council of Churches and Yangon Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) denouncing the findings of the report and claiming that it was designed to obstruct religious harmony in the country.

The delegation met the US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Ambassador John Hanford, and senior policy advisers to the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, as well as the National Security Council at the White House and the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. The delegation also met with Congressional and Senate members and staff, including Congressman Joseph Pitts and the office of House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

In a briefing organized by the Congressional Human Rights Caucus Task Force for International Religious Freedom, the delegation highlighted violations of religious freedom in Burma, as well as human trafficking, sexual violence and forced labour. The group also met with church organizations and human rights groups during the week.

The delegation included representatives of the Chin Human Rights Organisation, the Women’s League of Chinland and the Kachin Women’s Association-Thailand.

The author of Carrying the Cross, CSW’s Advocacy Officer for South Asia Benedict Rogers, who traveled with the delegation says: “This has been a truly historic opportunity to raise international awareness about the plight of the Chin and Kachin peoples in Burma, and to urge the international community to take action to bring an end to the suffering of all the people of Burma. The findings in the report are based on the testimonies of Christians in Burma, as well as documentary evidence. This week’s statements from the Myanmar Council of Churches and the Catholic Bishops Conference contradict statements made by these church bodies in the past, as cited in the report, suggesting the junta’s reaction to the report is only a desperate attempt to divert attention from the truth of the findings. We will continue to do all we can to highlight the gross violations of human rights perpetrated by Burma’s brutal military regime, including the violations of religious freedom, the use of rape as a weapon of war and other crimes against humanity.”

Salai Bawi Lian Mang, Director of the Chin Human Rights Organization, said: “This has been the first time the Chin and Kachin people have been able to raise a voice at very high levels politically in the United States and the European Union. We believe our cry has been heard and now the world must act.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. The report, Carrying the Cross: the military regime’s campaign of restriction, discrimination and persecution against Christians in Burma, was launched in the UK on 23 January 2007.

2. Benedict Rogers, the author of the report, has travelled many times to Burma, including visits to the Karen, Karenni and Shan on the Thai-Burmese border, the Chin on the India-Burma border and inside Kachin State. He is the author of A Land Without Evil: Stopping the Genocide of Burma’s Karen People (Monarch, 2004).

3. According to the report, the regime uses the media and other propaganda to try to generate hostility towards Christians, offers inducements and sometimes uses force to convert Christians to Buddhism, denies or restricts the promotion of Christians within government or military service, and destroys churches and crosses. Christians are denied promotion beyond the rank of Major in the army, and Burma Army soldiers have been offered incentives to marry Christian women from ethnic groups such as the Chin, Kachin, Karen or Karenni, to convert them to Buddhism and “Burmanise” them.

4. Burma is designated a ‘Country of Particular Concern’ by the US State Department for severe violations of religious freedom.

5. In Brussels the delegation briefed Members of the European Parliament and officials in the European Commission, and in Berlin they met the German Foreign Ministry and Members of Parliament. In London, the group briefed Lambeth Palace, met the Minister for Trade and Human Rights Ian McCartney MP, and addressed a meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Burma.

The continuing Burma Army offensive in Karen State has displaced a further 1,450 people in one valley alone. During the last ten days, 700 people have fled from their homes in the area north of the Mon Chaung (river) and more have fled the area south of the river following machine-gun attacks on villages and areas where Internally Displaced People are in hiding.

During an attack on Mawn Ki village, one villager was killed and another badly wounded when the Burma Army opened fire. There are currently five Burma Army columns based in the area.

These latest attacks form part of an ongoing offensive in Karen State, which has resulted in 20,000 people being displaced from their homes.

UK Members of Parliament discussed the situation in Burma during a Westminster Hall debate last week. They called on the government to take a stronger stance against UK businesses operating in Burma and urged the government to raise the situation with the UN Security Council. In September, members of the Security Council, including the UK and the US, voted to include a debate on Burma in their agenda.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide - UK’s Chief Executive, Mervyn Thomas says: “These latest attacks form part of a deliberate and fierce offensive against the Karen people. The plight of those suffering at the hands of this brutal regime in Burma demands the immediate attention and intervention of the international community. We urge the UN Security Council to pass a binding resolution on Burma immediately, requiring an end to these atrocities, and to put in place a concrete plan for national reconciliation and a transition to peace and federal democracy.”

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) today welcomes the unprecedented move by the United Nations Security Council to formally add Burma to its agenda, pronouncing the country’s military regime a threat to international peace and security.

Calls for the UN Security Council to discuss the crisis in Burma gained momentum last year with the release of the report Threat to the Peace: A call for the UN Security Council to Act in Burma, commissioned by Nobel Laureate and former Archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu and former Czech President Vaclav Havel. The decision on Friday 15 September to put the situation in Burma on the Security Council agenda was supported by ten nations, including the United Kingdom and the United States.

Human rights violations are rife in Burma and include widespread recruitment of child soldiers, rape, forced relocation of ethnic villages, forced labour, and human minesweepers. A recent CSW fact-finding visit to Kachin State, Northern Burma, uncovered fresh evidence of these abuses. One former Burma Army Major told CSW that some child soldiers are so young “they still pee in the night”. A recent report, Chronic Emergency: Health and Human Rights in Eastern Burma, claimed that infant mortality rates and deaths from treatable diseases in Burma are among the worst in the world. The World Health Organisation ranks Burma’s health care 190th out of 191 states.

Burma is also rated one of the worst violators of religious freedom. The U.S. State Department’s latest Annual Report on International Religious Freedom was released last week and documents the restrictions placed on minority religions to publicly practise their faith or construct new places of worship.

Tina Lambert, CSW’s Advocacy Director, said: “CSW is delighted that the UN Security Council is finally giving the crisis in Burma the attention it deserves. It is a long-overdue first step towards restoring freedom and democracy. We call on the Security Council to turn words into action by passing a binding resolution calling for meaningful dialogue between the regime, the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the ethnic nationalities, assuring unhindered access to all areas of the country for international humanitarian organisations, and the immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience in Burma.”

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. Ten of the fifteen Security Council members voted in favour of putting the situation in Burma on the Council’s agenda. The countries voting in favour were the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, Greece, Japan, Peru, Argentina, Slovakia and Ghana. Russia and China voted against, while Tanzania abstained.
2. 27 September marks the 18th anniversary of the founding of the NLD.
3. The report Chronic Emergency: Health and Human Rights in Eastern Burma, released by the Backpack Health Worker Team (BPHWT) can be downloaded from the website at www.geocities.com/maesothtml/bphwt/index.html.
4. The U.S. Department of State’s Annual Report on International Religious Freedom (Burma) can be found here
5. Threat to the Peace: A call for the UN Security Council to Act in Burma can be found here

On Tuesday 8 August. At 12.30pm the Burmese exile community will march from Berkley Square to gather if front of the Burmese Embassy at 19A Charles Street, London, SW1 (nearest tube Green Park), to mark the 18^th anniversary of the pro-democracy movement of 1988. There will then be a public rally in Green Park from 1.30pm - 2.30pm.

I am writing to ask you to join this protest and show your solidarity with the people of Burma as we remember the massacre of students, monks, and other Burmese people who were slaughtered by the Burmese military on 8 August 1988 - a day known as '8888'.

Since the massacre of 1988, the illegal junta that rules Burma has continued to brutally suppress the democracy movement. Over 1, 300 prisoners of conscience remain in prison, subjected to systematic torture. Democracy leader and Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest. The ethnic nationalities, the Karen, Karenni, Shan, Mon, Chin, Kachin and Arakan, continue to face serious violations of human rights - forced labour, forced relocation, rape, torture, destruction of villages, crops and livestock, the use of human minesweepers, religious persecution and murder. Burma's junta stands accused of committing crimes against humanity and attempted genocide. We must continue to speak up for truth, justice and freedom in Burma.

I hope you can spare an hour or two next Tuesday to join CSW and the Burmese community in remembrance of those who died and in protest at the regime which continues to kill. Even if you cannot be there in person, please be there in spirit and in prayer for the day of justice and freedom to come soon for all the people of Burma.

The Burma Army is continuing its offensive in Karen State, the biggest since 1997. Eyewitnesses report further killings, burning of villages, the capture of civilians, including children, and the use of forced labor.

According to the latest reports from the Free Burma Rangers, a relief team working in eastern Burma, the number of displaced people in Karen State has risen to over 18,000. In one area, over 800 civilians have been captured and forced to work as porters for the military, along with over 1,000 prisoners.

In the latest reported attack, Burma Army Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 362 attacked and burned Ger Baw Kee village in northwestern Muthraw District on 2 June. The previous day, Naw Yo Hta and Kay Pu villages suffered a third day of mortar attacks, by three Burma Army battalions. Escaped porters have reported that the Burma Army has plans to expand the operation even further, by attacking Myaunglebin, Toungoo and Muthraw Districts. The Burma Army is moving at least two divisions closer to those areas.

Deliberate attacks on unarmed civilians continue. Villagers have been shot at point-blank range, and several bodies have been found which have been severely mutilated and beheaded. In addition, the Free Burma Rangers report that since May 13, the Burma Army 'Byaung Shin Special Batallion has been attempting to capture Karen children who go to school in army controlled areas, but whose parents live in the hills east of Toungoo.

In attacks in Muthraw District on May 20, a 17 year-old boy was killed and another wounded when the army opened fire on villagers who were in a farm hut in southern Luthaw Township. In Nyaunglebin District, a Burma Army landmine killed a Karen woman who was 5 months pregnant.

The crisis in Burma has drawn increasing attention from the international community. On May 31, Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett , condemned the Burmese Government's decision to extend the house arrest of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The United States also expressed alarm at Aung San Suu Kyi's continuing detention and that of other pro-democracy figures. The US went further to announce that it will seek a UN Security Council resolution on Burma.

CSW Advocacy Director, Tina Lambert, says: "It is difficult to imagine the indiscriminate brutality of these atrocities. Whilst we are pleased to see the US putting more pressure on Burma through the UN Security Council, we urge the rest of the international community to follow their lead and seek an end to these attacks by supporting a clear resolution."

1. The Free Burma Rangers (FBR) are a relief organization providing emergency medical and food supplies to the internally displaced people. They also document and report human rights violations. For more information, please visit www.freeburmarangers.org

2. A cross-party group of MPs have tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM), condemning the gross human rights violations, and urging the British Government to provide urgently needed humanitarian assistance to those fleeing the attacks. There are currently 81 signatories.

Fresh attacks have been carried out by the Burma Army against Karen villagers in Taungoo district, resulting in several killings, arrests and the use of forced labor.

On February 15, the mutilated body of an unidentified person was found in Bla Khi area, according to the Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People (CIDKP). The victim’s throat had been slit and left hand cut off, in an area where the Burma Army had been operating.

Between February 8 and 14, at least 135 people were taken from Kaw Thay Der, Kaw Law Kar, Ku Thay Der and Sar Bar Law Khi villages for forced labor, CIDKP reports. On February 6, three men were arrested from Pau Pa and Yer Loe villages, and on February 14, Burma Army Infantry Battalion 35 arrested a further five men from Pau Pa. Reports have also been received of looting and extortion.

Reports emerged from Karenni State of continuing offensives in January. Three Karenni families fleeing for their lives from the Burma Army were interviewed by the Free Burma Rangers. One of those on the run said, “The Burma Army and their helpers … were on their way to kill me. They had already killed one of my friends and cut off his head … At that time they captured me and three others from our village … as well as three from other villages. We were gathered together from ten surrounding villages for a prayer meeting when the Burma Army forces appeared and captured some of us.

“We were tied up, beaten, punched, then we were given electric shocks to our body. They struck us with rifle butts and one of them used a pistol to beat us. One man’s jaw was broken, one man’s skull was broken and for me I was not able to endure the torture. They did this to us one by one. One of us was then forced to go with the soldiers and my friend … was killed. I may have been killed just as my friend was but I managed to escape … I do not want to take revenge. I am just a villager, I will move away from them.”

CSW-UK’s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said: “We receive reports on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis of continuing crimes against humanity in Burma. The attacks are sickening – not only the use of forced labor, but rape, killings, beheadings and the grotesque mutilation of bodies. For far too long the world has failed to pay enough attention to the ongoing atrocities in Burma. The United Nations Security Council, the Association of South-East Asian Nations and others in the international community must make it a priority to bring an end to the genocidal dictatorship in Burma this year. We will be working tirelessly to help make that happen.”

A joint delegation from Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) and the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART) has returned from a visit to ethnic groups on the Thai-Burmese border with evidence of a campaign of genocide perpetrated by the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

The report includes first-hand testimonies of forced labour from new Karen and Karenni refugees, as well as details of the situation facing IDPs. It concludes with a brief analysis of the case for genocide and crimes against humanity, and also covers the plight of the Shan.

Hundreds of thousands of Karen, Karenni and Shan continue to face a humanitarian crisis in eastern

Burma

. Internally Displaced People in the jungles are denied access to adequate medical care, food and shelter, they face the threat of forced labour, forced relocation, widespread rape, torture and the destruction of villages, crops, rice barns and livestock.

The delegation, which included members of CSW UK , Australia and New Zealand , visited Karen Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in two sites inside Burma , as well as Karen and Karenni refugees in

Thailand

. IDPs in one village only had enough food for a few more days, and were facing an uncertain future. "We want to see the heart of the Burmese government change so we can live in peace," the camp leader told the team. "We hope to return to our villages but we don't know when. While we are together in this camp, we really need provision, especially food and medicine."

Reports continue to emerge of fresh assaults on Karen and Karenni villages by the Burma Army. An estimated 4,781 Karen people have been displaced in recent weeks in the Shwygn/Hsaw Htee area of Naunglybin District, Karen State , and are hiding in the jungle, unable to move during the day.

There are an estimated one million people internally displaced in

Burma

. The Thailand-based Burma Border Consortium estimates at least 526,000 people have been displaced in Karen, Karenni and Shan areas, with 157,000 of these displaced in the past two years. Since 2002, at least 240 villages have been completely destroyed, relocated or abandoned, and a total of 2,500 villages in eastern

Burma

have been destroyed since 1996.

The delegation, which included Baroness Cox, Chief Executive of HART and Honorary President of CSW-UK, met leaders of the Shan, Karen and Karenni resistance forces. The Shan people face a particularly severe crisis, with 300,000 internally displaced and at least 200,000 living illegally in

Thailand

. Unlike the Karen and Karenni, the Shan have been denied refugee camps in

Thailand

. Instead, those who flee persecution find sanctuary either illegally in Thailand , or in IDP camps in Shan state,

Burma

"We are in need of material and moral help. We need to make our plight known to the rest of the world," one Shan leader said. "The situation in Shan state is no different from Iraq with regards to the number of casualties, but the difference is that there are no reporters or observers in Shan State . Battles erupt on a daily basis."

Baroness Cox, who has visited the region many times, called on the international community to investigate claims of genocide and crimes against humanity, and to increase pressure on

Burma

's ruling junta.

She said: "Every time we visit the Karen, Karenni and Shan, we find mounting evidence of gross violations of human rights which we believe may amount to genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva Conventions. We urge the British Government, the European Union and the United Nations to recognise the severity of the situation and take appropriate action. We also appeal to the Association of South-East Asian Nations [ASEAN] to suspend

Burma

's membership of the organisation until significant progress is made towards a transition to a federal democracy and an improvement in human rights. We call for free and open access to all areas of

Burma

for international humanitarian aid groups and human rights monitors."

Burma

has been ruled by successive military regimes since Ne Win seized power in a coup in 1962. The current ruling junta, the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC), held elections in 1990 which were overwhelmingly won by the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest.

CSW is an international human rights advocacy organisation which has worked with the ethnic groups such as the Karen, Karenni, Shan, Chin and Kachin on

Burma

's borders for over a decade. For further information, see www.csw.org.uk

The Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART) was established by Baroness Cox in 2003 to focus on providing humanitarian aid to people who are suffering oppression and persecution, and who are neglected by other major aid organisations. For further information, see www.hart-uk.org

Two Burma Army battalions attacked ten villages and displaced about 3,000 people in Toungoo District, Northern Karen State, Burma on November 30.

The villages, along the Yaw Law river valley between Rangoon and Mandalay , each contained some 300-500 people. These people have now fled and are hiding out in the jungle where they struggle for medical care, food, shelter and security. It is estimated that one million people are living as Internally Displaced Persons inside

Burma

There were three clashes between the Burma Army battalions and the Karen National Liberation Army in this area from November 28-30. According to reports, the KNLA suffered no casualties, but three Burma Army soldiers were wounded.

The two Burma Army battalions are now in Per Law and Klaw Mu Der villages and are continuing the offensive.

Whilst offensives by the Burma Army against ethnic groups continue, the regime has reportedly released some 9,000 prisoners. Among them is Min Ko Naing, one of

Burma

's longest standing political dissidents. However, there remain an estimated 1,300 political prisoners inside Burmese prisons. The leader of the National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi, has recently had her house arrest extended for another year.

Most opposition groups claim the prisoner releases are a largely empty gesture aimed at gaining political ground at the ASEAN summit held earlier this week in

Laos

The two Burma Army Battalions, IB 52 (2 columns under command of Battalion Commander Aung Kyaw Nyint and Bn 2IC Nay Myo Win), and IB 60 (Under command of Battalion Commander Sai Win Tin and 2IC Maung Mya Sa), are operating in the eastern Tantabin Township area of Toungoo District, Northern Karen State . 3,000 villagers have displaced from the following villages; Bway Baw Der, Saw Mu Der, Saw Day Der, Per Law, Law Bee Law, Maw They Der, Gwa Htoo Cho, Pwe Buh Der, Wa Mee Per and Klaw Mu Der.

Fresh attacks have been launched against Karenni villagers even while Burma's military regime talks peace.

During the past fortnight, Burma Army Light Infantry Brigade (LIB) 135 has launched several attacks on villages in Karenni State, according to a relief team assisting those displaced by the offensives. In one incident, Burma Army troops decapitated Ler Moo, an elderly Karenni man. They also murdered a 27-year-old school teacher in Western Karen State, Burma. Some 500 people were displaced after these attacks and are terrified of returning to their land on the Karen/Karenni border.

Attacks on Karenni villages in the Buko area, near the Karen/Karenni border, are continuing. Burma Army LIB 428 has split into two columns and is searching for villagers in hiding. On June 30, soldiers approached Gay Lo village, causing over 100 villagers to flee. "In this area, 200 people are in hiding and over 800 more who were in the path of the operation are preparing to flee," according to CSW's source.

The attacks are the latest in a series of fresh offensives against the Karenni this year. In January, more than 5,000 Karen and Karenni people were displaced in this area and there are reported to be an estimated 50,000 internally displaced people in Karenni state and a total of at least one million in Burma. A further one to two million are refugees in neighboring Thailand, India and Bangladesh.

The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) is currently holding a National Convention to draft a new Constitution as well as holding peace talks with the Karen.

CSW-UK's Advocacy Director, Tina Lambert, expressed growing concern about the developing situation in Karenni State: "The Karenni people have suffered so much for so many years and have been ignored by the rest of the world. Burma's brutal military regime is guilty of gross human rights violations, and is responsible for creating a humanitarian crisis in Karenni State. The international community should respond to this crisis with emergency assistance for the thousands of internally displaced people on the run for their lives."

On June 24, two Burma Army battalions began an operation designed to clear villages north-west and south-west of the Mawchi-Toungoo road. Burma Army LIB 428, accompanied by a group from the Karenni Solidarity Organisation (KNSO), a militia sponsored by the junta, launched an offensive around Buko Kwa village, north of the Mawchi-Toungoo road, on the Karenni side of the Karenni/Karen border.

On June 25, troops from Burma Army LIB 135 approached the village of Paho, and the 230 villagers fled and are now in hiding. Paho is located five miles north of the Karenni-Karen border. The Burma Army has placed landmines extensively in the area.

Three days later, the same brigade returned to the area, and captured one villager. A total of at least 500 villagers from these two attacks fled into the jungle, with nothing except the clothes on their backs. The Burma Army LIB 135 searched the area for seven days but did not locate the main hiding places, and has now returned to its base in Mawchi. According to our source, "it is not clear whether or not the Burma Army will launch another operation into this area and because of this the villagers are ready to flee at any time." Although food is being taken to those in hiding by relief teams, unless international humanitarian assistance is provided, these displaced people will run out of rice this month.

The SPDC initiated ceasefire talks with the Karen National Union (KNU) earlier this year, but these talks have so far failed to produce a permanent agreement. Although an informal ceasefire was agreed, the Burma Army continues its operations against the Karen. CSW is calling on the SPDC to initiate a nationwide ceasefire with all ethnic national groups, withdraw its troops from ethnic areas, and enter tripartite talks with the ethnic groups and the NLD.

Most ethnic national groups have also refused to participate in the National Convention, which is regarded by international human rights organizations as a sham. The SPDC failed to release democracy leaders Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin U from house arrest, or the estimated 1,400 political prisoners held behind bars, and so the National League for Democracy (NLD), which won the 1990 elections but has never been allowed to assume power, boycotted the event.

Burma's ruling junta stands accused of a catalogue of human rights violations in the ethnic areas, including ethnic cleansing, the widespread, systematic use of rape, forced labor, forced relocation, human minesweepers, child soldiers, religious persecution and destruction of villages and crops.

As Burma's democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, prepares to celebrate her 59th birthday under house arrest, support for freedom and justice in Burma is pouring in from all over the world.

More than 200 birthday cards have been sent to the Nobel Laureate by Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) supporters from around the world for her birthday on June 19th. Events are also planned for that day by Burma activists in London, Frankfurt, the USA and elsewhere.

In addition, Malaysian MPs have now called for change in Burma. CSW UK's President Baroness Cox, who has traveled to the region many times, said: "I warmly welcome the fact that these Malaysian MPs have had the courage of their convictions and spoken up for the oppressed people of Burma. It shows that support for the democracy and ethnic national groups in Burma is not simply a 'Western' phenomenon, but a universal cry for justice. It is time ASEAN, and Burma's regime itself, responded."

CSW supporters sent birthday cards to Daw Suu Kyi, whose latest period in detention began after she was attacked by pro-junta mobs in Depayin on May 30 last year.

School children across Europe were among those who sent cards, and these included 10- and 11-year-olds from a school in Brussels. A supporter who organized these said: "The children were full of suggestions for stopping the cruelties of the Burma Army. It would be good if some adults would see as clearly." One child wrote: "Happy Birthday to you Aung San Suu Kyi. We offer you hope, support and all the love from Belgium". Another said: "You are a wonderful lady and you are full of courage. In the end everything you have done will turn out to make a difference. I hope you are soon freed." In another card, a child wrote: "Happy Birthday! For a lot of kids in my class, including myself, you are our idol. Hope you spend the best birthday for the nicest, bravest person in the world. PS: If a Burmese soldier opens this, [I] protest: 'Stop the War.'"

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, General Secretary of the National League for Democracy (NLD), will celebrate her 59th birthday on June 19, again in detention. She has been in and out of house arrest for much of the past 16 years. In 1990, the NLD won 80 percent of the seats in Parliament in the country's first elections in almost 30 years, but the ruling junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), ignored the results and imprisoned many of the victors. The SPDC has changed the name of the country from Burma to Myanmar, but Daw Suu Kyi, the NLD and the ethnic national groups have asked international supporters to continue to use 'Burma', because the regime is illegitimate and had no mandate to change the name of the country.

In May 2002, Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest, but on May 30, 2003 she and her supporters were attacked by mobs in Depayin, orchestrated by the SPDC. Aung San Suu Kyi was detained and then placed under house arrest again, and at least 265 people have been arrested, killed or disappeared during the attack and the ensuing crackdown.

The SPDC's 'roadmap to democracy' and the National Convention were announced on August 30, 2003 in response to international pressure in the wake of the attacks on May 30.

On June 8 2004 the Pro-Democracy Myanmar MPs Caucus of the Malaysian Parliament issued a statement calling on the SPDC to "restore the democratic rights of the Myanmar people" (see Press Statement below).

CSW has visited the Karen, Karenni and Shan ethnic nationals on both sides of the Thai-Burmese border many times in the past 15 years. In April CSW-UK's Honorary President, Baroness (Caroline) Cox led a delegation to the Chin and Kachin people on the India-Burma border

Press Statement by the Pro-democracy Myanmar MPs' Caucus of the Malaysian Parliament at the Parliament House, Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday June 8 2004:

We, the members of the Pro-democracy Myanmar MPs' Caucus of the Malaysian Parliament believe in the inalienable right of the Myanmar people to self-determination and democratic expression through free and fair elections.

We hereby appeal to the Prime Minister and the Government of Myanmar to carry out the following measures to restore the democratic rights of the Myanmar people:

1. To immediately and unconditionally release leader of National League for Democracy (NLD), Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. 2. To immediately and unconditionally release all political detainees including all the Members of Parliament elected at the last General Elections. 3. To immediately and unconditionally allow the leaders of the NLD to participate in the Myanmar National Constitutional Convention so as to ensure that legitimately elected leaders of Myanmar are not excluded from the deliberations and decisions of the Convention. 4. To immediately convene Parliament and allow the Members of Parliament elected at the last elections to elect a new Prime Minister and government according to prevailing constitutional and parliamentary norms. 5. To immediately begin the process of handing over authority to the legitimately elected Parliament and the Prime Minister and government elected by Parliament. 6. To immediately allow the entry and unimpeded functioning of observer groups from ASEAN and the UN who shall be tasked to ensure that constitutional and civil processes are adhered to.

The Caucus also calls upon the Myanmar Government to respect ASEAN and international opinion and return to the mainstream of responsible international norms and behavior.

We support the role play by UN Rapporteur to Myanmar, Tan Sri Razali Ismail to engage both military junta of Myanmar and NLD and mediate the differences between them, and we will continue to give him the necessary support.

We urge the Malaysian government to continue to play its role to persuade the Myanmar government to face up to regional and international aspirations for democratization and national reconciliation in Myanmar.

Leading British Parliamentarians from all the major parties have today sent a strong message of support to the democracy movement in Burma, and a signal to the regime that it should mend its ways.

In a letter signed by more than 25 members from both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the Parliamentarians recognize the Burmese Members of Parliament elected on May 27 1990 as the legitimate representatives of the Burmese people. They also express their hope that those elected will be able to take their seats and form a government after 14 years of being denied that recognition by the ruling military regime. Those who have signed include Michael Ancram, Shadow Foreign Secretary, on behalf of the Opposition and Oliver Letwin, Shadow Chancellor, Sir Menzies Campbell, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, and Labor MP Glenda Jackson.

The letter, initiated by Christian Solidarity Worldwide, will be delivered to the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party led by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi which won over 80 per cent of the Parliamentary seats in 1990, in Rangoon today, the 14th anniversary of the elections. It will also be read out at a protest outside the Burmese Embassy in Washington, DC organized by the US Campaign for Burma.

The Parliamentarians salute the "dignity, steadfastness and commitment to delivering democracy" of the Burmese democratic parties, and pay tribute to those who died or disappeared in the attack on Aung San Suu Kyi on May 30 last year. "We stand with you in that struggle," they write.

In paragraphs directed at the junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), which disregarded the results of the 1990 elections and imprisoned most of the victors, the British politicians urge the regime "to enter into tripartite dialogue with the NLD and the ethnic national groups, including the Karen, Karenni, Shan, Mon, Chin, Kachin and Arakan, to pave the way for a transition to a democratic, federal system of government." They also call for a nationwide ceasefire and an end to the "gross human rights abuses which amount to crimes against humanity". They call on the regime to open all of Burma to international human rights monitors and humanitarian relief agencies.

In a related move, Baroness Cox introduced a debate in the House of Lords on Tuesday, focused on the persecution of the ethnic nationals. Baroness Cox, Honorary President of CSW-UK, has visited the Karen, Karenni and Shan refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) on the Thai-Burmese border many times, most recently with Shadow International Development Secretary John Bercow MP last month. In April, she visited the Chin and Kachin refugees on the India-Burma border.

In her speech in the House of Lords, Baroness Cox gave evidence of continuing and widespread human rights violations, including forced labor, rape and religious persecution, and called on the UK Government to urge the European Union to impose tougher sanctions on the regime. She also urged the UK to provide humanitarian relief to the over one million Internally Displaced Persons trapped in the jungles of Burma, without adequate food, medicine or shelter, and called for a nationwide ceasefire in Burma.

Baroness Cox said: "We owe it to any people suffering such atrocities to do everything in our power to help them. However, ethnic national groups such as the Karen, the Karenni, the Chin and the Kachin have a historic relationship with us - fighting alongside our soldiers and sometimes giving their lives for them. Therefore, they hope that we will not forget their loyalty or let them down now in their hour of need. I hope that this debate will reassure those people of our loyalty to them and our commitment now to do everything possible to ensure they achieve the freedom, peace and justice that they desire so passionately and for which they are paying such a high price."

Burma (officially called Myanmar) has been ruled by a military regime which took power in a coup in 1962. Elections were held on May 27, 1990, and the National League for Democracy (NLD) won over 80 percent of the parliamentary seats. However, the military ignored the results, imprisoned many of the victors and continued to rule, changing its name to the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). More than 1,400 political prisoners remain behind bars.

The regime's actions have completely failed to match its rhetoric about democracy. On May 7, for example, five Burmese were sentenced to long prison terms, accused of contact with unlawful associations in exile, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma). The five, sentenced at a special court inside Insein Prison, included former political prisoner U Ne Min, who had already endured several years in jail. U Ne Min was sentenced to 15 years, Maung Maung Latt and Paw Lwin to 12 years each, Ye Thiha to seven years and Ne Lin Aung (aka Yan Naing) to 22 years. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) has appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross to take urgent action in the case of political prisoner Ne Lin Soe, serving a 14-year prison term in Mandalay prison. Ne Lin Soe's health is believed to be seriously at risk, and he has been denied adequate health care.

Burma has been ranked by Reporters Without Borders 164th out of 166 countries for press freedom.

On May 30th, 2003 Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters were attacked by mobs in Depayin, orchestrated by the SPDC. She was detained and then placed under house arrest again. At least 265 people were arrested, killed or disappeared during the attack and the ensuing crackdown.

The SPDC's 'roadmap to democracy' and the National Convention were announced on August 30, 2003 in response to international pressure in the wake of the attacks on May 30. The NLD and most ethnic groups have boycotted the National Convention because the junta refused to release Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD vice-chairman U Tin U.

CSW has visited the Thai-Burmese border areas many times in the past 15 years. Last month, CSW took John Bercow MP, Shadow International Development Secretary, to the Thai-Burmese border, and in April CSW visited the Chin and Kachin people on the India-Burma border.

To the elected Members of Parliament of Burma, including those representing the National League for Democracy (NLD) and other pro-democracy and ethnic national groups:

As Members of the UK Parliament, from both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, we write to members from the National League for Democracy

(NLD) and other political parties in Burma who were elected as Members of Parliament on May 27, 1990, to express our deep respect for you. We recognise you as the legitimate representatives of the people, and we express our hope that it will not be long before you will be able to take up your rightful positions in Parliament and Government. We salute you for your dignity, steadfastness and commitment to delivering democracy to your country, and we stand with you in that struggle.

Furthermore, we pay tribute to those who sacrificed their lives or have been detained or have disappeared in the events surrounding the May 30, 2003 attack on Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. One year on from the terrible attack in Depayin, we urge the regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), to release all those still in detention, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and all other political prisoners still behind bars.

We also urge the SPDC to enter into tripartite dialogue with the NLD and the ethnic national groups, including the Karen, Karenni, Shan, Mon, Chin, Kachin and Arakan, to pave the way for a transition to a democratic, federal system of government.

We urge the SPDC to declare a nationwide ceasefire, and to withdraw SPDC troops from the ethnic areas, and disarm affiliated militia groups. It is time that the decades of conflict, and the catalogue of gross human rights abuses which amount to crimes against humanity, including killings, widespread systematic rape, torture, forced relocation, forced labour, the use of child soldiers and human minesweepers, and the destruction of villages and crops, be brought to an end.

We urge the SPDC to open all of Burma to international human rights monitors and humanitarian relief agencies, and in particular to enable relief to be distributed to the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people.

As Members of Parliament, we offer our support to all efforts to bring democracy, freedom, the rule of law, peace and justice to Burma. If the SPDC shows meaningful progress towards reform, we would encourage such efforts and offer whatever support we can for a peaceful transition to democracy and reconciliation, and to welcome Burma back into the international fold. If, however, the SPDC continues to reject reform, it can only expect further international pressure to come.

The Rt Hon Michael Ancram, MP - Conservative; Deputy Leader of the Opposition & Shadow Foreign Secretary (on behalf of the Shadow Cabinet) David Atkinson MP - Conservative Vera Baird MP - Labour; Chair, All-Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Burma Joe Benton MP - Labour John Bercow MP - Conservative; Shadow Secretary of State for International Development Peter Bottomley MP - Conservative The Rt Hon Sir Menzies Campbell MP - Liberal Democrat; Deputy Leader & Foreign Affairs Spokesman Hilton Dawson MP - Labour David Drew MP - Labour Glenda Jackson MP - Labour Andy King MP - Labour The Rt Hon Oliver Letwin MP - Conservative; Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Ian Luke MP - Labour; Secretary, All-Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Burma The Rt Hon Peter Lilley MP - Conservative; Former Deputy Leader of the Opposition Andrew MacKinlay MP - Labour Michael Moore MP - Liberal Democrat John Pugh MP - Liberal Democrat; Vice-Chair, All Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Burma Rev. Martin Smyth MP - Ulster Unionist Party Gary Streeter MP - Conservative; Foreign Affairs Spokesman Andrew Selous MP - Conservative Dr. Robert Spink MP - Conservative; Vice-Chair, All-Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Burma Robert Walter MP - Conservative Steve Webb MP - Liberal Democrat

The Lord Alton of Liverpool - Independent
The Lord Avebury - Liberal Democrat
The Lord Chan of Oxton - Independent
The Baroness Cox of Queensbury - Conservative
The Lord Faulkner of Worcester - Labour

Despite much speculation about her imminent release, Burma's democracy leader, Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, remains under house arrest. Over 1,400 political prisoners remain behind bars. The killing, torture, rape, forced labor, forced relocation, use of human minesweepers and child soldiers, and destruction of ethnic national villages and crops continues.

June 19 is Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday. We would like to ask you to send her a birthday card, with a message of encouragement. This will not only be a blessing to her, but it will also send a signal to the regime that she, and the plight of the people of Burma, have not been forgotten.

Please send birthday cards to the following address, in time to reach Burma by June 19:

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
54 University Avenue
Rangoon
Burma

As you may know, Burma's regime has convened a National Convention to discuss the drafting of a new constitution. Delegates handpicked by the junta will be attending while key leaders such as Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin U have not been released to attend. Consequently the ethnic groups and National League for Democracy (NLD) have boycotted the event. The international media has been denied access, speeches are censored, and citizens have been warned not to discuss the constitution outside the confines of the National Convention, with the threat of between seven and 20 years in jail if they do so. These restrictions clearly make a mockery of the whole process.

Please pray for Burma this week. Unless all political prisoners are released, the gross violations of human rights end, and tripartite dialogue between the regime, the NLD and the ethnic national groups begins, the regime's talk of a 'roadmap to democracy' cannot be taken seriously. Pray for God's wisdom and guidance for the NLD leaders and the ethnic national groups. Pray that God will intervene to turn the situation around and replace injustice with justice, oppression with freedom, war with peace, and fighting with dialogue.

Burma's military junta has gone ahead with its National Convention, despite the decision of the major pro-democracy and ethnic national groups to boycott the event.

The National Convention, which opens today, will draw up a new constitution for the country in the first stage of the junta's so-called 'roadmap to democracy'. But it has been widely derided by pro-democracy, ethnic national groups and human rights organizations as a sham designed to fool the international community into believing the regime is making progress towards democracy.

The very absence of democratic principles in the National Convention is evidence of the regime's blatant deception. In addition, more than 1,400 political prisoners remain behind bars, gross violations of human rights continue and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is still under house arrest.

The National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, announced on Friday its decision to boycott the National Convention because the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) had rejected the NLD's conditions for participation. The conditions included the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD Vice-Chairman, U Tin U, and the re-opening of all NLD offices closed on May 30 last year.

The United Nationalities Alliance (UNA), comprising eight ethnic national parties, has also boycotted the National Convention. Their major objection was the SPDC's insistence that the military retain key political roles in the country after any move to democracy. Other ethnic national groups had either not been invited, or had previously announced their decision not to participate.

A CSW team visited the region just a few weeks ago, and found continuing evidence of widespread, systematic human rights violations. They also met with pro-democracy and ethnic national groups, all of whom warned that the National Convention should not be taken seriously.

CSW-UK's Chief Executive, Mervyn Thomas, said: "The developments of the past few days confirm our view that the National Convention is a total sham. The reality is that political prisoners remain behind bars, Aung San Suu Kyi remains in detention and ethnic nationals continue to be raped, killed and used for forced labor.

"The National Convention should not be given any credence whatsoever while the international media is barred from covering it, delegates are handpicked by the regime, speeches are censored and NLD and ethnic national groups feel unable to participate. International pressure, including a United Nations arms embargo and European Union sanctions, should be stepped up, and the Association of South East Asian Nations should suspend Burma until it shows meaningful progress towards democracy."

In a debate in the House of Lords last week, CSW UK's President, Baroness Cox, who traveled to the Thai-Burmese border last month, said: "I have seen the plight of many thousands of people from those ethnic national groups, such as the Karen, the Karenni, the Shan and the Chin ... They are forced to hide in the jungle with no access to shelter, medical care or food, having been forced to flee from their villages because of continuing atrocities by government soldiers, such as torture, rape, murder and forced labor."

Burma (officially called Myanmar) has been ruled by a military regime which took power in a coup in 1962. Elections were held in 1990, and the National League for Democracy (NLD) won over 80 percent of the parliamentary seats. However, the military ignored the results, imprisoned many of the victors and continued to rule, changing its name to the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

Burma has been ranked by Reporters Without Borders 164th out of 166 countries for press freedom.

On May 30th, 2003 Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters were attacked by mobs in Depayin, orchestrated by the SPDC. She was detained and then placed under house arrest again, and at least 265 people had been arrested, killed or disappeared during the attack and the ensuing crackdown.

The SPDC's 'roadmap to democracy' and the National Convention were announced on August 30, 2003 in response to international pressure in the wake of the attacks on May 30.

Continuing military attacks on civilians, accompanied by killings, widespread rape, forced labor and the associated displacement of thousands suggests that Burma's military regime's roadmap to democracy is a sham.

A delegation that included (Caroline) Baroness Cox, President of CSW UK, John Bercow MP, Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, surgeon Anthony Peel FRCS, and Benedict Rogers, CSW human rights advocate, returned today from visiting ethnic national groups - including Karen, Karenni and Shan people - on both sides of the Thai-Burmese border, where they obtained evidence of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)'s remorseless policy of ethnic cleansing. Some of the delegation has also recently visited the Chin and Kachin people of north-western Burma where they found similar policies of attempted cultural genocide of these ethnic national groups by the SPDC.

Atrocities reported include the rape of a Shan woman by SPDC soldiers on April 17, and military attacks by SPDC soldiers on Karenni villages from December 25 to the present day. These attacks have forced over 3,000 more civilians to flee for their lives, and to live in conditions of acute deprivation as Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs). Many are hiding in the jungle with no health care, education or regular food supplied. They are in constant fear of being found and killed by SPDC soldiers. Cold at night, with no warm clothing or blankets, they dare not light fires for fear of discovery and certain death. Others who have been forcibly driven from villages to relocation camps are subject to forced labor from dawn until nightfall, carrying loads of 30 kilograms or more. Many are used as human minesweepers. Others who have escaped are victims of landmine accidents, such as one 17-year old boy who lost a leg in a mine explosion and had to be carried for 21 hours to safety and treatment.

These few examples demonstrate the SPDC's cynicism, continuing its genocidal policies against ethnic nationals while promoting its "roadmap to democracy". The forthcoming National Convention can also be seen as a democratic farce - to be held in a military camp, the participants are limited to those hand-picked by the regime, which is excluding many ethnic minority representatives.

Caroline Cox said: "This evidence of continuing atrocities amounts to a policy of protracted cultural and physical genocide of death by a thousand cuts. Therefore, the SPDC's much-vaunted roadmap to democracy must be seen as a hypocritical propaganda exercise which should be treated by the international community with the contempt it deserves."

John Bercow MP, Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, observed that: "For far too long the wanton savagery of the military regime in Burma has received all too little public attention. The testimonies we received suggest that these atrocities against innocent citizens continue on a daily basis. In light of this, the notion that the regime is serious about planning for a democratic future is beyond belief. It seems blindingly obvious that the junta is hell-bent on keeping power at all costs and bludgeoning its opponents into submission. The British Government, the European Union and the United Nations owe it to the people of Burma to intensify pressure, including sanctions, until the ruling militia comes to apply internationally accepted standards of behavior."

Detailed case studies, photographs and video footage will be available at the briefing at Abbey Gardens.

If you would like to attend the briefing on April 27 or arrange a separate interview with Baroness Cox or John Bercow MP, please contact Richard Chilvers, Communications Manager, CSW-UK at richard.chilvers@csw.org.uk or ring 020 8329 0045 or Baroness Caroline Cox on 020 8204 7336 or fax 020 8204 5661 or email ccox@ertnet.demon.co.uk

Children from Christian families in Burma between the ages of five and ten have been lured from their homes and placed in Buddhist monasteries. Once taken in, their heads have been shaved and they have been trained as novice monks, never to see their parents again.

In a visit to Chin and Kachin refugees in New Delhi and Mizoram State, India, earlier this month, CSW heard accounts of cultural genocide and religious persecution and discrimination. The Burmese regime's forces offer incentives to impoverished villagers to convert from Christianity to Buddhism in Chin state, an area which is 90 percent Christian.

Mountain top crosses have been destroyed and villagers forced to build Buddhist pagodas in their place, often having to contribute finances and labor.

Christians are required to obtain permits for special events, and for any renovation or construction work. No permission for new church buildings has been given since 1994. Christians in the civil service are discriminated against, and no Christian can rise beyond the rank of Major in the regime's army.

In addition to overt religious persecution, the Burmese junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has adopted a deliberate policy of introducing crude alcohol to Chin State. The Chin culture forbids alcohol, but the SPDC has brought in large quantities of methylated spirits/industrial alcohol, which it sells cheaply on the streets to teenagers and young parents, especially on Sundays when people go to church. The medical effects include addiction, jaundice, toxic liver failure and damage to brain cells, in some cases leading ultimately to death. One Chin Christian told the CSW delegation, "It causes the breakdown of body, mind, spirit and society."

Forced labor, a serious human rights violation, occurs "on a daily basis", often disrupting church and community activities. CSW received a copy of a recent letter from an SPDC commander to a village headman dated December 13, 2003, demanding 40 porters from one village and 30 from another. In another area of Chin State, villagers were forced to porter from December 20, 2003, until January 19, 2004, and were therefore unable to celebrate Christmas and New Year in their communities.

The visit was conducted jointly by CSW-UK and CSW-Australia. CSW is one of only a handful of international organizations to visit the Chin and Kachin. One Chin refugee told the delegation: "Many foreigners go to Burma's eastern border in Thailand, but until now no one has come to us. We used to pray for foreign NGOs to come to the western borders, and we used to weep when no one came." A Kachin refugee said: "It is true that we feel we are known by no one." The Chairman of the Chin National Front said: "Your coming here is a Godsend."

CSW is calling on the international community to respond to these reports of human rights violations in western Burma, which add to the catalogue of evidence of atrocities perpetrated throughout the country by the junta.

"The forgotten Chin and Kachin peoples of Burma urgently need their voice to be heard," said Baroness Cox, a deputy speaker of the British House of Lords and CSW-UK's Honorary President, who led the delegation to India. "We appeal to the international community to increase pressure on the regime to stop its policies of ethnic cleansing, religious persecution, cultural genocide, forced labor and torture. We also urge other international Non-Governmental Organizations currently providing humanitarian assistance on the Thai-Burmese border to consider taking up the plight of the refugees and Internally Displaced People in the western regions of Burma too."

The Chin population numbers approximately 1.5 million. There are believed to be 600,000 Chins in Chin State, and over 50,000 in India.

Torture is used regularly against political detainees. One former school teacher was detained for a week for teaching the Chin language and culture to students. His interrogators rubbed a wooden pole up and down his shins until the skin came off, and placed a plastic bag of water over his head. In another case, a village headman was forced to dig a hole and stay in it, chained, for four days and nights with no food and no access to toilet facilities. He was then hanged from a tree with ropes tied tightly round his wrists, suspended above the ground for a day.

CSW has been working with the Karen, Karenni and Shan internally displaced peoples (IDPs) in eastern Burma, and refugees on the Thai-Burmese border, for over a decade. More recently, CSW has become increasingly concerned about the situation in western Burma, and in the past year has developed relations with Chin and Kachin communities in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

CSW's visit to India was facilitated by the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO). In New Delhi, the delegation met Chin and Kachin refugees, as well as the British Deputy High Commissioner and the Chief of Mission of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). In Mizoram, the group met Chin refugees, pastors, community development workers, backpack health workers, leaders of the Chin National Front (CNF) and the Chief Minister of Mizoram State.

Benedict Rogers, CSW Advocacy Officer for Burma, has just written a new book entitled A Land Without Evil: Stopping the Genocide of Burma's Karen People. Please contact CSW for a review copy

January 21, 2004 Thousands more civilians attacked in Burma as ceasefire talks start

While Burma's largest armed ethnic resistance group, the Karen National Union (KNU), arrived in Rangoon last week to negotiate a ceasefire agreement with the ruling military junta, CSW received reports that an estimated 3,500 Karen and Karenni people have been newly displaced by the Burma Army.

Troops of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) have burned rice barns and laid landmines around the villages they have overrun, in a campaign to clear all Karenni people from southern Karenni state. This is in addition to the estimated one million people already displaced in the jungles of eastern Burma.

In Karen State near the Karenni border, villagers from at least four villages have been forced to flee by the SPDC troops. Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) Deputy Commander, Major-General Aung Mya, told news agency Agence France-Presse that SPDC forces have "burned down six villages and 40 rice barns, and seized several hundred cattle". Evidence of forced labor continues to emerge, and several of the new Internally Displaced People (IDPs) have already died of starvation. A 17-year-old boy stepped on a landmine outside of Ka Lae Lo village and lost his leg from the knee down.

In a sign that the SPDC is not approaching the ceasefire negotiations with the Karen in good faith, the Karenni have reported that 1,000 new SPDC soldiers have been brought into Karenni State from Karen areas. The Karenni claim the SPDC is taking advantage of the unofficial ceasefire with the Karen, which was agreed to verbally in early December, to concentrate their forces against the Karenni.

In a report, a CSW source concluded: "This is a humanitarian crisis. These people urgently need food, shelter and protection. They would also like to be able to return home and not face the oppression of the Burma Army."

CSW remains extremely concerned about the critical situation in Burma. CSW urges the SPDC to ensure that any ceasefire agreement reached results in the complete withdrawal of SPDC forces from Karen, Karenni and other ethnic areas and for the Burma Army to end its widespread human rights abuses including rape, forced labor and using people as human minesweepers. CSW also urges the SPDC to demonstrate it is serious about reform by releasing Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, and all prisoners of conscience from prison, and by lifting all restrictions on the activities of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and other political parties. CSW has urged its supporters to contact their representatives in Congress to raise urgent concern about the ongoing situation in Burma.

Stuart Windsor, National Director of CSW-UK, said: "While we cautiously welcome ceasefire discussions between the SPDC and the KNU, the test of that ceasefire will be in the daily reality for the Karen and others. If there is simply an end to armed conflict, but SPDC troops remain on the ground terrorising civilians, a ceasefire is meaningless.

"The international community should respond to the current humanitarian crisis of the internally displaced people and make a concerted effort to put pressure on the SPDC to stop its current offensives in Karen, Karenni and other ethnic nationality areas."

NOTES TO EDITORS:

The past year has seen a deterioration in the human rights situation in Burma.

On May 30, 2003, mobs orchestrated by the SPDC launched an assassination attempt against Nobel Laureate, democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. While she survived, hundreds of her supporters were beaten, arrested, imprisoned and scores were killed. She was detained, initially in an undisclosed location and now under house arrest in her home in Rangoon. Amnesty International recently made their second ever visit to Burma, and reported that the situation has deteriorated significantly since their visit in early 2003. Over 1,000 political prisoners remain behind bars, and systematic rape, forced labor, extrajudicial killings, use of human minesweepers, burning of villagers, looting, pillaging, extortion, destruction of crops and food supplies, and the use of child soldiers continues to be perpetrated by SPDC forces, particularly in Karen, Karenni and Shan areas of eastern Burma.

The Karenni have reported that the Burma Army is constructing a new road from Mawchi south east to Htee Lay Kee, to serve the new Wolfram mine. Villagers from township 2 and township 3 in District 2 of Karenni State were forcibly relocated along the Mawchi-Toungoo road on December 10, and are being used as porters for the SPDC soldiers. At least 80 Karenni women and 40 Karenni men have been forced to carry supplies for the SPDC to the Karen-Karenni border.

On December 26, 2003, SPDC forces ordered all Karenni villagers north and south of the Mawchi-Toungoo road to relocate to Mahntahlayn near Pasaung, on the west bank of the Salween river, or be shot on sight. Three days later, SPDC soldiers forced the villagers out of their homes.

In Muthraw district, 995 Karenni IDPs and 678 Karen IDPs are hiding together. A CSW source reported on January 11, 2004 that: "rice is running out and although there is a relief team providing emergency medical assistance, medicine will run out in two weeks if there is no resupply."

On January 17 and 18, according to the CSW source, three SPDC battalions attacked Karen villagers with mortars, RPG-7s, M-79 grenade launchers and light (5.56) machine guns. There were also new clashes between SPDC and KNU forces. Over 500 villagers from Kolay and two other nearby villages are now in hiding.

While the SPDC has announced it would reconvene the National Convention to draft a new constitution and transition to democracy, and would conduct the transition in an "all-inclusive manner" involving all groups, rhetoric has so far not been matched by reality.

The release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners is an essential precursor to a meaningful National Convention and transition to democracy.

November 7, 2003 CSW Welcomes BAT Decision to Pull Out of Burma

(United Kingdom) CSW welcomes the British American Tobacco (BAT) decision to pull out of its investment in Burma. BAT was the largest single British investor in Burma and pressure had been put on the company by the UK government and a coalition of groups to get it to pull out.

The Burma Campaign UK and the Federation of Trade Unions (Burma) led a strong campaign to persuade the company to abandon its investment in the country which CSW supported.

BAT's investment generated an estimated £250,000 in profit per year for the Burmese military regime and at least 40 percent of this money is believed to have been spent on arms. BAT has today announced the sale of its share of the cigarette making operation to a partner based in Singapore.

Prime Minister Tony Blair had criticized BAT for continuing to work with the military junta which continues to keep Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest. The UK government formally asked BAT to leave Burma in July this year.

In the next issue of Response magazine, CSW will be urging supporters to write to their MP and MEPs in a bid to strengthen the EU Common Position on Burma, which is due for review in April 2004.

CSW will continue to urge Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to push for investment sanctions to be included in the EU Common Position and if agreement cannot be reached at an EU level, is calling for the UK to take the lead to implement economic sanctions unilaterally.

CSW is also requesting that the military regime of Burma be brought before the UN Security Council, that the UN Secretary General fully implements the resolutions on Burma passed by successive sessions of the UN General Assembly and works towards the implementation of resolutions passed by the International Labor Organization at its 2000 conference.

Thank you for your support - advocacy works!

May 6, 2003 Christian Political Prisoner, Dr. Salai Tun Than Released After Hunger Strike in Burmese Jail

A prominent Christian political prisoner has been released from prison in Burma after staging a hunger strike to draw international attention to inhumane prison conditions and the persistent violations of fundamental human rights, including the lack of religious freedom.

Dr Salai Tun Than, 75, started a week long hunger strike from his bed in Insein Prison Hospital, Rangoon, on Sunday April 27, to protest against the conditions at Insein and other prisons in Burma which persistently fail to meet the UN's Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.

According to sources close to Dr Salai Tun Than, the professor maintained that he and a handful of political prisoners who had been allowed by the Burmese military junta to meet with delegations from the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nation Special Rapporteur on Human Rights were interrogated by prison guards and Military Intelligence personnel, contrary to international norms, after each of these meetings.

The professor also claimed that prison guards and Military Intelligence personnel monitored and recorded all conversations made during the brief periods of family visits.

In addition, he complained that the medical care and facilities in the prison hospital failed to meet even the minimum standard for health, safety and hygiene.

Dr Salai Tun Than also claimed that his freedom to practise his Christian faith was severely curtailed. The prison authorities reportedly denied him access to a Bible and refused to grant him permission to take Holy Communion inside the prison.

The professor's action has set off a new wave of protests in the US and in Europe. Bowing to mounting international pressure, the military dictatorship released the professor and 17 other political prisoners on Sunday May 4.

In a government statement, the military junta claimed "the releases are the latest in a series of efforts by the government to move Myanmar closer to multiparty democracy and national reconciliation."

However, Christian Solidarity Worldwide understands that the release of Dr Salai Tun Than and the others was strictly on condition that they refrain from engaging in future political activities.

The family of Dr Salai Tun Than is thrilled at his release. The professor's youngest daughter Mai Theinggi Tun Than told Christian Solidarity Worldwide: "We won one step now...He is now at home. I have already talked to him. Although he is weak because of his seven-day hunger strike and his illness, his mentality is still very strong...We have to go on to other steps - to release all political prisoners, and to free Burma."

On hearing of the professor's hunger strike, CSW has raised his case with European foreign ministries, Embassies in Rangoon, The European Commission, the Council of Europe, the United Nations Rapporteurs on Torture, Religious Intolerance, Human Rights in Burma and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

On the anniversary of the release of Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest (May 6 2002), Christian Solidarity Worldwide reiterated its call on the military regime to take genuine steps towards national reconciliation by engaging Aung San Suu Kyi and representatives of the non-Burman ethnic nationalities in transparent and meaningful political dialogues and setting down a broad framework and timescale for the return of civilian rule.

A spokesman for CSW said: "We welcome the release of Dr Salai Tun Than and unreservedly commend him for his courageous stand for human rights and religious freedom.

"The release of Dr Salai Tun Than and 17 other political prisoners, and indeed the release of Aung San Suu Kyi a year ago, are clear examples that the military regime of Burma responds well to concerted international pressure. For the sake of the thousands of prisoners in Burma's prisons and the hundred of thousands of internally displaced ethnic people struggling to survive in Burma's jungles, the international community must continue to apply diplomatic and economic pressures until there are real and sustained changes in the country."

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Dr Salai Tun Than was arrested outside Rangoon City Hall on November 29 2001 for staging a solo protest and distributing a petition calling for a multi-party general election to be held. At a secret trial in February 2002, he was sentenced to seven years imprisonment under section 5(j) of the Emergency Provisions Act 1950.

Since his incarceration in Insein Prison, the professor has reportedly been suffering from eye problems, bone disease and other ailments.

The release of Dr Salai Tun Than and 17 others is the first significant wave of release of political prisoners in six months. According to Amnesty International, over 1,200 political prisoners are believed to be behind bars in Burma.

Prison conditions in Burma are harsh and prisoners are often deprived of proper sanitation, adequate medical care, food and water. Prisoners are often hooded whenever they are taken out of their cells. Political prisoners at prison hospitals, in particular, are strictly forbidden to speak with ordinary prisoners. Trials of prisoners repeatedly fail to meet international standards for fair trial procedures.

According to a recent list published by the Asian Tribune, at least 189 political prisoners in various prisons in Burma are suffering acute illnesses and are in urgent need of medical attention.

The non-Burma ethnic nationalities constitute at least 40 percent of the country's population and occupy over two-thirds of the land. The constitution, particularly the issue of ethnic rights, has been at the root of much of Burma's problems today. Ethnic participation in political dialogues is a vital requisite and the best means of promoting national reconciliation.

February 28, 2003 CSW Calls on Christians and Churches Around the World to Keep Watch and Pray for Burma

DAY OF PRAYER FOR BURMA ON MARCH 8

In support of the Global Day of Prayer for Burma on 9th March, Christian Solidarity Worldwide together with Release International, Karen Aid, Friends of Burma, Karen Action Group, Committee for the Internally Displaced Karen People, Tear Fund and others are co-hosting a Day of Prayer for Burma.

Date: Saturday, 8th March 2003
Time: 10 am - 4 pm
Venue: St. John's Church
Waterloo Road, London SW1
Admission: Free

CSW is also calling on Christians and churches around the world to devote the first week of March to keep watch and pray for Burma.

Burma is under the rule of one of the most brutal regimes in the world. Since taking power in a coup in 1962, the military junta (currently known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)) has gone to terrifying lengths to subdue and annihilate the democratic opposition and the country's numerous ethnic groups.

Civilians are regularly used by the military as human minesweepers, bullet shields and forced labourers. Children are abducted and sent to the frontline. Villagers are shot on sight, villages are burnt down, paddy and livestock are destroyed. As one Shan woman recently told CSW, 'The SPDC troops came, they took whatever they wanted, burnt, killed and destroyed whatever they did not want. They captured our women, used us as porters during day and raped us at night."

The SPDC regularly attacks civilian villages in the ethnic areas. Most of these attacks take place in the middle of the night and are most intense during planting and harvest seasons. Close to a million people are living in the jungles deep inside Burma. In the words of a recent human rights report, 'they are constantly hunted, shelled and driven like animals' by the Burmese troops.

Despite the release of pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on 6th May last year, the military junta has so far failed to take any genuine step towards national reconciliation.

"Our theme for this year is 'Hope and Healing'. We hope to look towards the future of Burma and consider ways in which we can support the restoration of Burma in prayers and in action," said Benedict Rogers, a journalist and a speaker for the Day. "The Scriptures promise us that when we ask of God, He will make the nations our inheritance, and the ends of the earth our possession (Ps. 2:8). We believe that as Christians around the world stand with those suffering in Burma, the Kingdom of God will impact that nation, bringing justice, freedom, and an end to the gross violations of human rights."

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