Executive summary

"Persecution seems to pass through three phases. The first is disinformation. Disinformation begins more often than not in the media. Through printed articles, radio, television and other means, Christians are robbed of their good reputation and their right to answer accusations made against them. Without trial, they are found guilty of all kinds of misdemeanours.

The public opinion that easily results from being constantly fed such disinformation will not protect Christians from the next step, which is discrimination. Discrimination relegates Christians to a �second-class' citizenship with poorer legal, social, political and economic standing than the majority in the country.

The third stage is persecution, which once the first two steps have been crossed can be practised with impunity without normal protective measures taking place. Persecution can arise from the state, the police or military, extreme organisations, mobs, paramilitary groups, or representatives of other religions.

In my opinion, it is vitally important to recognise this three-stage development, so that timely, firm and appropriate action can be taken the moment there is any sign of disinformation."

- Johann Candelin, Goodwill Ambassador, World Evangelical Fellowship, 1999

Burma's ruling military regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), is shaped by a fascist mentality with echoes of Hitler and the Nazis. It is guided by a belief described in Burmese as "Amyo, Batha, Thatana" – "One race, one language, one religion."The race is Burman, the language is Burmese and the religion is Buddhism – and citizens who do not conform to the regime's version of these face potentially serious consequences.

Christians in Burma face varying degrees of discrimination, restrictions and in some places violent persecution. Although the level of hardship varies depending on other circumstances, there is no doubt that the SPDC demonstrates an explicit bias against Christians and uses propaganda to generate anti-Christian sentiment, regulations to restrict Christian activity and violence to subjugate and even attempt to eliminate some of the Christian population.

The campaign of discrimination, restrictions and persecution of Christians in Burma includes the following widespread and systematic abuses, documented in this report:

• The promotion of Theravada Buddhism over all other religions; 
  
• The use of the media and other propaganda to incite hostility towards Christians; 
  
• Inducements and sometimes the use of force to convert Christians to Buddhism; 
  
• Denial or restriction of promotion to Christians in military and civilian government service; 
  
• Restrictions on the construction of new churches;  Restrictions on the renovation or extension of existing churches; 
  
• Restrictions on the construction of extra church buildings, such as function halls; 
  
• Destruction of churches; 
  
• Destruction of crosses; 
  
• Restrictions on church events and meetings; 
  
• Restrictions on printing and publishing Christian literature; 
  
• Restrictions on evangelism; 
  
• Arrests, torture and imprisonment of pastors and church workers; 
  
• Killing of pastors and church workers.
  

It ranges from churches in Rangoon finding it difficult to obtain permission to renovate their buildings, to pastors in Chin State being killed. In 1993, for example, Pastor Zang Kho Let was arrested and interrogated. When his answers failed to satisfy his interrogators, "they cut open his mouth to the neck and told him, �We cut open your mouth so that you will no longer preach'."

Church leaders have at various times appealed to the SPDC to stop violating religious freedom – but to no avail. On 20 February 2006, for example, six Christian organisations wrote to the head of the SPDC, Senior General Than Shwe. One of the signatories said: "We simply cannot let things go on without doing anything. This is because Christian associations have been suffering, and we are feeling the pain deep in our hearts. We have been waiting for things to improve but they have only got worse, and this is the only option left to us. 

You know, regardless of the accusations, we are not involved in politics. Freedom of worship should not be prevented through persecution or intimidation used to make people sign papers, or through bribes. These are contemptible acts which should not happen in Burma."

The persecution of Christians in Burma cannot be separated from the fact that the SPDC does not tolerate any dissent in the country and seeks to impose, by force, its rule. The SPDC oppresses Buddhists who challenge its rule, and persecutes Muslims. The regime's philosophy is a distorted and perverted form of Burman Buddhist nationalism – which is contrary in its acts to almost all teachings of Buddhism – and it uses Buddhism as a political tool to oppress non-Buddhists. Christians among the non- Burman ethnic nationalities, particularly the Chin, Kachin, Naga, Karen and Karenni, are targeted by the SPDC on three counts – religion, ethnicity and politics. These three factors are intertwined – but nevertheless it is abundantly clear that there is a strong and explicit anti-Christian dimension to the regime.

The restrictions, discrimination and violent persecution of Christians are in flagrant violation of Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states:

"Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion, or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance."

Although Burma is not a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, its actions violate Article 18 which states:

"1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.

2. No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.

3. Freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health, or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others. 

4. The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to have respect for the liberty of parents and, when applicable, legal guardians to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions."

The SPDC's actions also amount to the crime of persecution as it is applied in Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. �Persecution' is one of the �crimes against humanity', along with murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation or forcible transfer of population, imprisonment, torture, rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity, enforced disappearance, apartheid, or "other inhumane acts of a similar character". Crimes against humanity are defined as any of these acts "committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack". The crime of persecution under the Rome Statute involves:

"Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender as defined in paragraph 3, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or any crime within the jurisdiction of the Court."

It is further clarified as meaning "the intentional and severe deprivation of fundamental rights contrary to international law by reason of the identity of the group or collectivity."

Furthermore, the SPDC may well be in violation of the following Declarations and Conventions, which will be considered in more detail in the Conclusions and Recommendations:

� The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination;
� The Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief;
� Article 14 of The Convention on the Rights of the Child;
� Article 2 of The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide;
� Article 5 of The Convention Against Discrimination in Education;
� Article 38 of the Geneva Convention Relating to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. 

Christian Solidarity Worldwide therefore calls on the SPDC to cease all violations of religious freedom. We urge the UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Religion and Belief to investigate the violations of religious freedom reported in Burma. Furthermore, we call on the United Nations Security Council to pass a binding resolution requiring the SPDC to release all prisoners of conscience, permit unhindered access to all parts of the country for international humanitarian organisations, and engage in meaningful tripartite dialogue with the pro-democracy and ethnic nationality groups. The UN Security Council should also consider referring a case to the International Criminal Court, on the grounds of the crime against humanity of "persecution", in addition to other crimes against humanity also perpetrated in Burma.

Notes

CSW uses the term "Burma", even though the official name of the country according to the regime is "Myanmar". We use "Burma" at the request of the prodemocracy and ethnic nationality groups, who argue that the regime had no mandate to change the name of the country. In this report we refer to the country as "Burma", except in direct quotations in which "Myanmar" may have been used. The current regime is the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), which was previously known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) until it was renamed in 1997. Some instances documented in this report took place prior to 1995, but to avoid confusion we have used the current name, SPDC, throughout (except in direct quotation) because it is, in effect, the same regime.

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