Burma: Visit report

Executive summary

“Federalism is the only one medicine to cure the chronic disease of Burma. If we build a federal system, where the ethnic nationalities can be equal, that will lead to peace.” – Dr Tu Ja Manam, a Kachin political leader

“We want the international community to pressure the Government of Burma to do something effective, efficient and timely to protect the livelihoods of every faith-based community.” – Htuu Lou Rae, Co-exist

“We Muslims have lived here for 200 years with no problems – but now there is absolutely no communication with our Buddhist neighbours. We don’t dare greet each other on the street.” – a Muslim in Ayela, near Naypyidaw

“He was covered in blood, and his nose was broken…An iron bar was rubbed along his legs. He was forced to engage in homosexual sex …He was told that as he was a Christian, he should kneel on very sharp stones with his arms outstretched like Christ on the cross…He was beaten on his hands and arms.”the wife of a Kachin political prisoner.

Burma today is on a knife-edge of hope and fear. For the first time in more than two decades, there are real reasons for cautious optimism about the prospects of freedom and democracy in Burma. Over the past eighteen months, significant reforms have been introduced by President Thein Sein which have resulted in the release of the majority of political prisoners, the election of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and 42 of her colleagues in the National League for Democracy (NLD) to Parliament, significantly increased freedom for the media, civil society and political actors, and improvements in freedom of expression. The agreement of preliminary ceasefires with all but one of the ethnic armed resistance organisations is also a welcome step forward, following decades of civil war in much of the country.

Nevertheless, there remain many very grave challenges and concerns, particularly in respect to the protection of human rights, including freedom of religion or belief, inter-religious harmony and the pursuit of genuine peace for the ethnic nationalities. In particular, the continuing military offensive against the predominantly Christian Kachin people in northern Burma, the plight of the Muslim Rohingya people in Arakan State, and the recent anti-Muslim violence in central Burma raise serious questions about the willingness of the Government of Burma to end the culture of impunity, ensure protection of human rights and pursue genuine peace for all the peoples of Burma.

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