Burma's Christians continue to face discrimination

Christian Solidarity Worldwide has called upon the international community to closely monitor Burma after soldiers from the Burma Army reportedly ransacked a village church and disrupted a Christian meeting.

The Rev Jangmaw Gam Maw reports that soldiers entered the Sin Lum Pang Mu Baptist Church in Pang Mu village on 13 March and proceeded to burn Bibles and destroy church property.

The soldiers also stole a video player, loudspeakers, money from the church donation boxes, and villagers' belongings.

According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide, the soldiers claimed that the property belonged to a Kachin Independence Army outpost.

The attack on the church came two days after Burma Army soldiers reportedly disrupted a Christian conference in Sabawngte village in southern Chin State.

More than a 1,000 Christians from the Mara (Chin) Evangelical Church were at the conference, which had official permission.

The Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO) reports that several soldiers disrupted the meeting and rebuked the village headman for not reporting the event to the army camp. When an MP from the Ethnic National Development Party tried to intervene, he was threatened at gunpoint.

Benedict Rogers, East Asia Team Leader at Christian Solidarity Worldwide, said the incidents suggest that there is still a "very long way to go" in Burma's reform process.

He said that the international community needed to be "cautious" about lifting too many sanctions too quickly.

While there had been "atmospheric change" in Rangoon and the urban areas, there had not yet been "substantial institutional, legislative and constitutional change that will make reform irreversible", he said.

Mr Rogers recommended a gradual lifting of sanctions in proportion to developments on the ground, with the retention of some measures "until further genuine change is secured".

"We have seen very welcome progress in Burma at some levels in recent months, but the Burma Army continues to perpetrate grave violations of human rights in the ethnic areas, which include religious discrimination and persecution of minorities," he said.

"Religious freedom is a fundamental value in any democratic society, and so if the Burmese government is serious about reform, it must protect religious freedom. We urge the international community to monitor the situation closely.

"In the ethnic areas, crimes against humanity continue. We call upon President Thein Sein and all reform-minded officials in the Burmese government to take action to end the military's abuses, and to protect human rights, including religious freedom, for all."