U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom 2012 Annual Report

2012 Annual Report

FINDINGS: The Burmese military is implicated in some of the world‘s worst human rights abuses, including rape, torture, ethnic cleansing, conscription of child soldiers, and particularly severe religious freedom violations. These abuses continued in the past reporting period, despite November 2010 elections that installed a new government and some initial reforms announced during 2011-2012. Religious groups, particularly ethnic minority Christians and Muslims and Buddhist monks suspected of engaging in antigovernment activity, faced intrusive monitoring, arrest, mistreatment, destruction or desecration of property, severe restrictions on worship, education, and religious activities, and targeted violence. Monks are still imprisoned for participating in peaceful demonstrations in 2007, and the ban on independent Protestant ―house church‖ activities remains. 

In light of these continued systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations, USCIRF again recommends in 2012 that Burma be designated as a ―country of particular concern‖ (CPC). The State Department has designated Burma as a CPC since 1999. 

Religious freedom violations affect every religious group in Burma. Although the new government has released prominent leaders of the 2007 demonstrations, Buddhist monks suspected of anti-government activities have been detained in the past year. Most of the recent releases were conditional. U Gambira, head of the All-Burma Monks Alliance, has been twice detained by police because of his public criticism of the government and for unilaterally re-opening sealed monasteries. Muslims routinely experience strict controls on a wide range of religious activities, as well as government-sponsored societal violence.

The Rohingya Muslim minority, in particular, is subject to systematic discrimination and a forced relocation program that has produced thousands of refugees. In ethnic minority areas, where low-intensity conflict has been waged for decades, the Burmese military forcibly promotes Buddhism and targets Christian religious groups for intimidation, forced labor, rape, and destruction of religious sites. Such tactics continued in the past year, particularly in Kachin and northern Shan states, where a large military operation began in the past reporting period. A 2008 regulation continues essentially to ban independent ―house church‖ religious venues throughout the country and Protestant religious leaders in Rangoon have been pressured to sign pledges to stop meeting in unapproved venues.

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