Christians Pay for Junta's Insecurities Tuesday saw testimony from the Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a global human rights organisation championing religious freedom, presented at a hearing on Burma at the European Parliament in Brussels. It came weeks after a delegation from Burma's Chin and Kachin ethnic communities, where a majority are Christian, raised the issue of religious persecution for the first time during visits to meet government officials in London, Washington D.C., New York and Berlin.

''The military regime has become more insecure over the past 10 years because the situation inside Burma has worsened,'' he told IPS. ''So, more Christians are being targeted.''

''This has been an ignored issue. Many in the international community are not aware of the religious discrimination faced by Christians among the ethnic communities,'' says L. Dwelling, of the Kachin Women's Association, Thailand, who participated in the recent lobbying mission to Europe. ''We need to raise our voices this year for the international community to hear us.''

Discrimination against Christians in the Kachin State is ''increasing,'' she told IPS. These include the junta denying the Kachins the right to higher education in prized fields such as medicine. ''Some of my friends had to change their names and religion to seek entry into the medical colleges,'' she said. ''Land owned by church groups is confiscated and in some places you cannot celebrate religious festivals openly.''

Late February, an activist from a Chin women's group revealed a more disturbing picture at a conference at the U.N. headquarters in New York. ''Often rapes have been carried out with extreme brutality and in some cases they have resulted in the death of the victim. In one case, a woman was stripped naked and hung on a cross, in a deliberate act of mockery against her Christian religion,'' Cheery Zahau, spokeswoman for the Women's League of Chinland, was quoted as having said, according to media reports.

The Kachin State is the northernmost region of Burma, sharing international borders with India and China. It was one of many ethnic regions where a separatist battle raged between Kachin rebel groups and Burmese troops till 1994, when a truce was struck. Yet, as pro-Kachin websites reveal, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as the junta calls itself, has used the peace agreement to muscle its way in. On Mar. 5, ''Christian properties in Sadung Region of Kachin State (were) forcefully captured and destroyed,'' states 'kachinstate.com'. ''There has been no information about re-allotment of church or religious lands and properties.''

Chin State, where over 70 percent is Christian, is located along western Burma, close to the Indian and Bangladesh borders. Chin Christians face double persecution, revealed 'Hidden Crimes Against Chin Women,' a report released in mid-2006. One is for being Chin; the other for being Christian, a Chin student had told the report's researchers.

The extent of persecution Christians across Burma face was captured in a study released late January by the CSW. It drew attention to officially sanctioned policies by this South-east Asian country's ministry of religious affairs such as the 17-point ''Programme to destroy the Christian religion in Burma.'' The opening section of this programme declares, ''There shall be no home where the Christian religion is practised.''

''In addition to the destruction of crosses and churches, and the restrictions on the construction of new churches, the SPDC regularly and deliberately disrupts church services, physically assaults pastors and church leaders, and uses pastors for forced labour, particularly on Sundays,'' it adds.

''There are explicit acts of hostility against Christians,'' Benedict Rogers, author of the CSW report, said during a telephone interview from Britain. ''The restrictions are aimed at all Christians, not only those from the ethnic communities. If you are a Christian, you cannot get a job in the government service.''

The report was prompted to add to the picture of religious persecution in Burma, already known for its harsh measures against Burmese Muslims and also for throwing Buddhist monks in jail, he added. ''It is definitely a new issue, because the international community has not focused on the extent of such abuse.''

Burma, which has been under the grip of successive military regimes since a 1962 coup, is predominantly Buddhist -- close to 85 percent of the country 52 million people. Most follow the Theravada school of Buddhism as in Thailand, Cambodia and Sri Lanka.

Christians account for nearly five percent of the population, as do animists, while Muslims make up four percent and Hindus one percent.

According to the Karen Human Rights Group, the persecution of Muslims in Burma ranks among the worst form of religious discrimination in the country. It stems from draconian laws that deny Muslims citizenship, the right to get an education, to secure a job and to travel. There have also been government-instigated 'pogroms' against this religious minority.

The other charges levelled against the junta by rights groups include forced labour, conscription of child soldiers, using rape as a weapon of war, jailing political opponents and denying the space for press freedom.

Source: IPS - Inter Press Service News Agency