Burma’s Forgotten Victims
Burma’s Forgotten Victims
ICC Note:
A report by the Human Rights Watch highlights the repression of the Chin, a predominantly Christian people in Burma, by the Burmese soldiers who “routinely commit abuses- forced labor, land and food confiscation, arbitrary beatings, recruitment of child soldiers, and torture.”
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2/4/09 Bumra (FarEasternEconomicReview) “You are living under our authority. You have no choice. You must do what we say.”
This is what Burmese soldiers told a woman who was sick of portering their army supplies. She told Human Rights Watch, “I tried to refuse to go because I was so tired and the things we are made to carry are very heavy. When I tried to refuse, they beat me.”
This story could have come from almost anywhere in military-ruled Burma, but it is from one of the most isolated and neglected parts of the country, in the western borderlands with India. Chin State’s mountainous jungle villages are home to nearly half a million ethnic Chin people. These predominantly Christian, deeply impoverished people are completely under the boot of the Tatmadaw, or Burmese army.
Chin State is a microcosm for the patterns of oppression in rural Burma. The army and civilian officials there routinely commit abuses –forced labor, land and food confiscation, arbitrary beatings, recruitment of child soldiers, and torture.
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Many Chin people see the army as frightening bandits, and the soldiers see the community around them as a resource to exploit and repress. One Baptist pastor told Human Rights Watch: “When we meet the army we are shaking. There’s no law for them. Whatever they want is law.”
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In a three-year investigation into abuses in this forgotten corner of Burma, Human Rights Watch researchers found that systematic abuses by the Tatmadaw are causing people to flee the country. People find it hard to grow crops, travel between villages, attend school, and practice their religion.
The Chin face religious repression. At times the Tatmadaw has burnt down churches, demolished crosses and prayer rooms to make way for military buildings and infrastructure. Villagers are intimidated to convert to Buddhism.