The ongoing humanitarian crisis in Myanmar since a military coup overthrew the government was the focus of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) hearing held in late February, according to a leading Christian advocacy group.
A prominent church leader in military-ruled Burma, also known as Myanmar, has been released by local authorities while serving a lengthy prison sentence for allegedly violating the Asian nation’s controversial anti-terrorism legislation, Worthy News established Wednesday.
The international Save the Children aid organization reported Saturday that two of its members were missing in Myanmar after the Burmese Army (Tatmadaw) murdered 35 civilians on Friday and burned the bodies beyond recognition, the Washington Times reports. The slaughter on Christmas Eve was the latest atrocity committed by the Tatmadaw in seeking to control Myanmar and impose Buddhism as the national religion.
The Burmese military allowed its jets to open fire on four Christian villages in the predominantly Buddhist country in March, killing 21 people and forcing thousands of others to flee to a neighboring region.
51 Baptist churches were allowed to reopen in Burma, where 100 were shut down in 2018 by armed ethnic Wa rebels.
Unidentified men last week stoned a house full of worshippers for an hour in a predominantly Buddhist village in Burma (Myanmar), injuring six people, sources said.
A new decision by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will prevent Christian refugees from Burma’s Chin State from extending their refugee status beyond December 31st, 2019.
After shutting down at least 10 churches in early September, ethnic Wa rebels in eastern Burma (Myanmar) have closed dozens of other churches and detained 92 Christian leaders and 42 students in a bid to curtail Christian activities, sources said.
Ethnic Wa rebels this month shut down churches or destroyed their buildings and temporarily detained several clergymen in eastern Burma (Myanmar), sources said.
Burmese army-backed militia beat two youth pastors in northern Burma (Myanmar) last week, detaining one of them overnight at the force’s base, sources said.
Northwood Church founder Pastor Bob Roberts worries if the US Congress doesn’t act soon, ethnic Kachin Christians in Burma may face the same plight as the Rohingya. He believes prayer and action can make the difference in saving them.
Rights groups urged the world to pressure Burma to end a crackdown on ethnic and religious minorities after government troops reportedly killed and raped dozens of mainly Christian civilians while burning hundreds of churches and homes.
Burma’s government admitted Thursday, January 3, that the military is involved in airstrikes against the mainly Christian Kachin, a week after Worthy News and other media carried reports about a massive offensive in the north of the country.
Burma’s military ransacked a Baptist church and broke up a Christian conference of the predominantly Christian Chin community in the latest confrontation between government forces and ethnic minorities, Christian investigators told Worthy News.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended that the Secretary of State name Pakistan as a Country of Particular Concern in its 2012 Annual Report.
Burmese troops kill or torture civilians and destroy churches and even entire villages of the predominantly Christian Kachin minority despite pledges from Burma’s nominally civilian government that it seeks ceasefire agreements with ethnic groups, investigators said Sunday, February 12.
Churches and Buddhist monasteries in a mining area of Burma’s northern Kachin state have taken in nearly 1,000 refugees, many of them Christians, since New Year’s Day, after the Burmese military reportedly attacked a church and killed several people, Worthy News established Tuesday, January 10.
A government military unit assigned to clear a road assaulted and then arrested five men including a pastor of the Catholic Association.
Kachin Christians have accused Burma’s military of violating their religious rights after government troops seized control of a church in Kachin State, transforming it into a military outpost complete with fortifications, trenches and land mines.
Last month, in June, the Burmese (Myanmar) military ended a 17-year ceasefire causing more than 20,000 civilians to flee their homes in Kachin state, Worthy News has learned.