Release International has called for the international community to act to restrain the military in Myanmar following reports of a renewed offensive against the Christian Kachin people which has displaced thousands of people.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, representatives of the UK-based persecuted church support organisation said they fear Christians could face a repeat of the “brutal ethnic and religious cleansing” carried out against the Rohingya Muslims which saw more than 700,000 flee to neighbouring Bangladesh..
Release said Myanmar’s military stepped up its campaign against the Christian Kachin people in April and, according to a Sky News report this week, thousands have been displaced from homes and left stranded in the jungle. Release, meanwhile, said the military had also occupied churches and interrogated “entire congregations” and that there were reports rape had been used as a weapon of war, that camps for the displaced deliberately targeted and that landmines are being left in villages to make them uninhabitable.
Paul Robinson, chief executive of Release, said the world “cannot turn a blind eye to these brutal attacks against Burma’s minorities”.
“All the signs point to an expanding campaign of ruthless ethnic and religious cleansing,” he said. “The military control Burma with an iron grip, and there are some who won’t rest until all of Burma is Buddhist – at any price. They’ve targeted the Muslims, now they’re going for the Christians.”
Mr Robinson said the organisation was calling on Christians to pray for the Kachin people. “[A]nd on the international community to act to restrain the military in Myanmar.”
Christians make up around nine per cent of the population of predominantly Buddhist Myanmar and, according to persecuted church advocacy groups, have long been a target of religious persecution. The Kachin people, who are mainly Christian, have long been targets for persecution.
