on Wednesday, January 24, to do more to help end "religious freedom violations" by the Burmese leadership.
They made the announcement after meeting UK Minister of Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs, Ian McCartney.
During one-hour talks, delegates urged him to demand that the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief conducts "a thorough investigation" in Burma, said advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).
The meeting came on the heels of a new report on Burma, ‘Carrying the Cross: The military regime’s campaign of restriction, discrimination and persecution against Christians in Burma.’
The report issued by CSW identifies what it calls "a range of tactics used by the military government to suppress Christianity," in Burma, also known as Myanmar.
DESTROYING CHRISTIANITY
It cites a document, allegedly from the Ministry of Religious Affairs, with the headline ‘Program to destroy the Christian religion in Burma’. It reportedly begins with the words: "There shall be no home where the Christian religion is practiced."
On Wednesday, January 24, delegates urged the UK to call on the European Union to send a strong signal to the regime in Burma that the current human rights violations in the country are not acceptable.
The main message "was the need for meaningful tripartite dialogue between the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the National League for Democracy and the ethnic nationalities," said Victor Biak Lian, from the National Reconciliation Program of the Union of Burma.
"We need the international community to put pressure on the SPDC if we are to achieve this."
CHINA, RUSSIA VETO
CSW, which helped to facilitate the meeting, said delegates had also stressed that "China and Russia’s veto of a UN Security Council resolution on Burma does not give the regime a green light to commit these violations."
They also discussed the alleged wide spread sexual violence in Chin State, forced labor, and the tense situation in Kachin State, another region of ethnic minorities in Burma.
The military has controlled Burma since 1962, shutting the country off from the outside world. Thousands were killed when soldiers crushed a pro-democracy uprising in 1988.
The United Nations estimates there are 1,100 political prisoners in Burma.
