RANGOON/LONDON — British parliamentarians on Tuesday, January 23, urged the United Nations to urgently investigate religious freedom violations in Burma after a new report alleged widespread abuses against Christians by the military government.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), an advocacy group, launched the report Tuesday, January 23, at a meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Burma.

The report ’Carrying the Cross : The military regime’s campaign of restriction, discrimination and persecution against Christians in Burma’ identifies a range of tactics used by the military government to suppress 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."

RECENT INVESTIGATIONS

The CSW report comes after investigations in recent years on the alleged persecution of Muslims and the imprisonment of Buddhist monks in Burma, also known as Myanmar.

The report claims that Burma ’s leadership is "shaped by a fascist mentality with echoes of Hitler and the Nazis”, found in "the junta’s hostility" towards ethnic and religious minorities.

Citizens who do not conform to the regime’s version of Burman Buddhist nationalism – which, the report argues, is a "perverted and distorted form of Buddhism" – face "potentially serious consequences."

Burma’s military government is involved in tactics ranging "from churches in Rangoon finding it difficult to obtain permission to renovate their buildings, to pastors in Chin State being killed," the report claims.

CHRISTIAN PLEA

The report quotes a plea from six Christian organizations in 2006, who wrote a letter to the junta’s Senior General Than Shwe saying, "We simply cannot let things go on without doing anything. This is because Christian associations have been suffering, and we are feeling the pain deep in our hearts."

The report was welcomed by Conservative MP’s Stephen Crabb and John Bercow, Liberal Democrat MP’s Alistair Carmichael and Steve Webb and Labour MP’s David Drew and Jim Dobbin. They tabled an ’Early Day Motion’ calling the UN Security Council "to pass a binding resolution requiring the" government, known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) "to cease its widespread violation of human rights including violations of religious freedom."

The motion says that the UN should demand that Burma will "release all political prisoners, open all parts of the country to unhindered access for international humanitarian organizations, and engage in meaningful tripartite dialogue with the National League for Democracy and the ethnic nationalities."

This month Christian rights activists condemned a decision by China and Russia to veto a UN Security Council resolution calling on Burma’s military government to stop persecuting political opponents and minority groups, including Christians.

CSW "ASTONISHED"

CSW said it was "astonished" that South Africa voted against the resolution, "given its own struggle against apartheid."

The resolution demanded that the military government of Burma, or Myanmar as it is known at the UN, would cease its military attacks on civilians in the ethnic minority regions and end violations of human rights. It also urged the Burma’s leadership to open up the country to international humanitarian organizations.

The United States and Britain were able to get the nine votes necessary to adopt the resolution in the 15-member Council. France, Italy, Belgium, Slovakia, Ghana and Peru joined them in voting ’yes’. But South Africa joined Russia and China in voting ’no’, while three other elected members, Indonesia, Qatar and Congo, abstained.

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. This month, 13 Nobel Peace Prize winners held a rally in Washington to call for the release of fellow laureate and pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi. She has been in detention for 17 years.