Thousands of Christians flee Myanmar to escape religious persecution

With an escalation of fighting between ethnic rebel groups and government troops in Myanmar's conflict areas, civilians from ethnic and religious minorities are being forced to flee for safety. Tens of thousands of Christians have taken refuge in Malaysia, according to reports of Christianpost.

Over 100 thousand Christians from Myanmar are now living in Malaysia as refugees having found a shelter from religious persecutions, according to a report of TRT World. “Myanmar is not safe for us. They kill people, send them to jail because of their religion,” told one of the refugees.

Myanmar’s state borders have been the scene of one of the longest civil conflicts in the world. Rebels form ethnic minority groups have been fighting for greater autonomy and resisting the military’s efforts to assimilate them into the Burman majority since (Burma – former name for Myanmar ed.) since Burma achieved independence from the British rule in 1948.

While Burma's politics has been dominated by the ethnic Burman majority, most of the country's estimated 4 million Christians are from ethnic minorities who live in states along the country's borders with China, Thailand and India. Some of the ethnic minorities formed their own armies to resist attacks by military personnel, which are often carried out without any provocation. Military attacks include landmine explosions, rape of women, indiscriminate killing of people and forced displacement, according to the World Evangelical Alliance's Religious Liberty Commission.

Myanmar was ranked 23rd on Open Doors' World Watch List of places that are most hostile to followers of Christ for their faith, with believers regularly prevented from practicing their religion. The group of radical Buddhist monks Ma Ba Tha in the country has introduced draft laws on “Protection of Race and Religion” which are said to toughly restrict conversions and religiously mixed marriages.

Nearly 25 percent of all new refugees in the United States since 2007 are from Myanmar, and an overall reduction of refugee visas could affect such Christian refugees from Myanmar the most.

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