[ti:New Study Finds Myanmar Religious Buildings Damaged]
[al:As It Is]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2024-01-31]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]New research provides evidence that attacks by Myanmar's military government have damaged religious centers in the country.
[00:11.31]Religious leaders and human rights workers say the reported attacks are part of a wider campaign to attack religious communities across the nation.
[00:24.81]A civil war broke out in Myanmar after the military seized power from the elected government of former leader Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.
[00:39.21]Human rights agencies and United Nations investigators say they have found evidence of Myanmar security forces targeting civilians.
[00:52.63]The evidence includes details about bomb attacks, mass executions and detentions and the burning of private homes.
[01:04.13]One group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, accuses security forces in Myanmar of killing at least 4,416 people since the 2021 military takeover.
[01:23.36]The Myanmar Witness project completed the new report on the destruction of religious centers. 
[01:31.65]The project is part of the Britain-based Centre for Information Resilience.
[01:38.88]Myanmar Witness examined claims of five airstrikes that caused major damage to religious centers over several months in 2023. 
[01:52.44]The attacks happened in Myanmar's western Chin state.
[01:57.68]Religious buildings are given special protection under international law.
[02:04.74]Another group, the Chin Human Rights Organization, reported that the military has destroyed at least 107 religious buildings in Chin state since 2021.
[02:20.26]Those included attacks against 67 churches and five Buddhist monasteries, the group said.
[02:30.27]A 2023 report by the International Commission of Jurists said 94 Buddhist religious centers and 87 Christian ones had been destroyed or damaged nationwide.
[02:48.24]The Myanmar Witness group collects evidence including pictures, video and witness accounts found on social media services.
[02:59.40]The group compares this evidence with satellite images or other methods to confirm human rights abuses.
[03:09.62]Matt Lawrence is director of Myanmar Witness. 
[03:14.39]He said the main goal of the project is to give evidence of "atrocities" to international groups for further investigation.
[03:26.15]Many human rights activists have accused the military of aiming for religious buildings.
[03:34.63]"Bombing churches is much more than just collateral damage," wrote Benedict Rogers.
[03:42.09]He is a former East Asia team leader for the human rights organization Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
[03:51.34]He wrote in an email to The Associated Press, "Targeting them is part of a deliberate strategy."
[04:00.22]Rogers said the military government discriminates against non-Burmese ethnic minorities and non-Buddhist religious minorities.
[04:12.17]In 2017, the military carried out a counterinsurgency campaign in Rakhine state.
[04:21.21]The campaign drove almost 740,000 members of the Muslim Rohingya minority to flee to Bangladesh.
[04:32.67]The military government offered no immediate comment on the new report.
[04:39.13]But in the past, military leaders have repeatedly stated that security forces only attack permissible targets of war.
[04:51.69]I'm Bryan Lynn.