Country: Myanmar

Group: Chin/Kuki

Date Finalized: 10/04/2021

Team: Ash Pessaran (lead), Natasha Chandra, Jocelyn Chen

Content Warning: Ethnocide, Violence, Sexual Assault

Approximate Time Period: 1990-Present

The Chin/Kuki people in Myanmar have fled religious persecution by the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), which was attempting to convert the primarily Christian Chin/Kuki people to Buddhism.

The Chin/Kuki is an umbrella term for a number of Sino-Tibetan groups inhabiting a mountainous region spanning across western Myanmar, Mizoram in north-east India, small parts of Bangladesh (Minority Rights, 2017). The Chin/Kuki people were forced away from Myanmar because of serious human rights violations such as forced labor, loss of traditional lands, extortion, heavy taxation, food insecurity, and rape (Tiam 2010, p. 201; Minority Rights, 2017; Human Rights Watch 2021). These resulted from a process of “Burmanization,” implemented by the Burmese regime in order to eliminate the cultural and religious heritage of the Myanmar ethnic minorities and to bring Burmese culture to prominence (Tiam Page 210, 2010). As of the present day, the Chin/Kuki language has been essentially extinguished, and all school instructors in Myanmar are only allowed to use Burmese as the language of instruction. The Chin/Kuki had been able to practice their non-Buddhist beliefs unhindered, until 1990 when the military regime began targeting Christians, destroying churches, and persecuting pastors (Minority Rights, 2017). The threat of violence from the Myanmar military forced many Chin to flee to India (Human Rights Watch, 2009; Minority Rights Group, 2017). Because the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has limited access to Myanmar many refugees have limited options which leaves displaced Chin in “limbo” (Hoffstaedter & Lamb, 2019). In India, Chin refugees are seen as “illegal economic migrants” because Mizoram does not officially recognize them as refugees, thus subjugating them to arrest, deportation, torture, and detention (Human Rights Watch, 2009).

The data quality is a 2 because there is data from credible sources.

Sources

  1. Hoffstaedter, G., & Lamb, N. (2019). “It’s God’s plan to be here”: Displacement, Transit and Resettlement of Chin and Karenni Refugees to Australia. Australian Journal of Politics & History, 65(4), 584–599. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajph.12623
  2. Human Rights Watch. “We Are Like Forgotten People”: The Chin People of Burma: Unsafe in Burma, Unprotected in India. (2009). https://www.hrw.org/report/2009/01/27/we-are-forgotten-people/chin-people-burma-unsafe-burma-unprotected-india
  3. Minority Rights Group. 2017. Chin—Myanmar. Retrieved September 27, 2021, from https://minorityrights.org/minorities/chin/
  4. Human Rights Watch. (2009). “WE ARE LIKE FORGOTTEN PEOPLE” The Chin People of Burma: Unsafe in Burma, Unprotected in India. Retrieved September 28, 2021, from https://www.hrw.org/report/2009/01/27/we-are-forgotten-people/chin-people-burma-unsafe-burma-unprotected-india#.