Country: Myanmar
Group: Kachin/Jingpo/Singpho
Date: 4/21/2020
Team: Leilani Alva (lead), Maya Shrikant, Johanna McCombs
Like the Shan and other indigenous groups in Myanmar, the Kachin mostly reside inside the Kachin state. When Myanmar declared Buddhism the country’s religion, predominantly Christian Kachin quickly tried to separate themselves. Blatant discrimination against the Kachin began after 1962, when they began to be excluded from employment and economic opportunities. The Burmese government set out to implement the “Burmanization” of all states (Minority Rights, n.d.; Clarke 2001). Again, similar to other groups mentioned in Myanmar, the Burmese government attempted to reward Kachin citizens who would convert to Buddhism. Kachin children would be granted free schooling, only at Buddhist monasteries. Adults would be spared from forced labor or other conscriptions if they would convert. Land control and manipulation by the government increased after 1994 and military presence rapidly increased in the area. Currently the issues have worsened when the ceasefire was broken and there has been a large amount of violence that has displaced over 100,000 Kachin.
Data quality: 2
Sources
- Clarke, G. (2001). From ethnocide to ethnodevelopment? Ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples in Southeast Asia. Third World Quarterly, 22(3), 413-436.
- Minority Rights (n.d.). Kachin. Retrieved from https://minorityrights.org/minorities/kachin/
- Mang, P. Z. (2015). Ethnic Persecution: A Case Study of the Kachin in Burma. International Journal of Public Theology, 9(1), 68-93.