Complaint filed with UN against birth limitation for Muslims in Burma

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has filed a complaint against the official birth restrictions for Muslims in Burma at the United Nations Human Rights Council. "These discriminations are based solely on the peoples' religious beliefs and are therefore to be seen as violations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the fundamental principles of the UN Charter," said Ulrich Delius, the STP's Asia-expert, in Göttingen on Wednesday. "The discrimination against the Muslim minority in Burma is incomparable all over the world and borders on apartheid. This is not worthy of a state that describes itself as a nation of law and strives for international recognition."

In May 2013, the authorities in the state of Arakan, Burma, had decided that members of the Muslim Rohingya minority in two regions in the north of the country are only allowed to have two children. Since June 2012, several violent clashes between Buddhist Rakhine and the Muslim Rohingya had taken place – and the Burmese security forces often take sides with the Buddhist majority, failing to protect the minority group.

According to the STP, the "two child policy" that was now imposed on a minority group is unique – worldwide. In China, a "one child policy" limits the free choices of the families, but Tibetans, Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities were specifically excluded from this rule. Burma justifies the policy by a supposedly high population growth within the minority group. "But there is no credible data on population growth – and birth restrictions are an inappropriate and ineffective method to try and prevent a change in the population structure to the disadvantage of the Buddhists," criticized Delius. "The restrictions are to be seen as a populist measure of the authorities who are giving in to pressure from the extremist Buddhists. Thus, this will surely cause more violence between Buddhists and Muslims."

According to information of the STP, there was a new outbreak of violence against in northern Burma on Tuesday. In the town of Lashio, Shan State, Buddhists burned a mosque, a Muslim school and an orphanage and several shops belonging to Muslims. The human rights organization urges the Burmese government to ensure protection for the minority group and bring to justice those who were responsible for the violence. "There must be an end to the agitation of the extremist Buddhists against other faiths – or else the violence will spread even further."