This is Genocide

This is Genocide

Genocide– the
deliberate and systematic destruction, in a whole of an ethnic, racial,
religious, or national group

In America when we hear genocide we automatically think of
Rwanda, Darfur, Sudan, the Holocaust, Uganda and Invisible Children, the Khmer
Rouge in Cambodia- but rarely do we think or have even heard of the ongoing genocide
in Burma (officially known as the Republic of the Union of Myanmar). 

The past two weeks we have been staying in a small town
called Mae Sot on the Burmese/Thai border. 
Mae Sot is different than most border towns in Thailand because it
contains the largest legal border crossing into Burma, one of only two.  We have been working at a children’s home
filled with Burmese refugee children the past week.  Most are in Thailand illegally because they
were smuggled into Thailand from villages under attack by the Burmese
military. 

Most people in America have no clue of what actually is
going on in Burma or have even heard of Burma. 
Burma is the 40^th largest county in the world and is the 24^th
most populous country with almost 60 million people- 7 million of which are an
indigenous group known as the Karen.  The
Karen people are currently undergoing extermination by the Burmese
military.  Burma is home to the longest
civil war in history against the Karen people- 60 years, dating back to Burmese
independence from Great Britain in 1948. 
Burma is home to one of the largest militaries in the world, spending
70% of all tax revenue on military expenditures- with no external enemies.  The military controls the country under a
military regime called the junta.   The
civil war in Burma is a genocide against the Karen people.  Karen refugees have fled into Thailand by the
thousands.  Over 450,000 live in Thailand
with 50,000 to 70,000 living in just one refugee camp alone.  The Burmese military pillages Karen villages-
raping their women and children, torturing them, burning down their villages,
killing their people, and destroying their way of life.  This genocide has gone on for over 60 years
with little to no foreign intervention. 
The international community, The United Nations and The United States,
have enforced sanctions against the Burmese government, but have done little to
end the genocide.   

Here is a scene from the new Rambo movie that shows what the Burmese military does to the Karen villages, graphic but real life for the Karen people.  

An estimated 400,000- 1.5 million Karen people have been
killed in this genocide- almost five times as many as were killed in Darfur. 

With everything going on in Burma there is hope. 
On Sunday April 1^st Burma will have their first democratic
open party elections in 60 years.  The
government has started to open up and bring small changes to the country.  If everything goes as planned and the
military regime accepts the election results it will be a huge turning point
for Burma, the Burmese people, and the Karen. 
Pray for this election and Aung San Suu Kui as her party brings
democracy to the people for the first time in 60 years.  This election is HUGE!

 

Where we will be going tomorrow- Myawaddy, Burma.  Less than 3 kilometers from the border the city disappears into nothing but woods and dirt roads