Lao Christian families who refused to convert to Buddhism flee village
Vientiane ( AsiaNews / Agencies ) - Six Lao Christian families victims of constant pressure have had to leave their native Buddhist majority village in the south of the country; residents wanted to force them to abandon their religion and convert.
This is denounced by Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom
(Hrwlrf), an NGO based in the United States, according to which members of the
minority were "threatened with eviction", if the "did not renounce their
faith". However
according to officials of the province of Savannakhet, the families left Natahall
village, Phin district, of their "own free will" to "avoid
confrontation" with the other inhabitants.
In
early March (but the story only recently emerged) some Christian families fled
the village of Natahall, building new housing in an area about ten kilometers
distant. In
the past, the group had converted to Christianity, and this choice, over time, created
growing discontent and impatience between the Buddhist majority and the group,
in particular, village elders and heads. This
year was marked by a continuing escalation of tension, which resulted in the
decision to flee.
According
to the Hrwlrf report , members of the Christian minority were the victims of
persecution and abuse. In
December, the leaders of Natahall village, with the support of the police, issued
an eviction order against them, but the group resisted and refused, at first,
to flee or convert. The
authorities "acted to ban the Christian faith from the village and expel
the inhabitants who continued to profess Christianity".
The
last episode was on 11 March when, during a public meeting community leaders
offended the Christians, calling them followers of a "foreign American religion"
and forcing them to convert to Buddhism. The
families decided to abandon their homes, starting a new life in a safer area .
Since
the Communists came to power in 1975, and the resulting expulsion of foreign
missionaries, the Christian minority in Laos has been under strict controls,
its right to worship limited.
In a country of six million people, most people (67 per cent) are Buddhist. Christians make up about 2 per cent of the total, 0.7 per cent Catholic.
Protestant communities have suffered the most from religious persecution, a situation AsiaNews documented in the past. Cases include peasants deprived of food for their faith and clergymen arrested by the authorities.
Since April 2011, tighter controls have been imposed, following a violent crackdown against protests led by some groups within the country's Hmong ethnic minority.
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