VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 1/28/15)—On January 19, 2015, two young Kachin Baptist women were brutalized and murdered by soldiers of the Burma Army in the Shabuk Kawhnghka village in northern Shan State, Myanmar. Maran Lu Ra (aged 20) and Tangbau Hkawn Nan Tsin (21) were serving as volunteer teachers in the village as part of the Kachin Baptist Convention mission of education. They were attacked and killed while sleeping in their bedroom in a hostel on the campus of the Kachin Baptist church in the village.

In response, American Baptist Women’s Ministries has issued a statement to Secretary of State John Kerry calling upon the U.S. government to uphold its commitment to human rights by pressuring the government of Burma to bring the perpetrators to justice and to uphold its obligations as a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention of the Rights of the Child, and the Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict. This is the second such statement American Baptist Women’s Ministries has addressed to the Secretary of State’s office calling for increased pressure on the government of Burma to end the use of rape as a weapon of war.

On January 21, ABCUSA General Secretary A. Roy Medley wrote a message to American Baptists referencing this attack and asking for prayer for Burma. Medley, along with the Rev. Florence Li of the American Baptist Home Mission Societies, an ABC delegation and Mr. Jim Winkler, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, are currently traveling in Burma. There, the group is working to press for the cause of religious liberty and human rights within Burma with the ceasing of violence by the military against our brothers and sisters in Christ.

American Baptist Women’s Ministries has also sent a letter of condolence and support to the Kachin Baptist Convention Women’s Ministries. The letter includes nearly 500 signatures of American Baptist women and men who join in prayerful concern and support for the Kachin people.

To read ABWM’s letters to Secretary of State John Kerry and to the Kachin Baptist Convention Women’s Ministries, click here.

American Baptist Women’s Ministries is a Christ-centered ministry with a commitment to encourage and empower women and girls to serve God.

American Baptist Churches is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with over 5,200 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.