Rights groups slam Myanmar birth law
Population control health-care bill signed into law las week
YANGON — A new law that forces some women in Myanmar to have children at least three years apart was on Monday criticized by rights groups who say it will be used to target the country’s minority Muslim population.
Myanmar’s President Thein Sein signed the population control health-care bill into law last week, state-controlled media announced on Saturday.
The legislation is backed by the Buddhist ultra-nationalist group the Committee for the Protection of Nationality and Religion, known as Ma Ba Tha.
The group has stoked antiMuslim sentiment by saying Muslim communities have high birth rates and will eventually overrun the predominately Buddhist country.
“This law targets one religion, one population, in one area,” said Khin Lay, founder of the Yangonbased Triangle Women Support Group, which gives women professional and political training and lobbied against the law.
The government denies discriminating against Muslims. It says new the birth law is aimed at improving maternal health and child welfare.
It was unclear how the new law against giving birth in the threeyear period would be enforced.
The United States has said the legislation, which falls under “Race and Religion Protection Laws,” has the potential to exacerbate racial and religious divisions in the country.