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| Photo: David Swanson/IRIN |
May 3, 2013
BANGKOK - Human rights groups are calling for a review of Myanmar's
citizenship law, which has left more than 1.2 million people stateless
nationwide, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
“The 1982 citizenship law should be amended to reflect basic principles
of human rights, including equality and non-discrimination,” Debbie
Stothard, the coordinator for Altsean Burma, a Bangkok-based advocacy organization for minority rights in Myanmar, told IRIN.
There are no reliable data on the number of stateless people in Myanmar; the last population census was conducted more than three decades ago, according to the UN Population Fund.
But rights groups believe that in addition to some 800,000 stateless
Rohingya in Myanmar's western Rakhine State, ethnic groups originating
from China and India are also disenfranchised by the law, facing
persecution without legal redress.
“The law creates a permanent underclass that is exploited with impunity,
creating significant resentments [liable to] explode when security
forces take advantage of the legal vulnerability of stateless persons
through abuse,” said Phil Robertson, the deputy director of Human Rights
Watch's (HRW) Asia division.
While all persons born on Burmese soil were considered citizens under
the country's earlier 1948 citizenship law, General Ne Win's seizure of
power in 1962 led to policies that excluded communities whose ancestors
entered the country after 1823.
The constitution established by Ne Win in 1974 listed 135 “national
races” - including the Karen, Shan and Kachin - while excluding all
“non-indigenous” minorities.
Eight years later, the citizenship law,
which recognizes only the children of national races as full citizens,
was established, leading to limited rights for non-recognized groups
such as the Rohingya.
Parliament blocks amendments
Despite repeated calls for change, including a recent attempt to amend
the law on 6 November 2012 by Member of Parliament (MP) Tin Mya from the
Union Solidarity and Development Party, objections from other
parliamentarians caused proposals for amendments to be shelved,
according to Altsean.
“While the international community has [also] spoken up to the need to
amend the law, there has yet to be a coordinated and concerted effort to
ensure this actually happens,” said Stothard.
The discriminatory law may have helped fuel the sectarian violence that
broke out between the Muslim Rohingya and the Buddhist population in
Rakhine State in June and October 2012 and in the town of Meiktila in
March 2013, said Chris Lewa, the director of the Arakan Project, a
Rohingya advocacy group.
“The Rohingya have been constant victims of arbitrary arrests,
extortion, harassment and fines due to their precarious legal status and
laws prohibiting basic rights such as freedom of movement,” she said.
Children “blacklisted”
Since 2008, Rohingyas in Rakhine State - who must obtain permission to marry or travel outside of their villages - have been limited to having two children per couple.
But with access to birth control limited around the country, Burmese couples
have an average of 4.7 children per marriage. The majority of Rohingya
families continue to have more than two children, but forgo birth
registration for those children over the limit for fear of being
penalized, says Lewa.
“These children are blacklisted and without any rights at all,” she
explained. “They cannot even apply for permission for marriage, to go to
school or to move outside of their village with their parents because,
according to the authorities, they do not exist,” she added.
In November 2012, immigration police and the national army in the
Rakhine townships of Pauktaw, Maungdaw and Sittwe attempted to register
Rohingya families, issuing them temporary national residency cards
(NRCs). But these efforts were met with opposition because the
registration forms used the term “Bengali” to describe to the Rohingyas -
a label referring to their South Asian heritage, used to emphasize
their perceived foreignness.
“It is very controversial as they deserve full citizenship, not just
temporary residence, which gives them no other rights, and they are
afraid that if they sign the documents then it will be proof that they
are non-citizens,” said Lewa.
Additionally, to receive the NRC, families must prove they have lived in
Myanmar for three generations, but many Rohingyas lost evidence of this
in the recent sectarian violence, which destroyed up to 4,800
buildings, according to HRW, and forced over 125,000 to flee their homes.
Missed opportunity
Myanmar has undergone significant reforms
since March 2011 - including the easing of media censorship, the
release of hundreds of political prisoners and the reshuffling of the
country’s cabinet. The European Union subsequently lifted sanctions on
Myanmar on 22 April 2013.
But rights groups fear international pressure to create an inclusive and fair citizenship law will cease to be effective.
“We are worried that the rights of Rohingya and other stateless people
will continue to be set aside in the international euphoria over Burma's
reforms,” said Alstean's Stothard.
Earlier this week, the Inquiry Commission
on the Sectarian Violence in Rakhine State, a government commission set
up to investigate the 2012 violence in Rakhine, failed to recommend any
revisions to the citizenship law. Rather, it called for a process to
examine the citizenship status of the people in Rakhine, in order to
implement the provisions of the current law.
“The commission missed a critical point when it failed to include reform
of the 1982 Citizenship Act to strip out discriminatory provisions and
ensure that the law complies with international human rights standards,”
said HRW’s Robertson on 29 April.
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