Statelessness in Burma/Myanmar

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Websites/Multiple Documents

Title: *Youtube search for Burma OR Myanmar - stateless* (video)
Description: About 3,600 results (August 2017)
Source/publisher: Various sources via Youtube
Date of entry/update: 2017-08-24
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
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Title: Documents on statelessness related to Burma/Myanmar
Description: Reports and articles by various sources - from 2008
Source/publisher: UNHCR (Refworld)
Date of entry/update: 2015-08-25
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Individual Documents

Title: Women’s Right to Citizenship Documentation
Description: "In Myanmar, the National Registration Card (NRC)[1] is an essential citizenship document required for school enrollment, travel, marriage, and fixed-asset inheritance. According to data from the 2014 Census, about one-third of the population in Myanmar does not possess any identity documentation, including NRC cards.[2] The data also showed that women make up 54% of those lacking citizenship documents.[3] According to data from the Department of National Registration and Citizenship under the State Administration Council (SAC), the government has recently completed 90% of the Pan Khin (Flower Farm) project by the end of May 2022, which aims to issue NRC cards for those who do not have cards yet. Over 3.4 million people without NRC cards are expected to be issued cards over the project’s duration (May 2021 to November 2022).[4] However, applying for the NRC still presents difficulties for women, and even if they are successful, the NRC continues to validate patriarchal policies at the state level. This essay sheds light on the challenges women encounter when applying for the NRC and how the NRC legitimizes gender-based discrimination in daily life. The 1982 Citizenship Act, created by the Burmese Socialist Programme Party, serves as the foundation for the current legal framework for citizenship documentation. This law defines “Native citizens” (မွေးရာပါနိုင်ငံသား) as those from ethnic groups such as the Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Chin, Burman, Mon, Rakhine, Shan, and others living in Myanmar before 1823 and the British invasion. Although they are not considered nationals (တိုင်းရင်းသား), legal citizens are nevertheless qualified to apply for citizenship. However, non-Buddhist minorities—including Muslims, Chinese, and even groups that the law considers indigenous, such as Kachin and Kayah—have experienced discrimination while seeking NRCs.[5] Women have more challenges than men in NRC applications, and women from ethnic and religious minority backgrounds face multiple barriers to accessing NRCs. According to Norwegian Refugee Council’s 2018 report,[6] women have limited knowledge and access to information about citizenship documentation. Most households prioritize applying for men’s citizenship documents, particularly when unofficial fees make it expensive for everyone at home to apply for a citizenship document. Even though an NRC cannot offer all of the rights that female citizens are guaranteed in all of Myanmar’s constitutions, not having an NRC makes life more difficult for women. The main objective of this article is to understand the institutional barriers that women experience during the application process for an NRC, as well as the state’s institutionalized patriarchal practices affecting women through the NRC. Although the article primarily uses data from a 2018 study, the findings are still relevant today. Because the NRC application is one of the routes for corruption by state officials, the alleged success of the SAC’s Pan Khin project during the unstable post-coup period generates many doubts about its effectiveness. More precisely, the project is being implemented amid turbulent political conditions in which more than 1,037,800 people have been internally displaced across Myanmar, as of June 1, 2022, due to country-wide armed conflicts,[7] and the recognition as citizens of nearly 890,000 Rohingya people fleeing Bangladesh remains uncertain.[8] Moreover, even in the democratic transition period, the NRC issuing processes were criticized as being corrupt, incorrectly registering applicants’ ethnicities, whether on purpose or accidentally, and utilized as a political tool for elections. Rushing the project instead of addressing the existing problems related to citizenship documentation leads to the issues becoming more entrenched, while women are marginalized based on their ethnicity, class, gender, and religion, and also encounter institutional impediments when seeking citizenship documents and the rights granted by those documents. This article clarifies the following issues based on data gathered in 2018: first, what NRC means to women; second, institutional and structural barriers; and third, patriarchal practices ingrained in citizenship documents. For the 2018 study, I collected qualitative data from 56 women of different ethnicities from different regions by conducting Focus Group Discussions and In-depth Interviews. The study focused on collecting case studies which represent the experiences and perspectives of the participants. The locations of the study were selected based on geographical differences: the lower part of the country (Hpa-An and Mawlamyaing); the economic hub of the country (Yangon); the Dry Zone (Magwe and Minbu); and the upper part of the country (Myitkyina and Namatee). The participants, who were over 18 years of age were recruited from both urban and rural areas; some had successfully obtained their NRC, while others have not. What the NRC means to women The first part of the article mainly investigates undocumented women’s vulnerability and their motivations for seeking an NRC. First, all the interviewed participants listed traveling issues as a priority. The reason is that an NRC is also used as a travel document for boarding flights, buses, and trains as well as for overnight stays in other locations. In previous decades, women, particularly those living in rural or ethnically underrepresented areas, did not make significant efforts to obtain an NRC because there was limited need or opportunity to travel, due to inadequate road access, a lack of security and safety, or other factors including cultural barriers for rural women taking overnight trips. Even if they had to travel, they brought the ward/village administration’s letter of endorsement, in lieu of an NRC. However, women in border regions—for instance, those from the states of Mon and Kayin—had reasons other than travel for applying for the NRC, because they had to rely on border trade or move over the border to find a job. In this instance, they needed to possess the official documents that can only be applied for with an NRC, either a border pass or a permit for legal stay in another country. Before, they weren’t concerned about having formal documents because they were crossing the border illegally. However, once they became aware of the potential of trafficking of female irregular migrants, they began to favor having the NRC, which serves as a supporting document when applying for a passport or border pass. The second justification has to do with job applications. When women applied for jobs, those who did not possess an NRC had to borrow NRC cards from close friends or relatives, listing the friend’s card number on the application. The NRC is the source that is used to confirm a cardholder’s background, age, and right to work. Most of these incidents occurred in industrialized urban areas, particularly in garment industries where a larger female labor force was needed. Employers carefully checked an applicant’s ID card to confirm their age and background after reports of labor exploitation in garment manufacturers became public in 2017, and the authorities sometimes monitored those factories due to pressure from the international community and human rights defenders. Those without an NRC often had to find cheap labor in canneries or shoe factories in the informal sector. Accessing microloans was a further justification for an NRC card. If women did not have one, they would have to borrow money from informal lenders at an interest rate of between 10 and 20 percent. Women also sought to obtain an NRC for their schooling or to connect that card to their child’s identity card application. The matriculation exam and university entrance were both off limits to those without an identity document. However, women from minority groups, such as Hindu or Muslim women, had different motivations for why the NRC was crucial to their ability to maintain their citizenship and avoid statelessness. They were more worried about security. For instance, one Tamil female participant noted that although Muslim and Hindu Tamils can appear quite similar, she was concerned that Tamil Hindus would be at risk in any conflict between Muslims and Buddhists. Additionally, Muslim women in the country’s center or other regions felt their citizenship was in jeopardy whenever the Rohingya crisis on the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar came up. These women were worried that nearby communities would experience more community violence and that they would become victims of the conflicts. They wanted NRCs to be able to defend their citizenship, preserve their citizenship, and exercise their rights as citizens. Institutional and structural barriers experienced by women applying for the NRC The second part of the study examined the institutional and structural barriers experienced by women in the ID card regime. In this case, not having adequate information, a lack of supporting documentation, having to pay unofficial fees to the immigration officers, and officers’ mistakes in data entry were the problems most experienced by women. Men also have the same experiences; however, seasonal laborers, migrant workers, rural women, and ethnic women are more vulnerable because rural women and ethnic women have a lower level of education, a lack of exposure to interacting with government authorities, and additionally, ethnic minority women experience a potential language barrier. For instance, the documents pertaining to one’s ancestors’ citizenship status as well as character reference letters from the ward and township administrations and the police are necessary when applying for an ID card. However, when the officers put pressure on the applicant to submit those documents, women retreated from the application procedure because their ancestors had not been in the habit of retaining their records. Such circumstances created an opportunity for immigration authorities to elicit bribes. In addition, men were given preference over women in a family to obtain an NRC when the family had to pay these expensive unauthorized fees to officials. Moreover, the ward and township administration or police force were male-dominated areas; rural women were not comfortable visiting those places frequently to obtain the necessary reference letters. When the officers questioned them extensively, women were reluctant to raise objections. This was brought on by a lack of experience working with government agencies and authorities. The fact that ethnic women were reluctant to speak Burmese was an additional barrier. As a result, the immigration officer often filled out the applicants’ information on their behalf due to either a literacy issue or a linguistic problem. This situation could create a human error, such as entering an incorrect birth date, name, or ethnicity. The applicants then had to start over at the beginning of the procedure if they wished to fix those errors. In this case, women often accepted the mistake as they felt uncomfortable to re-start the process. The chances of migrant or seasonal workers missing regularly scheduled government projects were also higher. Every two or three years, these ‘one-stop shop’ projects visit the ward or village to provide NRCs to those who do not have it. But the arrival of that project in the ward cannot be predicted, so migrants or seasonal workers might miss it. In order to obtain an NRC, they would have to visit the township immigration office separately. They were under time pressure because they could not take many vacation days from work, so when the officials took too long to issue their NRC, they had to pay unofficial fees to expedite the process. The corrupt officers more frequently victimized women in this situation since the officers were aware that women found it harder to travel or return to the office often until their card was issued. Patriarchal practices ingrained in citizenship documents The third section of the study investigated the patriarchal structure promoted by the NRC and its effects. Even though women might hold an NRC, this article demonstrates that several dynamics of discrimination restrict women’s ability to exercise equal citizenship rights. We can see what kinds of information need to be described in the NRC. For example, women’s employment status in the NRC and family registration list is typically listed as “dependent.”[9] Even though the female applicants wanted to be described as “household head”, the immigration officers did not accept that request. For example, one of the interviewed participants wanted to change her role to a household head on the family registration list while her father was paralyzed. But the officer told her she was not allowed as long as her father was alive. When her father died, she tried again. But the officer only recognized that her younger brother should take that role even though he is the youngest in the family, as he was the only man. Also, in some areas, women’s names were rarely recognized in land ownership documents. According to one of the participants in Kayin State, her name was allowed to be put in the land document only along with her husband’s name, even though her husband was living away and she was leading a farming business. Despite not being legally defined, the practices of favoring male household leaders are used as unwritten rules by officials. The dependent status in the NRC is always reflected in the status written in the family registration list. Thus, there are direct impacts on women’s economic and social lives and an indirect impact on their voting rights. For example, in the selection process of 10 household leader positions in 2012, only the heads of each family, mostly men, were invited to vote. So, when voting practices show a preference for one gender over another, women can essentially lose their right to vote, which could indirectly affect female candidates. Most voters were still men, even though the rules were altered in 2015 to allow one representative over 18 from each household to cast a ballot, whether a head of the family or not. That demonstrated how the state documents supported the idea that males should be the head of the home and women should be submissive in society. Additionally, although the dominant Bamar ethnic group does not require women to embrace their husband’s family name upon marriage – a custom long-cited as evidence of gender equality in Myanmar – women cannot be considered to enjoy equal rights with men.[10] For example, some ethnic groups, such as the Kachin, must still adopt the husband’s clan.[11] Therefore, the children must adopt the name and clan of their father. Identifying and preserving the father’s ethnicity has an effect on determining the ethnicity of the offspring. The father’s ethnicity is listed first in the NRC for those of mixed ethnicity. For instance, the children are Mon+Kayin ethnically since their father is Mon and their mother is Kayin. Similarly, the offspring would be considered “Kayin+Mon” if the father is Kayin and the mother is Mon. This case indirectly impacted the process of voting for ethnic ministers. Ethnic minorities were given one vote under the 2008 Constitution for the position of ethnic minister in each state or region. Therefore, a person of mixed ethnicity was only allowed to cast one vote in favor of the ethnic minister who represented them as the group listed first on their ID card. As a result, it appears that only the father’s ethnicity is acknowledged when choosing ethnic ministers. However, some respondents then expressed concern that as only their father’s ethnicity is recognized, their ethnic population in the state’s official documents would decline. Consequently, regarding CEDAW Article 9,[12] this practice directly restricts the rights of women and children. The third concern relates to the father’s name being recognized in the NRC and giving his identity card and signature more weight when children apply for their NRC. The contribution and recognition of single mothers is discouraged by this policy. This practice supports patriarchal norms because only fathers are recognized in children’s enrollment in school and their medical records from private or public institutions. Participants in the interviews asserted that this practice of favoring a father’s name when enrolling children in school or creating any registered documents resulted in more serious social problems, such as challenges with allowing single women to adopt children and difficulties with having an unwanted or unplanned pregnancy, while a male partner refuses marriage or support to his child. Conclusion Card holders use their NRCs for the following purposes: traveling, applying for jobs, education opportunities, access to property, as well as a guarantee for security as a citizen. This study found that women faced more barriers than males in the NRC application procedure, even though men may have similar reasons for acquiring NRC, such as for jobs and educational purposes. For example, the Federation of General Workers Myanmar’s recent report in August 2022 indicated that the Zhejiang Tongli Clothing factory dismissed about 100 workers whose NRC registered Regional codes were 5 (for Sagaing Region) or 8 (Magwe Region), as these regions have been leading the anti-military armed resistance among the Bamar-majority regions since the coup.[13] The military junta has forced people not to employ or accommodate those coming from these regions. Men from those regions have encountered military tyranny, but women’s suffering is two-fold, including both limited job opportunities and security concerns. This trend has increased the likelihood that female garment factory workers from Sagaing or Magwe regions will need to pay to rent or ‘borrow’ NRC cards from women from other regions in order to work. In this regard, women’s barriers to access to citizenship documentation are not only concerned with the state’s patriarchal institutionalized practices but also intersectional challenges related to class, religion, and ethnicity. First, migrant female workers and marginalized women such as Hindu and Muslim women, as well as illiterate women, have more difficulties acquiring the national ID card. Secondly, the most challenging factors women have encountered in the NRC application process include lack of adequate capacity in dealing with government officials, lack of education, lack of adequate information and supporting documents. Furthermore, language barriers also create limitations for non-Bamar ethnic minority women. Third, the practice of recognizing only fathers’ names and fathers’ ethnicity discriminates against women, particularly violating CEDAW’s Article (9). In addition, single mothers are disempowered because they are not adequately recognized. The status of women defined as “dependent” on their ID cards thus has negative impacts on women’s social, economic, and political life. For example, women have some limitations in applying for land ownership, voting, or running in an election because they are defined as “dependent”. Based on the findings, the study puts forward the following recommendations with the objective of giving women the ability to fully enjoy full citizenship rights by eliminating all limitations. The state should establish a women-friendly system at government offices such as the immigration, police, and township administrative offices. A women-friendly system means appointing female staff and officers to assist the female applicants in a friendly manner. The state needs to recognize self-determination with regard to ethnicity. This would allow children who are of mixed ethnicity to have the choice of whatever ethnicity they would like to identify with. Everyone needs to determine which ethnicity they represent to cast a vote for the ethnic minister position. The practice of recognizing only the father’s name on the national ID card and different kinds of application forms (including job applications and school enrollment) should be eliminated. Occupational status should not be included on the national ID card, or on the family registration list; or women should be given the right to define their own occupational status. Women will have to overcome obstacles in obtaining an NRC as well as limitations to enjoy the same rights as males as citizens as long as institutional impediments and practices of legitimizing patriarchy through NRC are not eradicated. The democratic forces working to create a federal democracy after a dictatorship should also think about the best way to address the ethnicity issue on the NRC and the wider system that preferences the father’s ethnicity..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Tea Circle" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2022-09-12
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: The NUG’s Rohingya policy: ‘Campaign statement’ or genuine reform?
Sub-title: The National Unity Government’s plan to end discrimination against the Rohingya and replace the 1982 Citizenship Law could face opposition from among its own supporters – if the parallel government gets the chance to implement it.
Description: "In early June, the National Unity Government, a parallel administration set up by lawmakers elected last November, issued a new policy on the Rohingya promising to end human rights abuses against them and grant them citizenship. Discrimination and violence against the largely stateless Muslim minority have been a source of controversy within Myanmar and abroad for decades, and the NUG’s position is already proving divisive. The United Nations welcomed the change in policy, as have Rohingya leaders. However, some also question whether the NUG can even implement what it has proposed when it is still struggling to be recognised and function as Myanmar’s government. Due to the military coup, many people who in the past have stridently opposed recognising the Rohingya have remained quiet about the policy. Although some NUG supporters welcomed the new stance, most still seem unwilling to accept extending citizenship rights. Meanwhile, locals in Rakhine State were said to be unhappy they had not been consulted and questioned the NUG’s authority for issuing the policy.....Cautious support for the new policy: Many countries, including the United States, condemned the military coup on February 1 and expressed support for anti-coup protestors and the NUG. Despite this support, NUG representatives engaging with the international community and seeking support have faced tough questions about its position on the Rohingya. At a May 4 hearing held by the United States House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, Myanmar’s permanent representative to the United Nations, U Kyaw Moe Tun, was questioned about the lack of Rohingya representation within the NUG and its position on granting citizenship. Representative Ted Lieu of California sent a clear message: “I cannot support the NUG and will oppose efforts for the United States to support your National Unity Government until you commit to having at least a representative of the Rohingya people and you commit to stopping the genocide.” On June 3, the NUG released its new policy, which commits to ending human rights abuses against the Rohingya and promises to grant them equal citizenship rights. In just one of the many striking departures from National League for Democracy policy, the statement used the term “Rohingya”. The NLD government had usually called them “Muslims living in Rakhine”, but after Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacks on police and military posts in August 2017 it even referred sometimes to “extremist Bengali terrorists”. The policy says the Rohingya should have the right to citizenship and should enjoy the same rights as other citizens in accordance with human rights law and in line with the principles of federal democracy. The NUG also promised that once a new constitution is drafted it would repeal laws used to repress the Rohingya, including the 1982 Citizenship Law, which discriminates against the Rohingya and other ethnic groups deemed non-indigenous. It also said it would abolish the National Verification Card process – the current pathway to citizenship for the Rohingya, but one that they have largely rejected. “This new Citizenship Act must base citizenship on birth in Myanmar or birth anywhere as a child of Myanmar citizens,” the policy states..."
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2021-07-15
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: International Conference on the Rohingya Crisis in Comparative Perspective
Description: "PREFACE: The Rohingya crisis defies easy summary. Terms such as ethnic cleansing, genocide, abuse of human rights, have all been applied to what is undoubtedly a major humanitarian crisis of our times. Understanding and responding to the plight of hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas requires a multi-disciplinary approach, with the need for engagement from a wide variety of perspectives. Legal and medical questions, issues around cultural contexts and the physical environment, psychological and social factors, religious and political considerations, are all highly relevant. There is no simple solution to a whole complex of interconnected issues: here, as in so many other cases, the eruption and tragic human consequences of collective violence raise innumerable challenges. It is all the more urgent that we can bring people together to engage in the kind of informed debate that can assist intelligent action. We are delighted that such a distinguished and broad range of scholars and practitioners have contributed their insights in this booklet of abstracts, and that some of them will be able to contribute further in person at the conference held at UCL on 4- 5 July 2019. We welcome participation in what we hope will be a productive set of encounters, seeking both to understand and, through enhanced understanding, to inform more effective responses to this still unfolding crisis.....Genocide Studie.....FORWARD : According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are over 70 million people worldwide who have been forcibly displaced from their homes. As an underlying principle of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030 is to leave no one behind, it is essential that the needs and aspirations of the forcibly displaced are addressed. Of these about 10 million are stateless. With limited or no legal rights, and often denied refugee legal status, the challenges they face are severe. About one third of the stateless forcibly displaced, belong to the Rohingya diaspora. The Rohingya are a Muslim-majority ethnic group from today's Rakhine State in Myanmar. After a long period of systematic exclusion, the Rohingya were stripped of their citizenship in 1982. Since the late 1970s, nearly two million Rohingya have fled Myanmar, with another one million living as internally displace people (IDPs) within Rakhine State, in waves of violent forced displacement perpetrated by the Myanmar authorities. Violence towards the Rohingya in Myanmar from 2017, caused the mass displacement of people to southeastern Bangladesh. The Human Rights Council acting under UN resolution 34/22 has cited this as a crime against humanity and called for an investigation for genocide against the authorities in Myanmar. The majority of the nearly one million displaced persons are residing in overcrowded temporary makeshift shelters, of bamboo frames and plastic sheeting, in Cox’s Bazar district. Kutupalong is the world’s largest refugee camp. These camps are highly susceptible to rainfall-triggered landslides, flash flooding and cyclones and the likelihood of a public health emergency from infectious diseases is high, which in this vulnerable population threatens new disaster...."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: University College London
Date of publication: 2019-07-05
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Size: 1.74 MB (246 pages)
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Title: The extermination of Myanmar’s Rohingya – an online study
Sub-title: The Rohingyas were equal citizens and enjoyed all the rights and privileges as any other until 1982 when the Citizenship rules of Myanmar were re-written and this time it left out the Rohingya.
Description: "Ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya – a reality: Many believe that the Rohingya have been a part of Myanmar well before the British colonists arrived and have been an integral part of the country ever since. They have been mostly concentrated in the Rakhine region of the country and have been subjected to horrific atrocities from time to time. There have been countless instances of genocide-like situations for the community before but nothing as brutal as what started in 2012 and has been going on ever since albeit with varying degrees of intensity. The events have plagued a stratum of people who have in many ways got used to living in conditions that are sub-human and have accepted the same as their destiny. The world is aware of what has been going on in Myanmar for way too long now, but nothing has been done so far to save the countless lives that are being lost on a daily basis. As many as 800,000 people have been displaced from the Rakhine region into Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand, and India. Their living conditions in those countries are not better than what it would have been had they been at the mercy of Lucifer himself. The ones who were unlucky enough to stay back have faced a greater ordeal. They have been restricted to a concentration camp-like holding areas and have been denied basic human rights like the right to movement, medical treatment, etc. They are not allowed to work or earn and are forced to live off the scraps that the government gives them. There are no medical facilities in these camps and the one doctor who treats patients is not even a doctor. Children are dying of malnutrition and of diseases like dysentery and diarrhea that are easily treatable.....The silence of a Noble Peace Prize winner: It’s almost ironic that the Prime Minister-equivalent of Myanmar is 1991 Noble Peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. Her father was the one who broke the shackles of colonialism and made the country in the image of a nation that gave equal rights and privileges to all citizens irrespective of their religion, caste, creed, etc. The Rohingya in Myanmar were equal citizens and enjoyed all the rights and privileges as any other until 1982 when the Citizenship rules of the country were re-written and this time it left out the Rohingya. Stripped off their honour and right to exist, they started crumbling under the oppression meted out to them by the security forces and the ethnic Rakhine Buddhists with whom they were sharing the land. When Suu Kyi was questioned about the genocides of 2016 and beyond by a journalist, she replied by saying that she would not go so far as to call it a genocide. Shockingly, even after the truckload of evidence and testimonials at her disposal, she continues to shrug off the genocides by calling the evidences exaggerated and asking the world to ask the question “why the same was happening” instead of telling her that “it was happening”. That was one of the most perplexing statements that I heard from a world leader in a long time.....The impact of Ashin Wirathu and his 969 Movement: Ashin Wirathu, a Buddhist monk who was hailed by the then president of Myanmar as the son of Buddha has been known to be someone who has peddled his hate for the Muslim community under the guise of Nationalist fervour for long. He was even featured on the TIME Magazine cover with a headline that read “THE FACE OF BUDDHIST TERROR”. He was imprisoned on charges of inciting violence and was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment but with the situation in Myanmar changing and the need of a leader to mobilize mass emotion felt, he was given a pardon and released after serving 8 years of his sentence. The man immediately got back to his work and using his “969 Movement”, did exactly what the ones who had released him believed he would — spread chaos and violence with his venomous speeches. Within a short span of time, he had incited enough hate to generate multiple riots. But he did something that was far more important for the government and military than any of the violence that he was inciting. He was able to integrate many different ethnic Buddhist groups under the common umbrella of “hatred for the Muslim Bengalis” and this let the government and the forces concentrate their full might on the Rohingya sidelining all the protest and the other disturbances from different ethnic groups that had plagued the country. The Buddhists completely forgot how brutally they were subdued by the very same government and military and were up in arms in support of what they were doing.....The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army – retribution or mistake: The Rohingya, who had faced violence for so long finally found a voice in the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), also known by its former name Harakah al-Yaqin (meaning Movement of Faith). The organization was founded by Ataullah Abu Ammar Jununi, a Karachi-born Rohingya who served as an imam to a 150,000 Rohingya diaspora in the city of Mecca. He received training under the Taliban in Karachi and arrived in Rakhine, Myanmar in 2012 coinciding with the beginning of the religious riots. On 9 October 2016, Ataullah led hundreds of insurgents to the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, where they attacked Burmese Border Police posts. A week later, Ataullah appeared in an online video, claiming responsibility for the attacks. Ataullah led a second large-scale attack on 25th August 2017, which resulted in the deaths of 71 people. This was just the instigation and reason that the Myanmar Army needed to get into action. Using the attacks as pretext, the army intensified its operations and cracked down with renewed vigour and never seen before horror. When asked if ARSA was a religion-based terrorist group in an interview, one of its members made it clear that they were not religious in nature and their struggle was only for the rights of the Rohingya many of whom were Hindus.....My views on the subject: It must be agreed that Myanmar’s Rohingya have been a subjugated lot for centuries. In the absence of the very basic of human rights, it is always possible for people to resort to violence especially when they are funded from outside. With the kind of torture and insults that the Myanmar Rohingya have had to face post-2012, it is no surprise that they rose up in revolt. The Myanmar government and the military used the violence on their part as a weapon against them and targeted not only terrorists but mostly innocent civilians. They threw small kids into burning houses. There was a woman who was attacked by the security forces and after being hit on the head, she fell unconscious. By the time she gained consciousness, she realized that she was raped by at least 20 different people. A 48-year-old man who, up till the attacks was a shopkeeper, never got to meet his son who was in another part of the same area and never made it back. He had a good life but he is now one of the 8 million refugees in Bangladesh lying in the mud and in a dilapidating thatched hut with 5 little children. It is necessary to bring the terrorists to justice, but the law of my country has always taught me that it is ok to let 10 guilty escape rather than punish one innocent. That is the belief that we Indians have grown up with. To us what is happening to the Rohingya is beyond anything that we could ever learn to come to terms with. I am confident that there must have been other ways to deal with this situation. Many parts of my country are plagued by terrorism and radicalism, but we never see our military burning away villages or using helicopter-borne artillery targeting one and all. With piles of evidence and first-person accounts to contain with, it is left to be seen when the world community will do something about this ongoing genocide. It is also left to be seen if the Rohingya community will survive this extermination..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: EastMojo
Date of publication: 2021-05-18
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Heritage destruction in Myanmar’s Rakhine state: legal and illegal iconoclasm
Description: "In recent years, the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage, particularly in conflict contexts, has become increasingly visible. Cultural heritage destruction in Afghanistan, Iraq, Mali, and Syria drew the attention of the world’s media, caused public outcry, and in one instance led to a successful International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecution (Burke 2016; González Zarandona, Albarrán, and Isakhan 2018; Kraak 2018; Moffett 2017; UN News 2017a). Although the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage in Myanmar (Figure 1) has been less visible internationally, throughout the 2017 Rohingya refugee crisis there were numerous documented examples of cultural heritage destruction both by the Myanmar authorities and by ordinary residents of Myanmar (a country often still known as Burma1). The 2017 Rohingya refugee crisis drew world attention to the circumstances of this persecuted Muslim ethnic minority and to the nature of the military crackdown that caused around 700,000 Rohingya to flee their homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine state for Bangladesh (UN News 2017b; OCHA 2018; UNHCR 2018). During 2017, Myanmar’s military, known as the Tatmadaw, partially or totally razed almost 300 Rohingya villages and destroyed numerous mosques in northern Rakhine state (Human Rights Watch 2017a, 2017b, 2018). The Myanmar authorities have subsequently remodelled large parts of northern Rakhine state which has included constructing at least one military base on lands previously occupied by the Rohingya (Amnesty International 2018a, 2018b; Associated Press 2018; Child 2018). Largescale destruction of heritage in Rakhine state did not begin in 2017. During 2012, conflict between Buddhists and Muslims caused the destruction of entire neighbourhoods around the Rakhine state capital, Sittwe, displacing more than 140,000 people, overwhelmingly Muslims (Human Rights Watch 2012; Republic of the Union of Myanmar 2013). In this article we map heritage destruction in Myanmar’s Rakhine state from the time of this 2012 violence to the present, and we consider the role of religion and recent political change in violence towards cultural heritage in contemporary Myanmar. We trace patterns of heritage destruction as legal and/or illegal iconoclasm specifying the key elements of heritage destruction in Rakhine state. Our analysis focusses on the use of heritage destruction as a tool of genocide, and we suggest that heritage destruction in Rakhine state ought to be understood as part of the authorities’ policies of genocide against the Rohingya. We conclude the article with a call for UNESCO to act to extend its ‘Unite4Heritage’ campaign to include the destruction of heritage by state actors. Traditionally, iconoclasm was considered the destruction of images – paintings and statues, mainly – for religious and political motives. Particular (Western) iterations of this phenomenon have been identified during the eighth and ninth centuries in Byzantium, and the Reformation in Europe, where religious images were considered idols and thus erased to avoid idolatry. Nonetheless, the concept of iconoclasm has gradually evolved to start considering other types of destruction, not only images, but also ideas, buildings, cultural property and heritage; the targets of iconoclasts because they reflect a part of a group’s identity (see Latour 2002 for an extended discussion). In this paper, we not only consider Rohingya heritage as those culturally significant sites for them, such as mosques and neighbourhoods, but also the traditions practised by the Rohingya for centuries in those sites. The paper does not point to a particular type of ‘heritage’, but rather it takes heritage in its broadest meaning. That is, we consider heritage not only the tangible expressions of Rohingya culture as exemplified by mosques, but also other forms considered intangible and moveable, and providing evidence of long-term Rohingya settlement in Rakhine state such as the presence of Rohingya villages (the destruction of which can serve to erase physical evidence of long-term Rohingya residency). In doing so, the aim of this paper is not to detail all the heritage which has been destroyed in Rakhine state, but to map the destruction of Rohingya heritage to demonstrate the link between heritage destruction and a genocidal campaign against the Rohingya..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: International Journal of Heritage Studies
Date of publication: 2019-09-21
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
Size: 2.09 MB
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Title: The Unwanted People: A Story of One of the World’s Most Persecuted Minorities
Description: "Introduction: Not so many people were acquainted with the issue of Rohingya prior to the communal conflict that erupted in 2012. In fact, the conflict has brought the “hidden” issue to the surface, to a new level of visibility particularly among common people. Nevertheless, there is still relatively plenteous unknown patency behind the tragedy that occurred to the Rohingyas, besides a simple fact that it is an ethnoreligious conflict between Buddhist majority of Burman and Arakanese against the Muslim minority of Rohingya. The United Nations, indeed, even has regarded the Rohingyas as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities1 and among the world’s least wanted.2 This paper observes three major issues that are strongly linked and contributed to the creation of predicament for the Rohingyas. Comprehending these three issues are pivotal in order to see and possess thorough understanding about the Rohingyas The first issue covers the problem that related to the legal status of the Rohingyas. Second, the issue that related with the human rights abuse that happened toward the Rohingyas. Third, the issue of Buddhist fundamentalism.....The Birth of The Stateless Rohingya: The statelessness of Rohingya is a product of legal-political process conducted by the Burmese regime ever since the birth of modern Burma. The main driving force behind this policy has been the (political) stance of the Burmese authority that does not consider the Rohingya as a part of its native population (shown by the Panglong Agreement). In fact, the origin of Rohingya is still debatable hitherto. Both sides, the Burmese and the proRohingya, claim to have the most precise argument regarding the origin of Rohingya. Based on the point of view of Burmese historians, Khin Mau Saw, for example, stated that there had never been the term “Rohingya” before 1950’s (when the Mujahids changed their name into “Rohingyas”) supported by the fact that there was no such name as “Rohingya” in the Census of India 1921 (Burma) compiled by G.G Granthan, I.C.S (Superintendant of Census Operation Burma) or in the Burma Gazetter, Akyab District compiled by R.B Smart..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Ricky Raymon
Date of publication: 2013-12-27
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 84.34 KB
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Title: A Year in Transition: Assessing Democracy in Myanmar
Description: "The issue of when the transition began has always interested Burmese scholars. Was it 2003? Or did it begin when the roadmap to democracy was crafted in 2008? Or did it begin when the new constitution cleared its final hurdles in 2011? Did it begin President Thein Sein became the first civilian head of state, or in 2016, when democracy took its biggest stride in Myanmar and Suu Kyi became the de facto leader of the country? Another important question is when the transition will end. Just as it has a beginning, a transition must also have an end. In this content, a successfully concluded transition would mean complete and genuine democracy and an apolitical army. Will this be achieved by 2020? Or by 2025? Or beyond? In the past ten months, several sharp fluctuations have been witnessed. Prior to October 2016, the dualism of power appeared to be working fine. Major initiatives on ethnic reconciliation were being undertaken; the Kofi Annan-led Advisory Commission on Rakhine State was established; foreign businesses received a huge welcome; and finally, an outreach initiative was undertaken to nurture and cultivate relationships with foreign powers. However, the period after October 2016 paints a different picture. There has been little progress on ethnic issues after the Panglong Conference. Strains have developed in Myanmar-ASEAN relations, especially in the Myanmar-Malaysia bilateral. The escalating Rohingya issue continues to be a casualty and to top it all, the assassination of the lawyer Ko Ni is highly disturbing. What does the present situation look like? To use an analogy, it appears as though Myanmar has two wives, the military and the NLD. All may seem harmonious in public, but not all is well in private..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Institute Of Peace & Conflict Studies (IPCS)
Date of publication: 2017-03-00
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 409.5 KB
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Title: Exploring The Issue Of Citizenship In Rakhine State
Description: "There are over one million Muslims in Rakhine State whose legal status is obscure. They are generally referred to as “Rohingya”, an ethnic designation unknown to the former British administration. Though the Rohingya are primarily located in the northern part of the State, there are many thousands, if not tens of thousands, of Muslims of Chittagonian origin living elsewhere in Myanmar who are likely to be inhibited from claiming openly to be Rohingya. There are in addition another million or more Rohingya said to be living overseas, as refugees in Bangladesh and elsewhere, or as workers in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States. For some time the international community has been urging the Myanmar Government to grant full citizenship rights to the Rohingya, and to review the controversial 1982 Citizenship Law in this context. But this is easier said than done as the extent of illegal immigration from Bangladesh into Rakhine State since independence in 1948 is difficult if not impossible to assess. I also argue that it is not so much the Law itself which is at fault as the failure to implement the Law in Rakhine State in a timely and responsible manner. The longer the Government delays action to resolve the impasse, the more entrenched and potentially explosive the situation is likely to become. Controversy surrounds the designation of some one million or more people of Islamic faith who live in Rakhine State in Myanmar. For some, this controversy is as unwelcome as it is unnecessary, since the issue at stake is the human rights, and especially the citizenship status of the people concerned. For others, the designation of the community as “Rohingya” is vital to their very survival and is not to be dismissed as a distraction..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Academia.edu" (USA)
Date of publication: 2017-06-10
Date of entry/update: 2019-12-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 972.47 KB (43 pages)
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Title: Myanmar: Who are the Rohingya?
Description: "Shortly after Myanmar's independence from the British in 1948, the Union Citizenship Act was passed, defining which ethnicities could gain citizenship. According to a 2015 report by the International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School, the Rohingya were not included. The act, however, did allow those whose families had lived in Myanmar for at least two generations to apply for identity cards. Rohingya were initially given such identification or even citizenship under the generational provision. During this time, several Rohingya also served in parliament. After the 1962 military coup in Myanmar, things changed dramatically for the Rohingya. All citizens were required to obtain national registration cards. The Rohingya, however, were only given foreign identity cards, which limited the jobs and educational opportunities they could pursue and obtain. In 1982, a new citizenship law was passed, which effectively rendered the Rohingya stateless. Under the law, Rohingya were again not recognised as one of the country's 135 ethnic groups. The law established three levels of citizenship. In order to obtain the most basic level (naturalised citizenship), there must be proof that the person's family lived in Myanmar prior to 1948, as well as fluency in one of the national languages. Many Rohingya lack such paperwork because it was either unavailable or denied to them..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Academia.edu" (USA)
Date of publication: 2017-09-28
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 726.06 KB (32 pages)
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Title: Who are the Rohingya Muslims? Why are the more than one million Rohingya in Myanmar considered the ?world?s most persecuted minority??
Description: Useful collection of material on the Rohingya and their situation.... "The Rohingya are often described as "the world?s most persecuted minority". They are an ethnic Muslim group who have lived for centuries in the majority Buddhist Myanmar. Currently, there are about 1.1 million Rohingya Muslims who live in the Southeast Asian country. The Rohingya speak Rohingya or Ruaingga, a dialect that is distinct to others spoken in Rakhine State and throughout Myanmar. They are not considered one of the country?s 135 official ethnic groups and have been denied citizenship in Myanmar since 1982, which has effectively rendered them stateless..."....Analysis/description under several headings interspersed with 11 videos, texts, pictures...: Who are the Rohingya?...Where are the Rohingya from?...How and why are they being persecuted? And why aren?t they recognised?...How many Rohingya have fled Myanmar and where have they gone?...Chart showing Rohingya movement since the late ?70s...What do Aung San Suu Kyi and the Myanmar government say about the Rohingya?...What does Bangladesh say about the Rohingya?...What does the international community say about the Rohingya?...What is the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army?...
Creator/author: Al Jazeera Staff
Source/publisher: Al Jazeera
Date of publication: 2017-09-00
Date of entry/update: 2017-09-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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