FMR32 STATELESSNESS 11 North Arakan: an open prison for the Rohingya in Burma by Chris Lewa

Many minorities, including the Rohingya of Burma, are the wide powers assigned to a persecuted by being rendered stateless. government-controlled ‘Central Body’ to decide on matters pertaining to Hundreds of thousands have fled identifies three categories of citizens: citizenship mean that, in practice, to Bangladesh and further afield full, associate and naturalised. the Rohingyas’ entitlement to to escape oppression or in order to citizenship will not be recognised. survive. There were mass exoduses Full citizens are those belonging to to Bangladesh in 1978 and again in one of 135 ‘national races’2 settled In 1989, colour-coded Citizens 1991-92. Each time, international in Burma before 1823, the start of Scrutiny Cards (CRCs) were pressure persuaded Burma to the British colonisation of Arakan. introduced: pink cards for full accept them back and repatriation The Rohingyas do not appear in citizens, blue for associate citizens followed, often under coercion. this list and the government does and green for naturalised citizens. But the outflow continues. not recognise the term ‘Rohingya’. The Rohingya were not issued with Associate citizenship was only any cards. In 1995, in response to The Rohingya are an ethnic, linguistic granted to those whose application UNHCR’s intensive advocacy efforts and religious minority group mainly for citizenship under the 1948 to document the Rohingyas, the concentrated in North Arakan (or Act was pending on the date the Burmese authorities started issuing ‘Rakhine’) State in Burma, adjacent Act came into force. Naturalised them with a Temporary Registration to Bangladesh, where their number citizenship could only be granted to Card (TRC), a white card, pursuant is estimated at 725,000. Of South those who could furnish “conclusive to the 1949 Residents of Burma Asian descent, they are related to evidence” of entry and residence Registration Act. The TRC does the Chittagonian Bengalis just across before Burma’s independence on not mention the bearer’s place of the border in Bangladesh, whose 4 January 1948, who could speak birth and cannot be used to claim language is also related. They profess one of the national languages well citizenship. The family list, which Sunni Islam and are distinct from and whose children were born in every family residing in Burma the majority Burmese population Burma. Very few Rohingyas could possesses, only records family who are of East Asian stock and fulfil these requirements. Moreover, members and their date of birth. It mostly Buddhists. Peace Walk Since Burma’s for Rohingyas independence in 1948, the Rohingya have gradually been excluded from the process of nation-building. The 1982 Citizenship Law In 1982, Burma’s military rulers brought in a new Citizenship Law1 which deprived most people of Indian and Chinese descent of citizenship. However, the timing of its promulgation, shortly after the refugee repatriation of 1979, strongly suggests that it was specifically designed to exclude the Rohingya. Unlike the preceding 1948 Citizenship Act, the 1982 Law is essentially based on the principle of jus sanguinis and HendryStephen 12 STATELESSNESS FMR32

does not indicate the place of birth are prevented from returning to their and therefore provides no official village as their names are deleted evidence of birth in Burma – and from their family list. They are then so perpetuates their statelessness. obliterated administratively and compelled to leave Burma. Some The Rohingya are recognised neither Rohingyas have been prosecuted Unregistered as citizens nor as foreigners. The under national security legislation Rohingyas in Burmese government also objects for travelling without permission. Bangladesh to them being described as stateless must fend for themselves. persons but appears to have created Rohingyas are also forbidden to This mother a special category: ‘Myanmar travel to Bangladesh, although in gave birth residents’, which is not a legal practice obtaining a travel pass to 40 days previously status. However, on more than one a border village and then crossing and has occasion, government officials have clandestinely into Bangladesh has not been described them as ‘illegal immigrants proved easier than reaching Sittwe. able to feed from Bangladesh’. In 1998, in a letter But, similarly, those caught doing so her baby properly. to UNHCR, Burma’s then Prime could face a jail sentence there for Minister General Khin Nyunt wrote: illegal entry. Many people, including “These people are not originally patients seeking medical treatment from Myanmar but have illegally in Bangladesh, were unable to return migrated to Myanmar because of home when, during their absence, population pressures in their own their names were cancelled on their country.” And a February 2009 article family list. Once outside Burma, in the government-owned New Light Rohingyas are systematically denied backstreet abortions, an illegal of Myanmar newspaper stated that the right to return to their country. practice in Burma, which has resulted “In Myanmar there is no national in many maternal deaths. Others race by the name of Rohinja.” Marriage authorisations register their newborn child with In the late 1990s, a local order was another legally married couple, Deprivation of citizenship has served issued in North Arakan, applying sometimes their own parents. as a key strategy to justify arbitrary exclusively to the Muslim population, Some deliver the baby secretly in treatment and discriminatory requiring couples planning to marry Bangladesh and abandon their policies against the Rohingya. Severe to obtain official permission from baby there. Many children are restrictions on their movements the local authorities – usually the reportedly unregistered. Many are increasingly applied. They are NaSaKa, Burma’s Border Security young couples, unable to obtain banned from employment in the civil Force. Marriage authorisations are permission to marry, flee to service, including in the education granted on the payment of fees and Bangladesh in order to live together. and health sectors. In 1994, the bribes and can take up to several authorities stopped issuing Rohingya years to obtain. This is beyond the Education and health care children with birth certificates. By means of the poorest. This local As non-citizens, the Rohingya the late 1990s, official marriage order also prohibits any cohabitation are excluded from government authorisations were made mandatory. or sexual contact outside wedlock. employment in health and education Infringement of these stringent rules It is not backed by any domestic and those public services are can result in long prison sentences. legislation but breaching it can appallingly neglected in North Other coercive measures such as lead to prosecution, punishable by Arakan. Schools and clinics are mostly forced labour, arbitrary taxation and up to 10 years’ imprisonment. attended by Rakhine or Burmese confiscation of land, also practised staff who are unable to communicate elsewhere in Burma, are imposed In 2005, as the NaSaKa was reshuffled in the local language and who often on the Rohingya population in following the ousting of General treat Rohingyas with contempt. a disproportionate manner. Khin Nyunt, marriage authorisations International humanitarian agencies were completely suspended for are not allowed to train Muslim Restrictions of movement several months. When they restarted health workers, not even auxiliary The Rohingyas are virtually confined issuing them in late 2005, additional midwives. Some Rohingya teach to their village tracts. They need to conditions were attached including in government schools, paid with apply for a travel pass even to visit the stipulation that couples have rice-paddy under a food-for-work a neighbouring village – and they to sign an undertaking not to programme as they cannot hold an have to pay for the pass. Travel is have more than two children. The official, remunerated teacher’s post. strictly restricted to North Arakan. amount of bribes and time involved Even Sittwe, the state capital, in securing a marriage permit Restrictions of movement have a has been declared off-limits for keeps increasing year after year. serious impact on access to health them. Their lack of mobility has and education. Even in emergencies, devastating consequences, limiting The consequences have been Rohingyas must apply for travel their access to markets, employment dramatic, particularly on women. permission to reach the poorly opportunities, health facilities and Rohingya women who become equipped local hospital. Access to higher education. Those who overstay pregnant without official marriage better medical facilities in Sittwe the time allowed by their travel pass authorisation often resort to hospital is denied. Referral of FMR32 STATELESSNESS 13

irregular migrants and they have water. After drifting for up to two no access to official protection. weeks, three boats were finally rescued in the Andaman and Nicobar The combination of their lack of status Islands of India and two boats in in Bangladesh and their statelessness Aceh province of Indonesia. More in Burma puts them at risk of than 300 boat people are reportedly indefinite detention. Several hundred missing, believed to have drowned. Rohingyas are currently languishing in Bangladeshi jails arrested for The issuing of a TRC to Rohingyas illegal entry. Most are still awaiting has been praised as ‘a first step trial, sometimes for years. Dozens towards citizenship’. On 10 May 2008, have completed their sentences the Rohingya were allowed to vote but remain in jail – called ‘released in the constitutional referendum but prisoners’ – as they cannot be ironically the new Constitution, which officially released and deported, since was approved, does not contain any Burma refuses to re-admit them.3 provisions granting them citizenship rights. There is no political will for the Tens of thousands of Rohingyas have Rohingya to be accepted as Burmese sought out opportunities overseas, citizens in the foreseeable future. in the Middle East and increasingly Recommendations UNHCR/Suthep Kritsanavarin in Malaysia, using Bangladesh as a transit country. Stateless and On 2 April 2007, six UN Special undocumented, they have no other Rapporteurs put out a joint critically ill patients is practically option than relying on unsafe statement addressing the Rohingya impossible. Consequently, patients illegal migration channels, falling situation and called upon the who can afford it have sought prey to unscrupulous smugglers Burmese government to: medical treatment in Bangladesh but and traffickers, or undertaking are sometimes unable to return to risky journeys on boats.4 ■■repeal or amend the 1982 their village. Likewise, there are few Citizenship Law to ensure secondary schools in North Arakan In Malaysia or Thailand, the compliance of its legislation with and pupils need travel permission Rohingyas have no access to the country’s international human to study outside their village. The protection. They are regularly caught rights obligations, including only university is in Sittwe. After in immigration crackdowns and end Article 7 of the Convention 2001, most students could no longer up in the revolving door of ‘informal’ of the Rights of the Child and attend classes and had to rely on deportations. Since Burma would Article 9 of the Convention on distance learning, only being allowed not take them back, Thailand has the Elimination of All Forms of to travel to Sittwe to sit examinations. occasionally deported Rohingya boat Discrimination Against Women; Since 2005, however, even that has people unofficially into border areas been prohibited. Not surprisingly, of Burma controlled by insurgent ■■take urgent measures to eliminate illiteracy among groups. discriminatory practices against the the Rohingyas is Malaysia usually Muslim minority in North Rakhine high, estimated “We, Rohingyas, are like deports them [Arakan] State, and to ensure at 80%. birds in a cage. However, over the border that no further discrimination into Thailand is carried out against persons For the caged birds are fed while in the hands of belonging to this community. Rohingya, the we have to struggle alone brokers. Against compounded the payment of In addition, Bangladesh, Malaysia and effect of these to feed ourselves.” a fee, they are Thailand should put in place effective various forms A Rohingya villager from smuggled back mechanisms to allow Rohingyas of persecution Maungdaw, North Arakan into Thailand access to protection as refugees. has driven or Malaysia many into dire poverty and their and those unable to pay are Chris Lewa ([email protected]) is degrading conditions have caused sold into slavery on fishing coordinator of The Arakan Project, a mental distress, pushing them to flee boats or plantations. local NGO primarily dedicated to the across the border to Bangladesh. protection and promotion of human In December 2008, Thailand started rights for the Rohingya minority In exile implementing a new policy of of Burma, through documentation In Bangladesh, the 28,000 Rohingyas pushing back Rohingya boat people (including first-hand testimonies) still remaining in two camps to the high seas. In at least three and research-based advocacy. are recognised as refugees and separate incidents, 1,200 boat people 1. See http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/refworld/r benefit from limited protection were handed over to the Thai military wmain?page=printdoc&docid=3ae6b4f71b and assistance by UNHCR but on a deserted island off the Thai 2. See http://www.myanmar.gov.mm/ministry/hotel/fact/ it is estimated that up to 200,000 coast and ill-treated before being race.htm more live outside the camps. towed out to sea on boats without 3. See article p42. 4. See Chris Lewa ‘Asia’s new boat people’, FMR 30: Bangladesh considers them as an engine and with little food and http://www.fmreview.org/FMRpdfs/FMR30/40-41.pdf