Statelessness Network Asia Pacific and Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion Joint Submission to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Myanmar Introduction 1. The Statelessness Network Asia Pacific1 and the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion2 make this joint submission to the 22nd session of the Committee of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (“Committee”) with respect to Myanmar’s obligations under article 18 of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (“CRPD”), specifically the right to a nationality. 2. The information detailed in this submission is based on desk and field research by the cosubmitting organisations. The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion has been researching the right to a nationality and statelessness in Myanmar since 2014 and the Statelessness Network Asia Pacific since 2017. This has included interviews with affected populations and key informants, such as representatives from civil society, UN agencies and government ministries, in Mon State, Yangon State, Tanintharyi Region, Kayin State, Kayah State, Mandalay Region and Kachin State, and has resulted in the publication titled, “A Gender Analysis on the Right to A Nationality in Myanmar”,3 and a number of forthcoming publications.4 Myanmar’s International Obligations 3. Myanmar acceded to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 7 December 2011 and did not make any reservations or declarations. Article 18 of the CRPD, provides that persons with disabilities have the right to a nationality on an equal basis with others. This includes ensuring that persons with disabilities have the right: to acquire and change a 1 The Statelessness Network Asia Pacific is a civil society coalition with the goal of promoting collaboration on addressing statelessness in Asia and the Pacific. Launched in November 2016, the Statelessness Network Asia Pacific seeks to promote collaboration through three focus areas: developing resources for evidence-based action, facilitating capacity strengthening opportunities and providing technical support to SNAP’s members. For more information, see https://www.statelessnessnetworkasiapacific.org/. 2 The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion is an independent non-profit organisation committed to an integrated, human rights-based response to the injustice of statelessness and exclusion through a combination of research, education, partnerships and advocacy. Established in August 2014, it is the first and only global centre committed to promoting the human rights of stateless persons and ending statelessness. The Institute has made numerous submissions on the right to a nationality and the rights of stateless persons, before the Universal Periodic Review and treaty bodies including the Committee on the Rights of the Child, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. For more information, see www.institutesi.org. 3 UNHCR, UN Women, Norwegian Refugee Council, Statelessness Network Asia Pacific, The Seagull: Human Rights, Peace and Development and the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, 2018, “A Gender Analysis on the Right a Nationality in Myanmar”, page 5 <https://reliefweb.int/report/myanmar/gender-analysis-rightnationality-myanmar>. 4 Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion and Norwegian Refugee Council, September 2019, Navigating with a Faulty Map: Access to Civil Documents and Citizenship in South East Myanmar (forthcoming); Statelessness Network Asia Pacific and Norwegian Refugee Council, August 2019, Barriers to accessing civil documentation Experiences of internally displaced persons in Kachin State, Myanmar (forthcoming). 2