Background 32 On April 16, 2021, the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH)—a group of elected Myanmar parliamentarians who evaded arrest during the coup—established the NUG as the legitimate elected government to represent and act on behalf of the Myanmar people.6 Responding to the junta’s lethal crackdown and refusal to reverse the coup, on May 5, 2021, the NUG announced the formation of PDFs mandated to defend and protect the people of Myanmar.7 A 193-page report published on March 24, 2022 by Fortify Rights and the Schell Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School documents how the Myanmar junta murdered, tortured, imprisoned, forcibly displaced, and persecuted civilians in acts that amount to crimes against humanity.8 The junta has also reportedly issued a number of notices revoking the citizenship of NUG leaders who oppose the coup.9 While these events have grabbed international attention, other forms of structural violence in Myanmar continue to occur largely under the radar. This includes the Myanmar military’s continued efforts to erase the identity of Rohingya—a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority population indigenous to western Myanmar and largely living in Rakhine State. In addition to physical attacks on the Rohingya community, this campaign is also being perpetrated through discriminatory laws, policies, and practices, including, most notably, through the NVC process. Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Myanmar: Humanitarian Update No. 15, February 15, 2022, https://themimu. info/sites/themimu.info/files/documents/Sitrep_Humanitarian_Update_No.15_OCHA_15Feb2022.pdf. Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, “AAPP 2021 Coup Daily Briefings,” 2021-2022, https://aappb.org/?cat=109. Fortify Rights, “365 Days Under the #Myanmar Coup,” February 1, 2022, https://www.fortifyrights.org/our_films/ mya-inv-vdo-2022-02-01/. 6 Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, “Formation of the National Unity Government,” Announcement No. 23/2021, April 16, 2021, https://crphmyanmar.org/ formation-of-the-national-unity-government/. 7 National Unity Government, “People’s Defence Force,” website, https://mod.nugmyanmar.org/en/peoples-defenceforce/. “Myanmar’s Anti-Coup Block to Form a ‘Defence Force,’” Al Jazeera, May 6, 2021, https://www.aljazeera.com/ news/2021/5/6/myanmars-anti-coup-bloc-to-form-a-defence-force. 8 Fortify Rights and Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School, Myanmar Human Rights Project, ‘Nowhere is Safe:’ The Myanmar Junta’s Crimes Against Humanity Following the Coup d’État, March 24, 2022, https://www.fortifyrights.org/mya-inv-rep-2022-03-24/. 9 “‘Using Citizenship as a Weapon’ Myanmar Military Targets Critics,” Al Jazeera, April 20, 2022, https://www. aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/20/citizenship-as-a-weapon-myanmar-military-targets-critics.