Genocide by Attrition
II. Post-Coup Human Rights
Violations Related to
National Verification
Cards in Myanmar
“The [NVC application] form has not changed after the coup. It involves
[answering questions on] race and religion.”
- Rohingya man, civil society member, August 2021186
“They wrote ‘Bengali’ [at the immigration office]. . . Our name is Rohingya, but
they wrote ‘Bengali.’”
- Rohingya man, Rakhine State, Myanmar, July 2021187
On September 2021, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights situation
in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, highlighted the continued forced and coercive
implementation of the NVC process by the Myanmar junta following the
February 1, 2021 coup d’état and the role of NVCs in the erasure of Rohingya.
In an annex to his report to the U.N. General Assembly, Tom Andrews stated:
The junta continues to force or coerce Rohingya to accept the Identity
Card for Nationality Verification (ICNV)/National Verification Card (NVC).
The ICNV/NVC still does not serve as a predictable or accessible pathway
to citizenship, nor has it increased access to rights, including freedom
of movement, in a consistent and predictable manner. The NVC process
continues to require Rohingya to self-identify as foreigners and, as such,
remains an administrative tool to erase Rohingya ethnic-identity.188
Validating these points, on November 19, 2021, junta-backed media reported
the junta’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying:
Myanmar does not recognize the term “Rohingya.” The real aim of using
this term is to claim wider ethnicity and territorial status. Such usage has
never existed in legal and historical records of the country and thus, the
people of Myanmar cannot accept it.189
186 Fortify Rights interview with A.C., U.S., August 10, 2021. This Rohingya man fled Myanmar after
the February 2021 attempted coup and sought asylum in the United States.
187 Fortify Rights interview with Z.I., Rakhine State, Myanmar, July 19, 2021.
188 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Thomas
H. Andrews, “Annex 1 – Additional Human Rights Concerns Observed by the Special
Rapporteur,” U.N. Doc. A/76//Slot3181, September 1, 2021, https://www.ohchr.org/
Documents/Countries/MM/GA76report-annex-SR-Myanmar.pdf, para. 18.
189 The statement by the military junta Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Naypyitaw went
on to say: “It is disturbing to see that the unlawful and terrorist groups, NUG and
Kyaw Moe Tun recognize the term ‘Rohingya’ and call for repealing the 1982 Myanmar
Citizenship Law in direct contradiction to the national interests, historical facts and
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