II. Post-Coup Human Rights Violations Related to National Verification Cards in Myanmar 56 NVCs and Restrictions on Rights to Freedom of Movement and Livelihoods Similar to the situation in Rakhine State before the coup, the junta is requiring Rohingya obtain NVCs and a “Form-4”—a temporary travel permit for “foreigners”—to travel temporarily between townships or, in rare cases, outside of Rakhine State.222 In May 2021, a Rohingya man in Maungdaw Township told Fortify Rights: “Security forces are very alert and strict right now. I cannot travel with my White Card receipt. Rakhine people are not stopped and checked like us [at checkpoints]. We, Rohingya, are not recognized as citizens but others are.”223 Another Rohingya man in Maungdaw Township told Fortify Rights how the coup affected travel for Rohingya in northern Rakhine State, saying: [A]fter this military coup, [the junta] have started enforcing the travel restrictions more. People are not easily able to travel. NVC holders can travel. People have to survive. They are put into circumstances that make people vulnerable to take the NVC . . . If we see the trend, we can see the movement restrictions are more than under the NLD.224 A 17-year-old Rohingya girl from Buthidaung Township told Fortify Rights she spent more than 20 days in detention in an unknown location in central Rakhine State for travel-and immigration-related offenses, along with 12 others traveling between Buthidaung and Bago in mid-2021. The junta charged the group for attempting to travel to Malaysia with the support of a broker. Upon her release, junta officials stopped her again while she was traveling from central Rakhine State back to her home township. She said: “I was forced to take the NVC [by the junta] when I was between Bago and Sittwe [townships] . . . I was not happy to accept the NVC. If I didn’t accept the NVC, they might have beat us.”225 The girl described her experience in detention saying: I don’t remember the date. We were arrested in May or June [2021] . . . There were also men and women together [in detention] . . . The police beat the men in police custody . . . I saw myself. It happened in front of us. The police beat them with their stick and with their fist. The police beat them on their face, side, and they kicked them. They pushed them with the back end of the gun.226 Women’s Peace Network—a Rohingya-led human rights organization—reported in March 2022 that since February 2021 the Myanmar junta has arrested and detained at least 850 Rohingya people, including women and children, for traveling without permission.227 222 The Form-4 application process normally includes a police clearance form and Village Departure Certificate. See, Independent Rakhine Initiative, Freedom of Movement in Rakhine State, March 2020, https://www.rohingyapost.com/ freedom-of-movement-in-rakhine-state-report-by-independent-rakhine-initiative/ p. 13. See also, Fortify Rights, “U.N. Security Council: Take Urgent Action Against Myanmar Military Junta,” December 7, 2021, https://www. fortifyrights.org/mya-inv-2021-12-06/. See for example, Fortify Rights interviews with Z.C., A.I., A.B., Rakhine State, Myanmar, May 25, August 9, and March 25, 2021, and April 4, 2022. 223 Fortify Rights interview with Z.C., Rakhine State, Myanmar, May 25, 2021. 224 Fortify Rights interview with A.I., Rakhine State, Myanmar, March 13, 2022. 225 Fortify Rights interview with A.B., Rakhine State, Myanmar, August 9, 2021. Fortify Rights also received consent from one of the girl’s guardians in the home at the time of the interview. 226 Ibid. 227 Women’s Peace Network, “Rohingya Update: Arbitrary Arrest and Detention of Rohingya Since the Attempted Coup,” March 2, 2022, https://mcusercontent.com/6819ae24e30bd9a9db0322d69/files/2a79f5e9-4d82-bf0a-7c7e702bc869a5c2/Briefer_on_Arbitrary_Arrest_Detention.pdf.