Country Position Paper: Statelessness in Myanmar applications are viewed with increasing suspicion and are scrutinised in the context of documenting Rohingya populations. 51 Muslim minorities elsewhere in Myanmar Muslims from other areas of Myanmar lack adequate documentation and are increasingly at risk of statelessness. Myanmar Muslims report systematic refusals and indefinite delays in the issuance of identity cards and passports 52 as well as discrimination against the Myanmar Muslims migrant workers who need to have their citizenship verified by the Myanmar State in order to regularise their status in neighbouring countries, such as Thailand. 53 Muslims in Myanmar are also registered, or coerced into registering, under the category “mixed race” or ethnic categories that denote them as or foreign, such as “Bengali”, “Pakistani” or “Indian”. They report being subjected to longer delays and greater obstacles in citizenship applications, as well as being forced to pay higher bribes than other (non-Muslim) applicants. Additionally, some are harassed by Myanmar Intelligence officers as a result of applications. 54 Persons of mixed ethnic or religious parentage Those who are of mixed ethnic parentage are at risk of statelessness. Often, they do not fit into the rigid ethnic criteria set out in the citizenship law which does not always reflect demographic realities or self-ascribed identities within the country. As a result, those of mixed ethnic or religious parentage frequently have ethnic categories imposed on them by state authorities that exclude them from access to full citizenship. 55 Those who have at least one parent who does not belong to one of the recognised national ethnic groups of Myanmar do not qualify for automatic citizenship. Although children with a parent who is a citizen not belonging to the national ethnic groups can, in certain circumstances, apply for citizenship, in practice they often do not receive it due to poor or discriminatory implementation of the law. 56 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), IDP returnees and ethnic minorities living in areas affected by conflict with the central state There are at least 350,000 IDPs in Myanmar. Most IDP populations are in camps in Kachin State and Northern Shan State where they have been displaced by the conflict between armed opposition groups and the central State 57; and Rakhine State where Rohingya, Kaman and other minority groups ICG, Myanmar: The Politics of Rakhine State, 2015 p10 https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-east-asia/myanmar/myanmar-politicsrakhine-state 52 Nyi Nyi Kyaw, 2015, Alienation, Discrimination, and Securitization: Legal Personhood and Cultural Personhood of Muslims in Myanmar, The Review of Faith & International Affairs, 13:4, 50-59 Buma Human Rights Network, State-led Persecution of Burma’s Muslim Minorities, 2017 http://www.bhrn.org.uk/en/report/20-bhrnpublishes-research-revealing-state-led-persecution-of-burma-s-muslim-minority.html; Burma Human Rights Network, Discrimination against Muslim Passport Applicants, 2018 http://www.bhrn.org.uk/en/report/1051-bhrnreleases-report-on-discrimination-against-muslim-passport-applicants.html 53 Burma Human Rights Network, Burma Reinforces Muslims’ Statelessness as Thai Migrant Registration Deadline Looms, 2018 http://www.bhrn.org.uk/en/report/1052-burma-reinforces-muslims-statelessness-as-thai-migrant-registration-deadline-looms.html 54 ibid 55 Than Toe Aung, Identity Crisis, Frontier Myanmar, 2019 https://frontiermyanmar.net/en/identity-crisis Sai Latt, Burma’s Ominous Political Debate over ethnicity, 2013 https://www.irrawaddy.com/opinion/guest-column/burmas-ominouspolitical-debate-over-ethnicity.html Thomas Manch, For Muslims across Myanmar Citizenship Rights are a Legal Fiction, 2017 https://frontiermyanmar.net/en/for-muslimsacross-myanmar-citizenship-rights-a-legal-fiction 56 ISI and NRC 2019 57 UNOCHA, Kachin and Norther Shan Humanitarian Access Snapshot, 2018 https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Kachin_Shan_Humanitarian_Access_Snapshot_20180709.pdf 51 13