Country Position Paper: Statelessness in Myanmar In 2015, Rohingya were stripped of their right to vote and participate in local and national politics, at which time they were told their identity cards - “Temporary Registration Cards” or “white cards” they held were no longer valid. 40 Since then, the Myanmar government has used increasingly coercive tactics in attempting to issue Rohingya with Identity Cards for National Verification, which Rohingya reject on the grounds that the process further destroys their identity as Rohingya people from Myanmar. 41 The labelling of Rohingya as Bengali poses a distinct problem for recognition of their status and identity: it contributes to the misunderstanding that the Rohingya population is from or has ties with Bangladesh, which can shroud their statelessness and cause them to be attributed an imputed nationality that is a false representation of their situation. There are currently around half a million Rohingya remaining in Myanmar and approximately 1.8 million Rohingya who have been displaced since the 1970s and are living outside the country. 42 The vast majority remain stateless. Many of the countries in which they have sought refuge are not signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention or the 1954 and 1961 Statelessness Conventions, including Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, India and Pakistan. An estimated 1 million Rohingya are living in Bangladesh. More than 740 000 arrived after August 2017. Around 30,000 Rohingya have remained in UNHCR-administered refugee camps since the exodus 1991-2 in which 250,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar. The majority were forcibly repatriated back to Myanmar in 1993-4. Registration in Bangladesh was closed after the repatriations. Facing continued persecution in Myanmar throughout the 1990s and 2000s, many fled back to Bangladesh, but unable to register with UNHCR, lived in make-shift camps in Bangladesh. 43 In 2017, the Bangladesh government opened registration again with the assistance of IOM. Since then, Rohingya have not been registered as refugees but as ‘displaced Myanmar nationals’. There are around 150,000 Rohingya living in Malaysia. 44 Although they are able to register with UNHCR and access very limited resettlement options, they are still regarded as irregular migrants by Malaysia and are unable to access work in the formal economy and have limited education options. Large numbers remain unregistered in Malaysia due to delays in processing applications with UNHCR. 45 There are also approx. 200,000 of Rohingya in Saudi Arabia where they are unable to either regularise their legal status or access refugee determination procedures. This is a particular problem as children enter adulthood and are unable to regularise their status and may face indefinite detention due to their immigration status. Some Rohingya have been deported to the refugee camps of Bangladesh. 46 There are 20-40,000 in India. Many have been able to register with UNHCR there but are considered by the government of India to be illegal immigrants. Rohingya remain in indefinite detention in prisons and immigration centres. Some have been refouled to Myanmar. Rohingya communities in India have been subject to attacks by Hindu nationalists, Burma Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK), The Rohingya, the Citizenship Law, temporary registration and the implementation of the Rakhine State Action Plan, 2015 http://burmacampaign.org.uk/media/BROUK-White-Card-Briefing.pdf 41 IIFFM Report 2018. 42 Al Jazeera based on figures available in October 2017 from IOM, UNHCR and other aid agencies https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2017/09/rohingya-crisis-explained-maps-170910140906580.html 43 Crisp, J. “Primitive People”: The untold story of UNHCR’s historical engagement with Rohingya refugees, Humanitarian Practice Network, 2018 https://odihpn.org/magazine/primitive-people-the-untold-story-of-unhcrs-historical-engagement-with-rohingya-refugees/ 44 All numbers in this paragraph from Al Jazeera map based on figures available in October 2017 from IOM, UNHCR and other aid agencies https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2017/09/rohingya-crisis-explained-maps-170910140906580.html 45 Equal Rights Trust, Equal Only in Name: Stateless Rohingya refugees in Malaysia, 2014 http://www.equalrightstrust.org/news/equal-rightstrust-publishes-two-reports-stateless-rohingya-refugees-malaysia-and-thailand 46 Detention in Saudi Arabia, see Middle East Eye, After Years in Saudi Detention, deported Rohingya face jail in Bangladesh, 2019 https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/bangladesh-jail-rohingya-deported-saudi-arabia-using-fake-passports-773330715 40 11