Country Position Paper: Statelessness in Myanmar citizenship or gain formal access to documentation in the countries of displacement across multiple generations, they face social exclusion and the denial of protection and human rights. 62 Trafficking and exploitation The absence of durable solutions and protection for Myanmar’s stateless populations outside of Myanmar who are not able to return to the country as Myanmar citizens increases their vulnerability to trafficking and exploitation. 63 Myanmar’s stateless women are trafficked for sexual exploitation, marriage and domestic servitude. Men are also vulnerable to trafficking and labour exploitation, particularly in countries where their statelessness prevents them from accessing the formal, regulated sectors of the labour market such as Malaysia, Thailand, India and Bangladesh. 64 Indefinite detention Myanmar’s stateless populations, especially Rohingya men, women and children are frequently detained indefinitely in prisons and immigration detention centres. They are generally apprehended and detained as irregular migrants or on minor charges and remain in detention unable to gain release due to their lack of a legal status and inability to return to Myanmar. Rohingya are detained in Saudi Arabia, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and elsewhere. Often, they are unable to access refugee determination procedures from detention, increasing the likelihood of remaining detained indefinitely. 65 Refoulement of stateless persons to Myanmar Myanmar’s stateless populations, in particular Rohingya, have been forcibly repatriated or refouled to Myanmar over many decades. Rohingya refugees were refouled on mass in 1979 and in 1993-4. Myanmar did not recognise the returnees as citizens, and they have faced ongoing persecution and human rights violations in Myanmar. 66 Rohingya in detention in India, who did not have access to refugee determination procedures were also refouled to Myanmar in 2018 and 2019. They were not recognised as Myanmar citizens prior to return and are unable to travel outside their region in Rakhine State. They remain at risk of continued persecution in Myanmar. 67 Additionally, neighbouring states that are unable to make formal bilateral arrangements with Myanmar for the return of stateless persons, sometimes practice “soft deportations” - stateless persons are sent back across the porous land borders into Myanmar where they are often delivered into the hands of smugglers who extract fees to facilitate onwards travel. This has been a common practice in Thailand, de Chickera, 2018, Statelessness and Identity in the Rohingya Refugee Crisis, Humanitarian Practice Network, 2018, https://odihpn.org/magazine/statelessness-identity-rohingya-refugee-crisis/ 63 US Department of State, Trafficking in Persons report 2018, country narratives on Burma (p119) and Bangladesh (p92) https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/282800.pdf 64 See, Kangkun and Quinley III, Mass Atrocities and Human Trafficking: Rohingya on the move, Humanitarian Practice Network, 2018 https://odihpn.org/magazine/mass-atrocities-human-trafficking-rohingya-muslims-move/ 65 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 Equal Rights Trust, Unravelling Anomaly: Detention, Discrimination and the Protection Needs of Stateless Persons, 2010 Detention in Thailand and Malaysia see Equal Rights Trust, 2014, Equal Only in Name http://www.equalrightstrust.org/news/equalrights-trust-publishes-two-reports-stateless-rohingya-refugees-malaysia-and-thailand 66 Crisp, “Primitive People”: the untold story of UNHCR’s historic engagement with Rohingya Refugees, Humanitarian Practice Network, 2018 https://odihpn.org/magazine/primitive-people-the-untold-story-of-unhcrs-historical-engagement-with-rohingya-refugees/ 67 Human Rights Watch, 7 Rohingya Deported to Myanmar: Forced Returns Threaten Life, Liberty, Violate International Law, 2018 https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/10/04/india-7-rohingya-deported-myanmar 62 15