Country Position Paper: Statelessness in Myanmar
CONTENTS
Summary of main issues ..................................................................................................................... 3
Relevant population data ................................................................................................................... 4
Rohingya population data .................................................................................................................. 4
Myanmar’s Citizenship law ................................................................................................................. 5
Racial Discrimination ............................................................................................................................... 6
Arbitrary deprivation of nationality ....................................................................................................... 7
The revocation of citizenship.................................................................................................................. 7
Failure to prevent childhood statelessness.......................................................................................... 7
Lack of naturalisation provisions ........................................................................................................... 8
Civil registration and documentation practices .............................................................................. 8
Lack of Access and Barriers .................................................................................................................... 8
Legal Certainty and Rule of Law ............................................................................................................. 9
Populations affected by statelessness in Myanmar ..................................................................... 10
Rohingya .................................................................................................................................................. 10
Other minorities not included as one of the national ethnic groups of Myanmar ...................... 12
Other minorities in Rakhine State ....................................................................................................... 12
Muslim minorities elsewhere in Myanmar ......................................................................................... 13
Persons of mixed ethnic or religious parentage ............................................................................... 13
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), IDP returnees and ethnic minorities living in areas affected
by conflict with the central state .......................................................................................................... 13
Returning refugees ................................................................................................................................ 14
Protection challenges faced by Myanmar’s stateless population outside the country ........... 14
Trafficking and exploitation .................................................................................................................. 15
Indefinite detention ............................................................................................................................... 15
Refoulement of stateless persons to Myanmar .................................................................................. 15
Documentation in Myanmar ............................................................................................................ 17
Bibliography........................................................................................................................................ 18
Cover photo: Bangladesh. New Rohingya arrivals at UNHCR transit centre; © UNHCR/Roger Arnold