I. Human Rights Violations and National Verification Cards
[The] household list updating exercise has been underway in Maungdaw and
Buthidaung townships and there are reports that those absent in some cases have
been struck off the list, posing concern for how this may affect eligibility for
potential voluntary repatriation of refugees in the future, and the extent to which
they could rely on government records to have their citizenship status determined
should they wish to apply.193
Fortify Rights spoke with three Rohingya refugees who returned to Myanmar, at great
personal risk, to be registered in the household survey. One 22-year-old Rohingya refugee
told Fortify Rights:
I went back to Myanmar once, to get on the annual family list. The counting took
place in February 2018 . . . Now people can’t go back unless you are repatriated or
you’re on the household list. You can go to jail if you are not on the list and go back.
You’ll be labeled an illegal person.194
He went on to describe the poor treatment of Rohingya by the authorities during the
registration exercises, saying:
People are treated in awful ways during the family counting exercise. The soldiers
make some women take off their head covers, and religious men have to take off
their religious head covers . . .This is shameful and disrespectful. They make you
hold a sign with a number on it. During the household counting they treat us like
animals that need to be counted.195
Myanmar authorities also extort money from Rohingya in exchange for inclusion on
household lists.196
193 UNHCR, Citizenship Verification Exercise in Rakhine State.
194 Fortify Rights interview with F.C., Cox’s Bazar District, Bangladesh June 16, 2019.
195 Ibid.
196 Ibid.
58