“Tools of Genocide” II. HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATIONS, ROHINGYA IDENTITY, AND NATIONAL VERIFICATION CARDS The Myanmar government makes it exceedingly challenging for international humanitarian aid organizations to operate in Rakhine State. Aid agencies struggle with government-imposed restrictions on their activities, movement, and access to communities in need.226 To serve affected communities, facilitate their operations, and ensure the security of their staff and those they serve, international humanitarian aid organizations often need to navigate challenging government policies and practices without compromising their work or codes of conduct. Discriminatory government policies and practices against Rohingya, including the NVC process, have posed particular challenges for humanitarian organizations operational in northern Rakhine State. For example, the government requires Rohingya aid workers, who have to travel for their work, to hold an NVC in order to carry out their work. A 29-year-old Rohingya woman, who worked with a humanitarian organization in Maungdaw Township, told Fortify Rights: Myanmar authorities said that we have to hold the NVC to travel, to go to downtown, or to work for NGOs. I couldn’t go to the office, so I had to receive the NVC . . . I was stopped at a check post of the Border Guard Police at the entrance of the downtown area. They asked me why I had not taken the NVC. I provided the receipt of my White Card. They were furious . . . I was told to go to the compound where the team of immigration and authorities were and receive an NVC . . . People are trapped. No one is allowed to go to work downtown without the NVC.227 Fortify Rights also documented how staff of at least five humanitarian organizations currently operating in northern Rakhine State have coerced Rohingya staff members to accept the NVC.228 For example, a Rohingya aid worker told Fortify Rights that he accepted an NVC in 2017 for job security, saying: 226 A senior staff member with a humanitarian organization operational in northern Rakhine State told Fortify Rights that in recent months, local authorities issued travel authorizations on a “week-to-week bases.” Fortify Rights communication with humanitarian aid worker, August 2019. See also, Fortify Rights, “Myanmar: Protect Civilians Trapped in Armed Conflict.” 227 This aid worker also said that the Myanmar authorities also refuse to grant travel authorizations to Rohingya staff members to travel to certain townships in northern Rakhine State for their work. Fortify Rights interview with Z.F., northern Rakhine State, Myanmar, March 5, 2018. 228 Fortify Rights spoke with 16 current and former Rohingya and international aid workers involved with U.N. or international humanitarian aid organizations in northern Rakhine State, including seven current and five former Rohingya aid workers and four international aid workers currently working or with previous experience working with U.N. or international humanitarian aid organizations in northern Rakhine State.