Mapping Minorities’ Vulnerability to Hate Speech
violations. 54 In the light of Myanmar’s 1982 Burma Citizenship Law (‘Burma
Citizenship Law’) (still in effect) 55 citizenship may be conferred by birth to
members of 135 listed ethnic groups which is a clear act of ethnic based
discrimination. 56 As a result of the Burma Citizenship Law, over 700,000
Rohingya people were arbitrarily deprived of their nationality as early as 1982,
and were also denied freedom of movement and other basic rights. 57 As they do
not fully enjoy the right to access to justice, let alone the right to a fair trial, the
Rohingya have been facing severe and repeated human rights violations for almost
half a century, while perpetrators have not been brought to justice making it
difficult for victims to heal. 58
Following sectarian violence between Arakanese and Rohingya populations in
Myanmar, the government installed harsh restrictions on the provision of
humanitarian aid, which have been subsequently tightened as time goes on. 59 After
the ‘clearance operations’ that began on 25 August 2017, launched by Myanmar’s
military in Rakhine State in response to an attack by a Rohingya insurgent group,
a number of security checkpoints were established across Rakhine State with
increased security and patrolling. 60 Those failing to provide the requisite travel
documents at these checkpoints risk arrest, detention and imprisonment. Many
have suffered unspeakable abuses (the burning of houses and other property to
ashes, massacres, rapes and other forms of gender-based violence). 61 Over the
course of recent years, many Rohingya have managed to flee to Bangladesh,
Japan, Saudi Arabia, India and Malaysia where they live as refugees or illegal
migrants, vulnerable to deportation and to live under marginalised conditions. A
recently adopted UN report summarises the key findings of the independent and
international fact-finding mission on Myanmar presented to the UN Human Rights
Council in 2019, and confirmed that approximately 600,000 Rohingya remained
in northern Rakhine State (which shares a border with Bangladesh).
They continue to be subjected to discriminatory policies and practices, including
segregation and severe restrictions on their movements; deprivation of citizenship;
denial of economic, social and cultural rights; physical assaults constituting torture
or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; arbitrary arrest; and,
in some areas, hostility from members of ethnic Rakhine communities that the
mission found also to constitute persecution and other prohibited crimes against
humanity. 62
The situation of the Rohingya in Myanmar gives a detailed picture of how an
ethnic and religious (Muslim) minority group became first disfavoured and then
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
ibid.
1982 Burma Citizenship Law (Myanmar) Pyithu Hluttaw Law No 4 of 1982.
This has been reported by Kawser Ahmed and Helal Mohiuddin, The Rohingya Crisis:
Analyses, Responses, and Peace Building Avenues (Lexington Books 2019) 24. Here, the
authors note that the first official list was produced just before the 2014 census.
‘From Discrimination to Ethnic Cleansing — The Fate of Myanmar’s Stateless Rohingya’,
Minority Stories (Web Page) <http://stories.minorityrights.org/statelessness/chapter/fromdiscrimination-to-ethnic-cleansing-the-fate-of-myanmars-stateless-rohingya/>.
See Access to Justice in Crisis: Legal Empowerment for Rohingya Refugees Living in Cox’s
Bazar, Bangladesh (Report, International Rescue Committee October 2019).
Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, UN Doc
A/HRC/39/64 (12 September 2018) 7 (‘IIFFM Report Myanmar 2018’).
Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, UN Doc
A/HRC/42/50 (8 August 2019) 13 [77] (‘IIFFM Report Myanmar 2019’).
See ibid 6 [27].
ibid 12–13 [76].
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