3.3 The rights of non-citizens Human rights treaties intentionally do not limit human rights protection to citizens. The obligations of States towards individuals do not depend on the particular status or recognition of the status of such persons under domestic or international law, except for a limited number of provisions explicitly applicable to special categories. The exceptions are generally limited to the right to vote, and to hold public office. For instance, all the rights recognized and guaranteed by the UDHR apply to everyone, with the sole exception of the rights under Article 21 (participation in public life, voting and election, access to serve in the public service), which the UDHR expressly guarantees only to citizens. Treaty bodies, including: the Committee on the Rights of the Child;40 the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women;41 and the Human Rights Committee, which monitors implementation of the ICCPR, 42 have published various commentaries further elaborating on the rights of non-citizens, and on corresponding obligations upon States Parties. 4. Applicable Myanmar law Myanmar law regulating citizenship is primarily sourced from the 2008 Constitution and the 1982 Citizenship Law (amended in 1997). These intersect with other laws, such as the 1993 Child Law, and directives and memoranda guiding their implementation, such as the Immigration Department Handbook (17 July 2014) and a “list” of ethnic groups recognized by the State. These directives and memoranda typically have an unclear legal basis, are generally not publicly available, and are often subject to arbitrary implementation.43 4.1 The 2008 Constitution A variety of rights are constitutionally guaranteed in Myanmar, although many of these are explicitly limited to citizens. These include the right to freedom of religion and belief, 44 the right to education, to health care and to business and livelihood activities.45 Non-discrimination is also explicitly defined as a State obligation toward citizens. 46 Citizenship status is therefore an important determinant of the human rights guaranteed to individuals in Myanmar under the Constitution, even though section 347 of the Constitution states that “The Union shall guarantee [emphasis added] any person to enjoy equal rights before the law and shall equally provide legal protection.” Many of the rights included in Chapter 8 of the Constitution, on the “Fundamental Rights and Duties of Citizens”, are paired with a clause designed to enable contravention of these rights, including for “full citizens” as well as “associate” and “naturalized citizens”. For example, several clauses feature restrictions on the political rights of citizens who have an immediate family member (daughter, son, mother, father or spouse) who is not a citizen of Myanmar. These include sections 120(b) and 152(b) which restrict membership of the national parliament to a person “who was born of both parents who are citizens.”47 Section 59(f) denies a citizen the right to be elected to the highest political office,48 by barring them from becoming the President of the Union if a member of their immediate family is not a citizen. These contravene section 38(a) which permits “every citizen” to be elected to political office. Finally, section 392(e) also contemplates rescinding the right to vote, if prescribed by electoral law, without providing any prescribed criteria for or limitations upon this.49 The 2008 Constitution, like constitutions before it, includes the concept of “national races,” however these are not named or defined. Under section 345 of the Constitution, citizenship is guaranteed for persons whose parents are both “nationals” (members of a “national race”), and also for persons who were citizens at the time the Constitution entered into force.50 Importantly, this does not explicitly preclude any other particular individuals or members of particular groups from qualifying for citizenship of Myanmar.51 Section 346 allows such matters to be prescribed by law, thus authorizing the legislature to address any legal process related to citizenship, including eligibility, “scrutiny”, 52 registration, naturalization, termination and revocation.53 The legislature may thus address the concerns identified above through, among others, legislative amendments, repeals and by adopting new laws. 7