NO SAFE HAVEN in their old documents to apply for new identity cards, they never received them, and instead were given ‘Temporary Registration Cards’ which are not proof of citizenship. Over the years, children born to Rohingya parents have inherited their parents’ de facto statelessness.46 Since the enactment of the 1982 Citizenship Act, Rohingya have been forced to accept several different forms of identity documentation, none of which conferred citizenship rights. Each new form of documentation brought with it threats, intimidation, and a further denial of rights. In mid‑2015, the then-government launched a ‘citizenship verification’ process to establish whether persons without official identity cards were entitled to citizenship. The scheme did not allow Rohingya to self-identify as Rohingya, instead it insisted they identify themselves as ‘Bengali’ – a derogatory term in the Myanmar context. As a result, most chose not to participate. Soon after it came to power in March 2016, the National League for Democracy (NLD), headed by de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, relaunched the process, rebranding the cards as National Verification Cards (NVCs). However, once again, Rohingya were not permitted to self‑identify. Despite reports of threats, intimidation, and other attempts at coercion, the community continues to reject the cards.47 In 2018, a UN Fact-Finding team called for the process to be suspended immediately.48 As well as the denial of citizenship, Rohingya children also face significant obstacles to having their births registered. From the 1990s, Myanmar stopped issuing birth certificates to Rohingya children, leaving them without an official record of where and when they were born, or confirming the identity of their parents.49 Without a birth certificate, Rohingya children have to rely on household registration lists – also known as ‘family lists’ – as their primary means of official documentation. These lists, which in northern Rakhine State are updated annually, are often Rohingya children’s only evidence of residence in Myanmar. However, in practice, the process of adding a new-born baby to a family list is extremely bureaucratic and requires payment of several ‘fees’ which makes it difficult to obtain. For Rohingya living in central Rakhine State, including those living in ‘displacement’ camps, household lists have rarely been officially updated since 2012, if at all, and as a result they rely on 10 informal registration of newborns as a record of birth. While recent years have seen government efforts to register new births and issue birth certificates to Rohingya children through mobile teams, the numbers are extremely low, and the process has been hindered by the measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. 50 Concerns have also been raised about the extortion by brokers, who claim fees from families when assisting them during the registration process. 51 Lack of legal status has devastating impacts for Rohingya children. Lack of citizenship is used to justify severe restrictions on Rohingya people’s movement; they have to apply for official permission to travel between villages, townships, and outside of the state. 52 Those who travel without official permission are at risk of arrest, detention, extortion and physical abuse. Children’s access to education and healthcare is also limited. Because restrictions on movement mean their parents and adult relatives are severely limited in their ability to work and earn an income, Rohingya children in Rakhine state are at greater risk of food insecurity and malnutrition, as well as child labour and other forms of exploitation and abuse. ACCESS TO EDUCATION Rakhine State is among Myanmar’s poorest areas, and access to education is very limited for children from all communities, regardless of their ethnicity or religion. The state has by far the poorest education indicators of any of Myanmar’s 14 states and regions – for example, its teacher-student ratio is 1:130 compared to a national average of 1:33. 53 In the Rohingya ‘displacement’ camps, which are mainly in central Rakhine State, education is largely provided by NGOs, who offer formal education in 16 non-formal primary education centres and 110 ‘temporary learning centres’ (TLCs). These centres are seriously under-resourced and understaffed, and all lack adequate water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities.54 Quality of teaching is also limited, as the Rohingya teachers are themselves are products of a poor basic education system, and many were not able to complete high school education. Children with disabilities face additional challenges, as teachers often lack specialist training and overcrowded classrooms means it is difficult to support their specific needs.55 Access to secondary education is even more restricted, with just seven