Endnotes While this report focuses on Rohingya children in these five countries, it is important to note that other countries are also home to sizeable Rohingya populations, including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and India. 1 Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (IIFFMM), Report of the detailed findings of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, A/HRC/39/64, 17 September 2018. See also Save the Children, “Horrors I will Never Forget”: The stories of Rohingya children, 17 November 2017, https://www.savethechildren.org.au/getmedia/bc8680f8-dbcb-4ed6838e-12fcd81ab369/Horrors-I-Will-Never-Forget.pdf.aspx. 2 International Organization for Migration (IOM), Bangladesh: Needs and Population Monitoring Undocumented Myanmar Nationals in Teknaf and Ukhia, Cox’s Bazar, July 2017, https://reliefweb.int/ report/bangladesh/bangladesh-needs-and-population-monitoringundocumented-myanmar-nationals-teknaf-2. 3 2021 Joint response plan: Rohingya humanitarian crisis, JanuaryDecember 2021, May 2021, p. 8, https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/ files/resources/2021_jrp_with_annexes.pdf 4 Humanitarian Country Team in Myanmar, Myanmar Humanitarian Response Plan 2021 (HCT in Myanmar, 2021 HRP), 27 January 2021, p. 6 and 19, https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/ mmr_humanitarian_response_plan_2021_final.pdf. 5 UNHCR, Figures at a glance in Malaysia, https://www.unhcr.org/ figures-at-a-glance-in-malaysia.html, accessed 19 May 2021. 6 UNHCR, Figures at a glance in Malaysia, https://www.unhcr.org/ figures-at-a-glance-in-malaysia.html, accessed 19 May 2021. 7 8 Save the Children interviews, January 2021. D Sullivan, Still Adrift: Failure to Protect Rohingya in Malaysia and Thailand, Refugees International, November 2016, p. 11, https://www.refugeesinternational.org/reports/2016/rohingya. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that up to 21,000 “Myanmar Muslims” – which includes Rohingya – live in northern Thailand. IOM, Promoting Stability, Well-being and Harmony for Myanmar Muslim and Host Communities in Thailand, https://thailand.iom.int/sites/thailand/files/Infosheets/AUP%20 project%20summary%20infosheet.pdf, accessed 23 May 2021. 9 10 Save the Children interview, January 2021. 11 Save the Children Interview, January 2021. Bangladesh has noted reservations with respect to Article 14(1) (freedom of thought, conscience and religion), and has stated that Article 21 (adoption) is subject to existing laws and practices in the country. Meanwhile, Malaysia has made several reservations to the UNCRC with respect to Article 2 (non-discrimination); Article 7 (name and nationality); Article 14 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion); Article 28(1)(a) (free and compulsory education at the primary level); and Article 37 (freedom from torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and arbitrary detention). Malaysia has also stated that application of the UNCRC is subject to compatibility with the Federal Constitution. Thailand maintains a reservation to Article 22 (children seeking refugee status), namely “national laws, regulations and prevailing practices in Thailand”. For the status of ratifications and reservations see: United Nations Treaty Collection, https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails. aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=IV-11&chapter=4&lang=en#EndDec. 12 13 Article 3, UNCRC. UN General Assembly, Note on International Protection, UN Doc. A/AC.96/951, 13 September 2001, para. 16. 14 36 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, UN Doc. A/CONF.62/122, Art. 98. 15 16 Article 16, ASEAN Human Rights Declaration, adopted 18 November 2012. 17 Article 18. The declaration contains a number of provisions that allow ASEAN governments to restrict human rights on vague and arbitrary grounds, leading national, regional and international civil society groups to reject it when it was adopted. See ‘Civil society rejects flawed ASEAN Human Rights Declaration’, Joint statement by 64 grassroots, national, regional and international civil society groups, 15 November 2012, https://www.fidh.org/en/international-advocacy/other-regionalorganisations/asean/Civil-society-rejects-flawed-ASEAN-12429. 18 Declaration on the Commitments for Children in ASEAN, 2 August 2021. 19 20 ASEAN Declaration on the Rights of Children in the Context of Migration, 2 November 2019. ASEAN Declaration on Cooperation in Search and Rescue of Persons and Vessels in Distress at Sea, 27 October 2010. 21 Many Rohingya reject the term “statelessness” as a descriptor for their situation, asserting that they have a state and often evidence of identity documentation, but these are not recognised by Myanmar. Save the Children acknowledges the sensitivities around the term, however, it also recognises that the deprivation of the right to a nationality has the effect of rendering Rohingya people stateless, which significantly increases their risk of other violations. In order to address these two tensions, this report uses the term “de facto stateless” when referring to Rohingya’s legal status in Myanmar. 22 23 Challenges registering the births of newborn children are not limited to the Rohingya population, and this is an issue that affects communities across the country, in particular in remote and hardto-reach areas where government services are limited or not easily accessible. Given the longstanding issues around civil documentation for the Rohingya population, these challenges make Rohingya children’s situation all the more precarious. 24 See individual country snapshots in Section 3. Article 7. The obligation to prevent children from becoming stateless is considered a rule of customary international law, and is thus binding on all states – regardless of whether they have ratified the UNCRC or lodged reservations to its provisions. UNHCR, NGO manual on international and regional instruments concerning refugees and human rights, 1998, pp. 210–11, www.unhcr.org/46e660d70.pdf. As already highlighted, Malaysia has lodged a reservation to this provision, although as discussed in the country snapshot (Section 3.3), Malaysia’s domestic legal framework allows the provision of a nationality for children born in the country who would otherwise be stateless. 25 Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment 1: The Aims of Education (article 29), UN Doc: CRC/GC/2001/1, 17 April 2001, para. 10; and CESCR, General Comment 13: The Right to Education (Art. 13), UN Doc: E/C.12/1999/10, 8 December 1999, para 1. 26 27 See, for example, Human Rights Watch, Perilous Plight: Burma’s Rohingya take to the seas, Human Rights Watch, May 2009. 28 UNHCR, ‘Over 168,000 Rohingya likely fled Myanmar since 2012’, 3 May 2017, http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/news/latest/2017/5/590990ff4/ 168000-rohingya-likely-fled-myanmar-since-2012-unhcrreport.html.