Absent citizenship: A case study of the Rohingya requirement for Rohingya to self-identify as foreigners by labelling themselves ‘Bengali’, in order to qualify for application for a verification card, a pathway rejected by many. 49 In the case of the Rohingya, there has been no single act which has revoked all aspects of their citizenship, but the combination of a strong narrative denoting belonging as restricted to those with membership of official ethnic groups; administrative procedures that have removed documentation and eroded every day rights associated with citizenship, and a legislative shift that has redefined and narrowed the legal boundaries upon which citizenship itself is premised, amount to an iterative and ongoing revocation of both citizenship and the rights associated with it. This processual revocation has intensified over time, and as discussed below, has been escalated through humanitarian emergencies. Humanitarian emergencies and denial of citizenship Whilst the Rohingya have experienced decades of quotidian, often violent rights discrimination and progressive revocation of entitlements associated with citizenship, they have also been affected by events of mass humanitarian emergency, which are intrinsically linked to their lack of citizenship. These large-scale humanitarian emergencies, leading to displacement and migration, have intersected with and in some cases reinforced existing discriminations even as officially, policy measures such as the appointment of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine, by the Government of Myanmar sought to address the underlying causes of the problems. Periodic ‘waves of exodus’ of Rohingya into Bangladesh, occurred in the 1970s, 80s and 90s.50 In 2012, the ongoing restrictions on the Rohingya’s basic rights in Rakhine State51 intersected with a fullscale lock-down on their freedom of movement when violence between July and October created the internal displacement of over 140,000 Rohingya and non-Rohingya Muslims as well as several thousand Rakhine people in Rakhine State .52 Those – mostly Rohingya – who were displaced as a result of this violence were provided emergency shelter in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs). Over seven years on from their initial displacement however, the majority of those displaced continue to reside in these camps, with many of their rights denied, including freedom of movement and access to livelihoods, and with seemingly, no prospect of returns53 in line with international standards.54 The impact of an ethnically exclusive legal hierarchy of citizenships, intersects with how the humanitarian emergency in central Rakhine has itself evolved, with denial of citizenship firmly entrenched in the camps through authorities’ control of IDPs’ movements, and denial of other rights. At the same time, due to differences 49 Ware, A. and Laoutides, C. (2018), Myanmar's Rohingya Conflict. Oxford Scholarship Online. 50 Cheesman, N. (2017), ‘How in Myanmar “National Races” Came to Surpass Citizenship and Exclude Rohingya’, Journal of Contemporary Asia, 47(3): 461–483; Nyi Nyi Kyaw (2017), ‘Unpacking the Presumed Statelessness of Rohingyas.’ Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 15(3): 269-286; Cairns, E. (2017), I Still don’t want to go home: Voices of Rohingya Refugees. Oxfam; De Chickera, A. (2018) Podcast Season 2 Episode 5: Statelessness. MOAS. https://www.moas.eu/blog-podcast-season-2-episode-5-statelessness/ 51 Advisory Commission on Rakhine State (2017), Towards a peaceful, fair and prosperous future for the people of Rakhine. Final Report of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State. 52 OCHA (2014), Myanmar: Humanitarian lifeline cut following violence against aid agencies in Rakhine. https://www.unocha.org/story/myanmar-humanitarian-lifeline-cut-following-violence-against-aid-agencies-rakhine 53 Human Rights Watch (2019), chapters/myanmar-burma 54 A Government process to close certain camps in central Rakhine has received criticism from the international community for its failure to adhere to international standards on returns. See https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/17/myanmar-un-threatens-to-withdraw-aid-over-policy-of-apartheidagainst-rohingya European University Institute Myanmar: Events of 2019. https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country- 23