A/HRC/39/64 1. Violations against ethnic Rakhine I want to share my story with the whole world because the world does not know what is happening in our place.6 17. The members of the mission spoke with many ethnic Rakhine, who highlighted serious human rights violations perpetrated by the Myanmar security forces against them. These violations are similar to those experienced by other ethnic groups in Myanmar. 18. The Tatmadaw used Rakhine men, women and children for forced or compulsory labour, mostly for “portering”. Other violations included forced evictions through land confiscation, arbitrary arrest and detention, and violations of the rights to life, to physical and mental integrity, and to property. Tatmadaw soldiers also subjected Rakhine women to sexual violence, often in the context of forced labour; for example, one victim explained how, in 2017, she was taken to a military base, beaten and raped by a Tatmadaw captain. 19. The mission also received reports of repressive action against the assertion of Rakhine identity. For example, in January 2018, the police used excessive force in dispersing a demonstration in Mrauk-U against the cancellation of an annual ethnic Rakhine event, killing seven protestors. 2. Systemic oppression and persecution of the Rohingya In Rakhine State, Muslims are like in a cage, they cannot travel outside. There are no human rights for the Muslims of Rakhine. I don’t know why God sent us there. 20. The process of “othering” the Rohingya and their discriminatory treatment began long before 2012. The extreme vulnerability of the Rohingya is a consequence of State policies and practices implemented over decades, steadily marginalizing them. The result is a continuing situation of severe, systemic and institutionalized oppression from birth to death. 21. The cornerstone of the above-mentioned oppression is lack of legal status. Successive laws and policies regulating citizenship and political rights have become increasingly exclusionary in their formulation, and arbitrary and discriminatory in their application. Most Rohingya have become de facto stateless, arbitrarily deprived of nationality. This cannot be resolved through the citizenship law of 1982, applied as proposed by the Government through a citizenship verification process. The core issue is the prominence of the concept of “national races” and the accompanying exclusionary rhetoric, originating under the dictatorship of Ne Win in the 1960s. The link between “national races” and citizenship has had devastating consequences for the Rohingya. 22. The displacement of Rohingya in the 1970s and 1990s, in the context of the military regime’s implementation of this exclusionary vision, were earlier markers. Observers, including United Nations human rights mechanisms and civil society, have alerted the Myanmar authorities and the international community to a looming catastrophe for decades. 23. The travel of Rohingya between villages, townships and outside Rakhine State has long been restricted on the basis of a discriminatory travel authorization system. This has had serious consequences for economic, social and cultural rights, including the rights to food, health and education. The degree of malnutrition witnessed in northern Rakhine State has been alarming. Other discriminatory restrictions include procedures for marriage authorization, restrictions on the number and spacing of children, and the denial of equal access to birth registration for Rohingya children. For decades, security forces have subjected Rohingya to widespread theft and extortion. Arbitrary arrest, forced labour, illtreatment and sexual violence have been prevalent. 6 6 Quotes are from victim interviews, unless stated otherwise.