I. Human Rights Violations and National Verification Cards 54 Similarly, a 20-year-old Rohingya man in Rakhine State told Fortify Rights: The Indian government told us that the Myanmar government accepted us and would give us our citizenship back, so I was happy . . . But when we got back to Myanmar, they did not give us our citizenship. They forcibly gave us NVCs . . . They said we would have to be in jail again for three months to be able to get in Rakhine State if we did not accept NVC.164 RESTRICTIONS ON FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT “With the NVC [alone], there is no movement.” —32-year-old Rohingya woman, northern Rakhine State, Myanmar.165 “The [government] authorities are blocking Rohingya from traveling. They do not treat us Rohingya like humans. We cannot go anywhere or get treatment.” —38-year-old Rohingya from Ah Lel Kyun village, also known as Ally Gyun village, Kyauktaw Township, describing how the Myanmar military opened fire on their village in May 2019 and prevented the injured from obtaining medical treatment.166 Since the 1990s, Myanmar authorities have enforced discriminatory restrictions on the right to freedom of movement against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State through a series of orders, which remain in effect at the time of writing.167 Local administrators and state security forces in Rakhine State are responsible for overseeing and implementing restrictions on travel, resulting in some variation across locations. The government is coercively telling Rohingya they will have freedom of movement if they accept NVCs; however, at the time of writing, most Rohingya in Rakhine State are denied the ability to move freely—even those holding NVCs.168 A constellation of military checkpoints in northern Rakhine State ensure the enforcement of the documentation requirements and restrictions on free travel for Rohingya. Prior to the violence in Maungdaw Township in 2016, Physicians for Human Rights identified 86 checkpoints operated by state security forces in northern Rakhine State, noting that the total number of checkpoints is likely greater.169 Rohingya in northern Rakhine State regularly encounter these checkpoints in carrying out daily activities, including accessing markets, schools, and clinics. Security forces do not always grant Rohingya permission to pass, and Rohingya often encounter violence, threats, extortion, and other abuses at the checkpoints.170 Rohingya without the required documents are particularly subject to abuse by security forces at the checkpoints. For example, a Rohingya man, 58, from Maungdaw Township traveling to Buthidaung without an NVC told Fortify Rights: 164 Fortify Rights interview with A.I., Rakhine State, Myanmar, November 9, 2018. 165 Fortify Rights interview with Z.F., northern Rakhine State, Myanmar, November 2, 2019. 166 Fortify Rights interview with E.H., Rakhine State, Myanmar, May 30, 2019. 167 Fortify Rights, Policies of Persecution. 168 Some elderly Rohingya described to Fortify Rights how, as children, they remember being able to travel more easily in the country. Also, Amnesty International found that some Rohingya in the past could travel freely to Yangon. See, Amnesty International, “Fleeing My Whole Life,” Older People’s Experience of Conflict and Displacement in Myanmar, June 2019, p. 24, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa16/0446/2019/en/ (accessed August 23, 2019). 169 Physicians for Human Rights, Where There is Police, There is Persecution: Government Security Forces and Human Rights Abuses in Myanmar’s Northern Rakhine State, October 2016, https://phr.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ Burma-Rakhine-State-Oct-2016.pdf (accessed August 23, 2019). 170 Ibid.