ADVISORY COMMISSION ON RAKHINE STATE National Verification (ICNV) – in June 2015. To obtain this card, applicants were again required to register as “Bengali” in the application form. A year later, the NLD Government restarted the process, issuing National Verification Cards (a renaming of the ICNV), which no longer required applicants to indicate their ethnicity or religion in the application form (although the Commission has received complaints that ethnic references have still been included on some occasions). The sporadic implementation of the process – as well as the general lack of communication, consultation and outreach from the Government – has undermined public trust in the exercise within both communities. On the Rakhine side, many fear that corrupt officials may allow a high number of unqualified Muslims to obtain citizenship – a fear strengthened by alleged reports of non-Kaman Muslims posing as Kamans in the verification process. Some fear that the Government may eventually succumb to pressure from the international community, which they see as biased in favour of Muslim citizenship. Muslims, on the other hand, object to the NVC as an interim step that will subsequently qualify holders to apply for citizenship at some point in the future. They are worried that this procedure follows a familiar pattern of successive Myanmar governments issuing documents with a promise that citizenship will follow, with the latter repeatedly failing to materialize. Many are also reluctant to hand in their existing documents for fear of being left undocumented. Others have lost their previous identification documents, and are apprehensive that a process which is not based on bona fide will simply be used against them. Trust is also undermined by the lack of tangible benefits for those who successfully go through the process, as verified Muslim citizens continue to face travel restrictions and other forms of discrimination. Recommendations: In order to accelerate the verification process in line with the 1982 Citizenship Law, the following steps should be taken: 11. The Government should immediately ensure that those who are verified as citizens enjoy all benefits, rights and freedoms associated with citizenship. This will not only serve to strengthen the Government’s rule-of-law agenda, but also demonstrate immediate tangible benefits of the verification exercise. 12. The Government should establish a clear strategy and timeline for FINAL REPORT 27