Rakhine nationalists staged a protest last week against the government’s ongoing citizenship review process and recent allotment of national verification cards to residents of the state.
Around 500 people gathered at the Aye Zedi Monastery in Buthidaung township in the afternoon of June 9 to demonstrate against resumption of citizenship scrutiny, which they claim has not been conducted lawfully. The protesters marched through the Muslim-majority township to the Department of Immigration and Population in order to lodge their complaint. The protesters said the verification cards are not in line with the controversial 1982 Citizenship Law.
Human rights groups have criticized the 1982 law, which was instituted by the junta, for ensuring a sclerotic interpretation of citizenship that deprives some minorities, such as Rohingya, of statehood. Human Rights Watch and the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar have repeatedly called for the law to be appealed or amended to meet international standards.
The protesters called for the government to stop issuing national verification cards to “Bengalis”, a term widely used to refer to the Muslim population in the state who self-identify as Rohingya. The protesters also urged the existing Citizenship Scrutiny Committee to resign.
“Citizenship is being granted without proper scrutiny in line with the law,” said U Maung Win Naing, one of the protest leaders.
More than one million people in Rakhine State – mostly Muslim Kaman and Rohingya – are stateless, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. A pilot project was started in 2014 to review citizenship applications through a process that included granting so-called national verification cards to those whose eligibility for citizenship would be scrutinized under the 1982 Citizenship Law at a later stage in the process. The program was suspended amid protests, and the cards were revoked. The National League for Democracy-led government announced last year that a citizenship verification pilot would resume, again prompting backlash from the ethnic Rakhine community.
National verification cards and naturalized citizen cards have reportedly been issued to over 30 residents in Buthidaung township in February this year.
