“CAGED WITHOUT A ROOF” — APARTHEID IN MYANMAR’S RAKHINE STATE

“I don’t even know where to start and where to end… Since 2012 there has been such a lack of everything. We don’t have access to healthcare, to education, there are restrictions on travelling. We can’t go anywhere on the road because there are checkpoints along the way. We are struggling for survival, our children are struggling for their future… It’s like being caged without a roof”

Faisal (not his real name), a 34-year-old Rohingya man living in a village in Mrauk-U township.

The horrific human rights violations that have been perpetrated against the Rohingya since August 2017 take place against a backdrop of decades of state-sponsored discrimination and persecution. Today, almost every aspect of their lives in Rakhine State is severely restricted, and their human rights –including to freedom of movement, to a nationality, to adequate healthcare, education, work, food, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and to participate in public life – have been routinely violated.

What Amnesty International has uncovered in Rakhine State is an institutionalized system of segregation and discrimination of Muslim communities. In the case of the Rohingya this is so severe and extensive that it amounts to a widespread and systemic attack on a civilian population, which is clearly linked to their ethnic (or racial) identity, and therefore legally constitutes apartheid, a crime against humanity under international law.

The situation must not be allowed to continue. It is not just unacceptable and unlawful, it is unconscionable. The government, and the international community, cannot expect to address the plight without tackling its root causes. Failure to do so will only further entrench discrimination, perpetuate human suffering and risks exacerbating conflict.

The situation for Myanmar’s Rohingya minority has deteriorated dramatically since August 2017, when the military unleashed a brutal campaign of violence against the population living in the northern parts of Rakhine State, where the majority of Rohingya normally live. This campaign, launched in response to coordinated attacks on security posts by the armed group the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), was unlawful and grossly disproportionate. Instead of attempting to bring the assailants to justice, it targeted the entire Rohingya population on the basis of their identity.

To date, more than 7,23,000 women, men and children have fled into neighbouring Bangladesh, where they have brought with them accounts of killings, torture, rape and burning of entire villages by the Myanmar security forces, often accompanied by local vigilantes. The UN has described the situation as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”, while Amnesty International has concluded the military’s actions amount to crimes against humanity.

This report exposes the human rights crisis that was, and remains, the backdrop to the current crisis. The report maps in detail the violations, in particular discrimination and racially-based restrictions in law, policy and practice that Rohingya living in Rakhine State have faced for decades, and how these have intensified since 2012, following waves of violence between Muslims and Buddhists, often supported by security forces.

The authorities’ response was to separate communities, essentially segregating Muslims from the rest of Rakhine State society. Since then, and as Faisal’s words attest, almost every aspect of their lives has been severely restricted, and for five years their human rights – including to freedom of movement, to a nationality, to adequate healthcare, education, work and food – have been routinely violated.

These human rights violations may not be as visible as those that have hit headlines in recent months, but that does not make them any less serious. What Amnesty International has uncovered in Rakhine State is an institutionalized system of segregation and discrimination of Muslim communities.

In the case of the Rohingya this is so severe and extensive that it amounts to a widespread and systemic attack on a civilian population, which is clearly linked to their ethnic (or racial) identity, and therefore legally constitutes apartheid, a crime against humanity under international law.

Understanding this apartheid system, how it manifests itself and how it is enforced, is essential both to understanding the root causes of the current Rakhine State crisis and to seeking solutions to it. While the Myanmar authorities have often been quick to frame the situation in Rakhine State as one of inter-communal tension or more recently in terms of a “terrorist” threat, the reality is that the state itself plays a central role in the systemic discrimination and segregation of Rohingya and other Muslim communities in Rakhine State.

The situation must not be allowed to continue. It is not just unacceptable and unlawful, it is unconscionable. The government, and the international community, cannot expect to address the plight of Rohingya refugees from Rakhine State without tackling its root causes, and particularly the systematic violations that have gone on for years, and are still ongoing, in the state itself.

Failure to do so will only further entrench discrimination, perpetuate human suffering and risks exacerbating conflict. Dismantling this system of apartheid is essential to ensure the dignified return of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who have fled death, destruction and poverty in Myanmar, but is equally pressing for the hundreds of thousands who continue to live in in Rakhine State and who remain subject to this appalling regime.

In the five years since the 2012 violence, Myanmar’s state policy has been one of institutionalized discrimination and segregation of Rohingya and other Muslim communities from the rest of Rakhine State society, and for most, from Myanmar as a whole. Longstanding restrictions on the Rohingya population living in northern Rakhine State have tightened, and policies of discrimination and segregation have expanded, now affecting Muslims across the state. Today, virtually every aspect of Rohingya and other Muslims’ lives have been restricted, and their rights routinely violated.

To make matters worse, authorities in Rakhine State have engaged in an active policy of depriving Rohingya of vital identity and residency documentation. Rohingya families find it extremely difficult, in some cases impossible, to register newborn babies, while in northern Rakhine State, Rohingya who are not present during mandatory annual “household inspections” risk being deleted from official residency lists. Without proof of residence it is extremely difficult to acquire any form of citizenship in the future, and for those who have left Myanmar, whether they were driven out by violence or left in search of education and livelihood opportunities, it means it is virtually impossible to return.

UNDERSTANDING ROOT CAUSES: SYSTEMIC DENIAL OF HUMAN RIGHTS

In the five years since the 2012 violence, Myanmar’s state policy has been one of institutionalized discrimination and segregation of Rohingya and other Muslim communities from the rest of Rakhine State society, and for most, from Myanmar as a whole. Longstanding restrictions on the Rohingya population living in northern Rakhine State have tightened, and policies of discrimination and segregation have expanded, now affecting Muslims across the state. Today, virtually every aspect of Rohingya and other Muslims’ lives have been restricted, and their rights routinely violated.

DENIAL OF THE RIGHT TO A NATIONALITY

The Rohingya have no clear legal status in Myanmar. They cannot even be described as “second class citizens” since most are not recognized as citizens at all, having been effectively deprived of a nationality as a result of discriminatory laws, policies and practices, most significantly the 1982 Citizenship Law and its application. The law discriminates on racial grounds and in Rakhine State was implemented in a way which allowed the Myanmar authorities to strip the Rohingya en masse of citizenship rights and status. Rohingya are not considered among the “national races” of Myanmar, including those identified in law, a situation which has created a clear “racial” perception of “us and them”.

To make matters worse, authorities in Rakhine State have engaged in an active policy of depriving Rohingya of vital identity and residency documentation. Rohingya families find it extremely difficult, in some cases impossible, to register newborn babies, while in northern Rakhine State, Rohingya who are not present during mandatory annual “household inspections” risk being deleted from official residency lists. Without proof of residence it is extremely difficult to acquire any form of citizenship in the future, and for those who have left Myanmar, whether they were driven out by violence or left in search of education and livelihood opportunities, it means it is virtually impossible to return.

Government attempts to resolve the status of Rohingya through a citizenship “verification” process have been deeply problematic, and will be as long as the process uses the 1982 Citizenship Law as its basis. This law is blatantly discriminatory on racial grounds, and establishes different “classes” of citizen, some of whom are entitled to greater rights than others. Lack of citizenship has had a cascade of negative impacts for the Rohingya, who find other rights, such as freedom of movement, access to healthcare, education and work opportunities, severely restricted as a result.

EXTREME RESTRICTIONS ON FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT

Since 2012, long-standing state-imposed restrictions on movement for the Rohingya have tightened, and in many ways have expanded. Movement restrictions include formal government-imposed restrictions implemented by the state against the Rohingya specifically, and informal restrictions on Muslim communities more generally which are communicated verbally by state officials. Self-imposed limitations on movement by communities fearful of inter-communal violence have also limited movement. While movement restrictions manifest themselves differently in different parts of the state, in all places they target the Muslim population in a discriminatory manner, controlling and regulating their movement in order to segregate them from other communities.

All Rohingya in Rakhine State are required to obtain official permission to travel between townships and out of the state to other parts of the country. Permits can only be obtained – if at all – through excessively bureaucratic and time-consuming procedures. In the northern townships of Maungdaw and Buthidaung, until recently home to the vast majority of Myanmar’s Rohingya, travel between villages is also tightly controlled by permits and checkpoints, and Rohingya are vulnerable to threats, physical violence constituting torture or other ill-treatment, and extortion. Continuous ‘curfew’ orders which prohibit people from being outside their homes and travelling at night have been disproportionately applied in the area, and have further exacerbated restrictions on movement.

Rohingya and other Muslim communities living in other areas of Rakhine State are either confined to their villages or to displacement camps which were established in the wake of the 2012 violence and have become an alarmingly permanent fixture in the state. In these areas, Rohingya and other Muslim communities are unable to travel to their nearest towns, and in central Rakhine State townships, are only able to travel to other Muslim villages via waterways.

Communal tensions also play a role in movement restrictions, and five years of segregation has significantly eroded trust between communities who fear fresh outbreaks of violence. Lack of trust in the state security forces and consistent state failures to take effective action against threats and violence has only made the situation worse. All communities, but especially Rohingya and other Muslims, are at risk from a state policy that has fostered rather than challenged discrimination.