1. Reported Stateless Persons
Within Southeast Asia, Myanmar has the largest reported stateless population (and the second highest in the Asia Pacific), reporting 630,000 stateless persons to UNHCR in 2022. This reported figure represents UNHCR’s estimate of the number of Rohingya as well as stateless Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Myanmar in Rakhine State alone. Data in other states of Myanmar are unavailable. The estimate also includes 156,600 internally displaced Rohingyas. This represents an increase of 30,000 stateless persons in the last year after three years of no change in the reported estimate at 600,000.
The Rohingya population, a largely Muslim ethnic group with roots in the Rakhine state in west Myanmar, has faced discrimination, persecution and oppression at the hands of the government of Myanmar over the past decades. Not included in the list of 135 ethnic groups eligible for citizenship in Myanmar, they have been systematically excluded from citizenship in their home country. Since the military coup in February 2021, Rohingya populations in Myanmar have continued to face persecution, insecurity and restrictions on freedoms.
In 2017, the brutal ‘clearance operations’ conducted by the military, which constitute genocide, involved “arbitrary arrests and torture, indiscriminate killings, mass gang-rape of women, enforced disappearances, forced labour, and the destruction by fire of entire villages”. In the ‘clearance operations’, upwards of 40,000 structures, including over 200 Rohingya settlements, were completely destroyed in just two years. Despite the denial of the Myanmar government of such crimes, they have been well documented. The government does not allow any monitoring or access by humanitarian aid or human rights organizations.
While many have fled to neighboring countries, such as Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, India, and Pakistan, and beyond in search of refuge from persecution, those who remained after the 2017 ‘clearance operations’ are subject to apartheid conditions. The Rakhine State, where much of the Rohingya population in Myanmar reside, is subject to severe restrictions of freedom of movement, which is largely targeted at Rohingyas. Often Rohingyas, including Rohingya children, are arrested while traveling anywhere within and outside of the country. The movement restrictions are so severe that Rohingyas in internment camps are unable to leave the camps. If they attempt to do so, they are likely to be apprehended and subject to abuse by military or police at the many checkpoints in the area. The only way to access health services for those living in camps is to apply for permission to leave the camps, which entails a security escort to the hospital where Rohingyas are segregated from others in the hospital and closely monitored. For grave or complex illnesses, it is unlikely that an individual would be able to get to the hospital in time to save their life. Further, internet blackouts were imposed on townships in Rakhine and Chin States, which affected more than one million people in 2019 just before the COVID-19 pandemic began, barring them from accessing life-saving information about the virus. The Rohingyas have notably not been included in consultations for an MoU between UNHCR and UNDP with the Myanmar government. Rohingya leaders shared a statement in 2019 regarding the lack of proper consultation:
“As the victims of these crimes, our demand is for justice and accountability, and the right to return to our country to live in security and dignity, as equal citizens. The international community must hear our voices and do everything in its power to uphold international law and bring the perpetrators to justice. Please include us in these processes, which are ultimately about us. We are available to be consulted and to share our perspectives, experiences and solutions with you.”
Country | 2019 (year start) | 2020 (year end) | 2021 (year end) | 2022 (year end) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Myanmar | 600,000 | 600,000 | 600,000 | 600,000 |
Source: UNHCR, Global Trends: Forced Displacement from 2019-2022.
2. Persons at Risk of Statelessness
Any group or individual who does not match the 135 included ethnic groups in Myanmar’s citizenship legislation is at risk of statelessness. This includes, but may not be limited to, Rohingya, individuals of ‘Nepali’ or ‘Indian’ descent, Tamils, Hindu speakers of Bengali-dialects, groups at the Myanmar border, minority groups of Rakhine State, and Muslim and Hindu communities. People born to parents of different or mixed religions or ethnicities are also at risk due to exclusion within Myanmar’s citizenship legislation. IDPs and refouled refugees, largely from Bangladesh and Thailand, have also been identified to be at risk. Children born to refugee parents in Thailand are also at risk of statelessness as Myanmar does not recognize birth certificates issued by Thai authorities to refugee children.
3. Stateless Refugee
It is important to note that stateless Rohingyas account for the largest stateless population in the world. The majority of stateless Rohingya refugees reside in neighbouring Bangladesh, which in 2022 was reported to host over 900,000 of the 1.2 million stateless Rohingyas. This number is contradicted by other statistics reporting 2.5 million stateless Rohingya refugees who have fled Myanmar, with over 2 million reported among the top four receiving countries alone – Bangladesh (952,309), Pakistan (400,000-500,000), Saudi Arabia (558,000) and Malaysia (103,380). However, this number is expected to be even higher as Rohingya refugees in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are often not counted due to the fact that they are not registered with the UNHCR or the UNHCR has no clear data on them.
4. Undetermined Nationalities
The true figure of statelessness in Myanmar likely extends beyond the reported figure and encompasses other ethnic minority groups excluded from the 1982 citizenship law. A 2014 Census showed that over 11 million people in Myanmar did not have valid identification documents. The US Department of State noted that a ‘significant number’ of persons of Chinese, Indian and Nepali descent living within Myanmar were either stateless or of undetermined nationality, facing restrictions on their freedom of movement and rights.