Myanmar: Who are the Rohingya?

Description: 

"Shortly after Myanmar's independence from the British in 1948, the Union Citizenship Act was passed, defining which ethnicities could gain citizenship. According to a 2015 report by the International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School, the Rohingya were not included. The act, however, did allow those whose families had lived in Myanmar for at least two generations to apply for identity cards. Rohingya were initially given such identification or even citizenship under the generational provision. During this time, several Rohingya also served in parliament. After the 1962 military coup in Myanmar, things changed dramatically for the Rohingya. All citizens were required to obtain national registration cards. The Rohingya, however, were only given foreign identity cards, which limited the jobs and educational opportunities they could pursue and obtain. In 1982, a new citizenship law was passed, which effectively rendered the Rohingya stateless. Under the law, Rohingya were again not recognised as one of the country's 135 ethnic groups. The law established three levels of citizenship. In order to obtain the most basic level (naturalised citizenship), there must be proof that the person's family lived in Myanmar prior to 1948, as well as fluency in one of the national languages. Many Rohingya lack such paperwork because it was either unavailable or denied to them..."

Creator/author: 

Razib Rubayet

Source/publisher: 

"Academia.edu" (USA)

Date of Publication: 

2017-09-28

Date of entry: 

2019-10-19

Grouping: 

  • Individual Documents

Category: 

Countries: 

Myanmar, Bangladesh

Administrative areas of Burma/Myanmar: 

Rakhine State

Language: 

English

Local URL: 

Format: 

pdf

Size: 

726.06 KB (32 pages)

Resource Type: 

text

Text quality: 

    • Good