UN to Myanmar: Ensure ‘just’ citizenship solution

Ayee Macaraig

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UN to Myanmar: Ensure ‘just’ citizenship solution
After human rights groups criticized a controversial citizenship plan for Rohingya Muslims, the UN says Myanmar must ensure an 'equitable' solution

UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations called on Myanmar to ensure an “equitable and just solution” to the citizenship of Rohingya Muslims as human rights groups criticized what they call a discriminatory government plan.

The UN was asked to comment on a draft plan of the Myanmar government that will reportedly ask the persecuted minority Rohingya to choose between accepting ethnic reclassification and the prospect of citizenship, or face detention.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch has called on the UN and other international donors to press Myanmar to revise or withdraw the so-called “Rakhine State Action Plan.”

John Ging, director of operations of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), said in a press briefing at the UN Headquarters here in New York that the plan “continues to be consulted.”

“What we are calling for is an equitable and just solution to the citizenship issue….We communicated that it has to engender the confidence of those affected. There is a lack of confidence among the Rohingya community that there will be an equitable, just solution but the focus has to remain on the outcome,” Ging said on Friday, October 3.

“It’s correct that everybody expresses their views directly on the plan.”

Ging just returned from a trip to Myanmar in September with UN Assistant Secretary-General Haoliang Xu to monitor the humanitarian and development situation in Rakhine state, where most of the Rohingya live in apartheid-like conditions.

The UN has called the stateless Rohingya one the world’s most persecuted people in the predominantly Buddhist nation. Almost 140,000 remain displaced after deadly clashes with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in 2012, the UN said.

Ging said the UN’s position on the draft plan remains to be the statement of Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric.

Earlier this week, Dujarric said the UN hopes a “significant number” of Rohingya will become eligible for citizenship.

“In respect of those persons who may not be deemed qualified for citizenship, it is hoped that they will continue to be treated fully in accordance with established international humanitarian and human rights principles,” Dujarric said.

UNOCHA’s Ging said the pronouncement of Myanmar’s Vice President Nyan Tun that the citizenship issue is “the number one” priority of the government was an assurance but the UN will assess the outcome.

Under the plan, Myanmar’s one million Rohingya will be forced to take on the classification “Bengali,” which implies that they are illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh even if many of them have lived in Rakhine for generations.

Agence France-Presse reported that those who refuse to comply and those lacking documentation will be held in “temporary camps in required numbers.” 

Human Rights Watch’s Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson rejected the plan. “It is nothing less than a blueprint for permanent segregation and statelessness that appears designed to strip the Rohingya of hope and force them to flee the country.”

Choice of words ‘very emotional’

The UN’s Xu, regional director for Asia and the Pacific of the UN Development Programme, said that the use of the term “Rohingya” continues to be contentious in Myanmar.

“The use of the word stokes very high emotions on both sides so if we try to find a solution to the overall problem, we need to understand the historical background….What’s important is the rights of people, the outcome. What people want, what the Muslim community wants is citizenship that’s equitable that affords them the rights like any other citizenship in the country,” Xu said.

Xu added that the UN needs to be “very sensitive” to the “complexity” and “context” of the issue. He said that the world body supports efforts like getting stakeholders to visit Indonesia to study how the diverse nation manages ethnic conflicts.

“We see a genuine commitment on the part of the [Myanmar] government to resolve it,” Xu said. “We support these kind of activities, to learn lessons from elsewhere, see how we can make a useful contribution to resolve a protracted issue.”

In a statement in July, UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar Yanghee Lee said that international human rights law should guide issues on terminology and citizenship.

“The rights of minorities to self-identify on the basis of their national, ethnic, religious and linguistic characteristics is related to the obligations of States to ensure non-discrimination against individuals and groups, which is a central principle of international human rights law.”

She noted that intergovernmental bodies like the UN Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly use the term “Rohingya.”

‘More violence, loss of life’

Ging and Xu said that the situation in Rakhine improved from a year ago but poverty remains dire.

The UN officials said that during their trip, they focused on getting Myanmar’s government to lift restrictions on humanitarian groups, and improve security after aid organizations were attacked in March for supposed bias for the Rohingya.

The plight of the Rohingya continues to be a key topic at the UN, with Ban warning it could undo the reforms the former junta began in 2011. (READ: Forward, back goes Myanmar transition)

In his latest report on ethnic and religious tensions in Myanmar, the UN chief said the situation remains worrying. 

“The deep-seated inter-ethnic and inter-religious tensions that have re-emerged around the country have given rise to further violence, loss of life, displacement of populations and destruction of property. The situation in Rakhine state continues to cause widespread concern and alarm both domestically and internationally,” Ban said. – Rappler.com 

Rappler multimedia reporter Ayee Macaraig is a 2014 fellow of the Dag Hammarskjöld Fund for Journalists. She is in New York to cover the UN General Assembly, foreign policy, diplomacy, and world events. 

 

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