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UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Sixtieth session15
thMarch23
rdApril 2004
Oral intervention delivered by Anti-Slavery International on
7th
April 2004
Item 13Rights of the Child
Anti-Slavery International would like to draw the attention of
the Commission to the specific
situation of the Muslim children of Northern Rakhine State in
Myanmar. They belong to a
group widely known as the Rohingya. They are born stateless,
discriminated against from
birth on the basis of their ethnicity. The 1982 Citizenship Law
deprives them of citizenship
rights and perpetuates statelessness. The SPDC has started
issuing white identity cards to
the Muslim population of Rakhine State, but this is no more than
a temporary residence
permit clearly stating that it cannot be used as a proof to
claim citizenship.
The regimes policies of exclusion against the Rohingya Muslim
children
of Northern Rakhine State are being implemented through a series
of measures designed to
impede child development and family growth.
Among them, I would cite:
- Restrictions of freedom of movement, as Rohingya children and
their parents are virtually
confined to their village tracts. The need to obtain travel
passes limits their access to health,
education and employment, thus severely affecting the livelihood
of the family.
- In the field of health and education, they are particularly
neglected. 60% of the Muslim
children of Northern Rakhine State are said to suffer from
malnutrition and the level of
illiteracy is extremely high.
- Restriction of access to food through a series of constraints,
including arbitrary taxation and
extortion, is the main strategy of the regime to encourage
departure, and a major root cause
of the ongoing exodus toBangladesh.
Anti-Slavery InternationalThomas Clarkson House, The
Stableyard,Broomgrove Road, London SW9 9TL
Tel:.+ 44 (0)20 7501 8920 Fax: +44 (0)20
7738 4110e-mail: [email protected]:
http://www.antislavery.org
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- Increasingly, measures are being imposed to control birth and
to limit expansion of the
Rohingya population. Unlike other people of Burma, the Rohingyas
must apply for
permission to get married, which is only granted in exchange for
high bribes and can take up
to several years to obtain. To register their childrens birth,
parents are charged fees that
significantly increased in 2003. Moreover, building a new house
or repairing or extending an
existing dwelling also require authorisation, resulting in
overcrowded and precarious livingconditions, affecting women and
children.
Many Rohingya children are subject to forced labour. Cultural
practices in the Rohingya
community prevent women from participating in activities outside
of their homes. As male
adults are busy earning the daily wage to feed the family, the
burden of carrying out forced
labour duties often falls on children.
Mr. Chairman,
What kind of future can these stateless children hope for? An
answer to this question can
only emerge when the policies of discrimination and exclusion
end, allowing the creation ofan environment conducive to childrens
development. Myanmar acceded to the Convention
on the Rights of the Child in 1991, but the treatment accorded
to Rohingya children is in
blatant breach of its obligations. We request the Commission to
address such discriminatory
practices with the Government of Myanmar and strongly urge it to
ensure respect for the
fundamental rights of these children.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
