Myanmar: Human Rights Analysis of Biometric Digital ID Systems The primary ID cards in Myanmar are “Citizenship Scrutiny Cards” (CSC). These are issued under the 1982 Citizenship Law and its accompanying 1983 Procedures. The CSCs replaced National Registration Cards, which were issued under the 1949 Residents of Myanmar Registration Act, although many residents of Myanmar still have National Registration Cards as their primary form of identification and, in colloquial use, the terms are sometimes used interchangeably. CSCs include, among other information, the individual’s race and religion.37 Anyone who does not have a CSC may not be able to undertake certain basic activities, including to vote,38 travel within Myanmar, buy property, obtain a passport,39 or graduate/obtain a diploma.40 There are three primary types of CSCs: those for full citizens (colour-coded pink), those for associate citizens (blue) and those for naturalised citizens (green). This tiered citizenship approach is based in the 1982 Citizenship Law. Full citizens are “nationals such as the Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Chin, Burman, Mon, Rakhine or Shan and ethnic groups as have settled in any of the territories included within the State as their permanent home from a period anterior” to 1823, when British occupation began in Arakan State.41 The President or the Union Government (formerly the Council of State) has the power to decide whether an ethnic group is a national one the members of which fall into this category.42 It is also possible to gain full citizenship in some other ways, based on various combinations of the citizenship status of one’s parents.43 Persons lacking membership in the necessary ethnic groups or proof of the appropriate parental status may be able to obtain associate or naturalised citizenship. These forms of citizenship may be revoked more easily than full citizenship and, while associate and naturalised citizens generally enjoy the same rights as full citizens, these rights may be limited at the discretion of the president or the Union government.44 Associate citizenship is granted to those who qualified and applied for 37 Procedures as described in Justice Base, A Legal Guide to Citizenship and Legal Identity Document in Myanmar, December 2018. Available at: http://justicebase.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/12.2018-Legal-Guide-toCitizenship-Documentation_ENG_FINAL-1.pdf. 38 Jose Maria Arraiza and Olivier Vonk, Report on Citizenship Law: Myanmar, October 2017, p. 9, available at: https://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/48284/RSCAS_GLOBALCIT_CR_2017_14.pdf; and Myanmar News Agency, Issuing Citizenship Scrutiny Cards Speeded Up to Ensure Voting Right, 3 August 2020, Global New Light of Myanmar, available at: https://www.gnlm.com.mm/issuing-citizenship-scrutiny-cards-speeded-up-to-ensurevoting-right/. 39 Center for International Human Rights at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Myanmar: 3 rd UPR Cycle, 7 July 2020, available at: https://www.law.northwestern.edu/legalclinic/humanrights/documents/final-myanmar-report.pdf; and Julia Wallace, Myanmar Casts Minorities to the Margins as Citizenship law Denies Legal Identity, 3 November 2016, available at: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/nov/03/myanmar-casts-minorities-tomargins-citizenship-law-denies-legal-identity. 40 Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, DFAT Country Information Report: Myanmar, 18 April 2019, para. 3.31, available at: https://www.dfat.gov.au/sites/default/files/country-information-report-myanmar.pdf; and Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar, 23 March 2015, available at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/hrc/regularsessions/session28/documents/a_hrc_28_72_en.doc. 41 Citizenship Law, 15 October 1982, section 3. Available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b4f71b.html. 42 Ibid., s. 4. The term “Council of State” in the original law is now interpreted by the 2011 Law Relating to the Adaption of Expressions. For an explanation of the history of this change, see International Commission of Jurists, Citizenship and Human Rights in Myanmar: Why Law Reform is Urgent and Possible, June 2019. Available at: https://www.icj.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Myanmar-Citizenship-law-reform-Advocacy-Analysis-Brief-2019ENG.pdf. 43 Citizenship Law, note 41, sections 5-7. 44 Ibid., sections 30(c), 35, 53(c) and 58. -9-