A/HRC/39/CRP.2 455. The forced and compulsory labour imposed by the Tatmadaw against the ethnic Rakhine is widespread, in violation of Myanmar’s obligations under international labour law and international human rights law. The documented cases show that the work is exacted under the menace or use of physical force and (death) threats. Victims have no free choice and cannot but comply. The types of work consistently described to the Mission, and the circumstances of their imposition, cannot be construed as minor communal services that are permissible under international law. The Tatmadaw bully, force and coerce villagers into submission. This is further manifested in the numerous forced evictions and the total disrespect for villagers’ property rights. Tatmadaw soldiers take anything they want, when they want. In doing so, they further push ethnic Rakhine villagers and their families into economic hardship and poverty. The level of arbitrariness and abuse of power on the part of the Tatmadaw is astounding. 456. Such conduct is a catalyst for numerous other human rights violations, including the arbitrary deprivation of life, arbitrary arrest and detention, sexual and gender-based violence, and other forms of severe ill-treatment.1017 Such violations are often linked to attempts at escape, protest, or the inability to pay bribes. 457. The Mission is further concerned about additional information received, pointing at other violations, including of the rights to education, health, culture, freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful association and assembly, and freedom of religion. However, the information on these allegations is insufficient to make findings at this stage. B. Systemic oppression and persecution of the Rohingya In Rakhine State, Muslims are like in a cage, they cannot travel outside. There are no human rights for the Muslims of Rakhine. I don’t know why God sent us there.1018 458. The Rohingya are in a situation of severe, systemic and institutionalised oppression from birth to death. Their extreme vulnerability is a consequence of State policies and practices implemented over decades, steadily marginalising the Rohingya and eroding their enjoyment of human rights. The process of “othering” the Rohingya and their discriminatory treatment started long before the period covered by the Mission. 459. The cornerstone of this system of oppression is the lack of legal status of the Rohingya. This is compounded by restrictions affecting their movement, subsistence and development, and numerous other human rights violations. The life of Rohingya in Rakhine State has gradually become more and more untenable. 1. Denial of legal status and identity 460. The Myanmar authorities consistently and vocally assert that “there are no Rohingya in Myanmar”. They object to the use of the name “Rohingya”, call the group “Bengali”, and argue that the Rohingya do not belong in Myanmar. They are not considered a “national race” and often referred to as “illegal immigrants” from Bangladesh. This was not always the case. Successive laws and policies regulating citizenship and legal status have become increasingly exclusionary in their formulation, and arbitrary and discriminatory in their application. Today, the overwhelming majority of Rohingya are de facto stateless, without proof of legal status or identity. (a) Denial of birth certificates 461. Legal identity starts with a birth certificate: it provides legal recognition to a child. According to article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, all children have the right to be registered immediately after birth. Access to registration must not be undermined by discrimination of any kind, including on the basis of the child’s or the child’s parents’ race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social 1017 1018 110 CI-057, CI-059, CI-061, CI-157, CI-162, DI-014, DI-029, QI-072, QI-073. DI-007.