A/HRC/39/CRP.2 origin, property, disability, birth or other status. All children should have access to birth registration in the country where they are born, including non-nationals and stateless children.1019 462. In Myanmar, there is a multiplicity of laws and procedures related to birth registration. The system is administered by several Ministries, making procedures complex and difficult to navigate, especially for the Rohingya. 1020 According to article 9 (b) of the Myanmar 1993 Child Law, “parents and guardians shall register the birth of the child in accordance with the law”. The 1982 Citizenship Law contains a similar requirement but is only applicable to “citizens born inside and outside the State”, and carries punitive measures for parents or guardians who fail to register their children. Failure to register a birth on time is also subject to criminal penalties under the Ward or Village Tract Administration Law. 463. According to credible reports the authorities stopped issuing birth certificates to Rohingya children in northern Rakhine in the 1990s, with no official reason given for this change of policy.1021 Since then, the only “registration” of birth for Rohingya children in northern Rakhine is their inclusion in the so-called “household list”.1022 Such inclusion is a pre-requisite for obtaining identity documents, travel authorizations, marriage permissions, and enrolment in most government schools. Upon the request of parents, the village administrator or the “representative person from the village tract” can issue a “certificate of proof of birth”.1023 The cost of this procedure varies from one location and one family to another. Parents must then approach the immigration authorities and request that their household list be updated, paying another arbitrary fee. 1024 One interviewee from Buthidaung stated: The Rohingya need to pay a large amount of money for receiving a certificate of proof of birth and include new born babies in the family list. The amount appears to vary from case to case. There is no written rule. The authorities made up all these rules only for the Rohingya in northern Rakhine State.1025 464. An interviewee from Maungdaw explained how cumbersome this procedure is given the restrictions on movement and the risks associated with not updating the household list on time: After the birth of my first daughter, I went to the village administrator and gave him 15,000 Kyat to send someone from his office to convey the message to the NaSaKa about my daughter’s birth and to ask for her to be included on the household list. I could not go to the checkpoint myself because of the unavailability of transportation and the need for travel permission. I thought the village administrator had taken action to include my daughter on the list. A few days later, the authorities came to my village to check the family lists. They saw my daughter but she was not on the list. I had to give them 50,000 Kyat. I managed to gather the money with the help of others. Otherwise, I would have been imprisoned for six months.1026 465. In December 2015, a new procedure targeting Rohingya children was outlined in a document setting out requirements for “birth list insertion of children from Bengali ethnics in household population list”. According to credible reports, these additional administrative requirements have further slowed down the process. As a result, only a small number of new- 1019 1020 1021 1022 1023 1024 1025 1026 See A/HRC/27/22, para. 11. K-063.11. Myanmar’s birth registration system differs by geographical area and the following Ministries have reportedly acquired parallel competences: Ministry of Immigration and Population; Ministry of Home Affairs; Ministry of Health; and Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development. Since 2012, village administrators were also attributed responsibilities . K-063.10, K-063.11. See this chapter, section B.5.b: Restrictions related to household lists. K-063.11. CI-061, CI-082, CI-094, DI-001, K-063.10. CI-061. CI-094. 111