A/HRC/39/CRP.2 right to nationality without discrimination of any kind, and that no one is denied or deprived of their nationality based on discriminatory grounds. 1036 471. Deprivation of nationality resulting in statelessness will generally be arbitrary, unless it serves a legitimate purpose and is proportional. 1037 States should ensure that nationality is not denied to persons with relevant links to that State who would otherwise be stateless. 1038 This is particularly so for children. While States are not obliged to grant nationality to every child born in their territory, they are required to adopt every appropriate measure, both internally and in cooperation with other States, to ensure that every child has a nationality when he or she is born.1039 One such measure is the conferral of nationality to a child born in the State if they would otherwise be stateless. 1040 Decisions regarding the acquisition, retention or loss of nationality must also meet minimum procedural standards, for example, issued in writing and open to effective administrative or judicial review. 1041 The statelessness of a person resulting from the arbitrary deprivation of his or her nationality cannot be invoked by States as a justification for the denial of other human rights. 1042 Historical background 472. The current citizenship status of the Rohingya can only be understood in a historical context.1043 The 1947 Constitution and the 1948 Union Citizenship Act of the newly independent Myanmar provided a relatively inclusive citizenship framework. 1044 In addition to citizenship based on ethnicity, section 4(2) of the Union Citizenship Act provided that “any person descended from ancestors who for two generations at least have all made any of the territories included within the Union their permanent home and whose parents and himself were born in any of such territories shall be deemed to be a citizen of the Union”. 1045 Additionally, section 7 provided that a person could apply for citizenship if they were 18 years, resided in the country for at least five continuous years, and intended to reside in the country. As such, most long-term residents fulfilled the criteria, regardless of whether they belonged to one of Myanmar’s “indigenous races”. 1046 473. Most Muslims who then lived in what currently constitutes Rakhine State were therefore included, whether their ancestry could be traced to pre-colonial times, or whether they were colonial-era migrants from the region. Additionally, there are strong indications that at the time the Myanmar authorities accepted the Rohingya as an “indigenous group”. Both Prime Minister U Nu, and Sao Shwe Thaike, the country’s first President, are reported to have referred to the Rohingya as an indigenous group of Myanmar, with U Nu referring to the Rohingya by name in a 1954 radio address, as “… our nationals, our brethren”. 1047 474. Citizens were required to register, after which a National Registration Card (NRC) was issued. At the end of 1960, the Government reportedly claimed to have issued 18 million 1036 1037 1038 1039 1040 1041 1042 1043 1044 1045 1046 1047 A/HRC/13/34, paras. 21, 29, 57-58. A/HRC/13/34, para. 59. A/HRC/13/34, para. 36; see also 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (although not ratified by Myanmar). CRC, art. 7; United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 11: Indigenous children and their rights under the Convention, 12 February 2009, CRC/C/GC/11; United Nations Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 17: Rights of the child (Art. 24), 7 April 1989. A/HRC/13/34, para. 60; A/HRC/31/29, para. 10. A/HRC/13/34, para. 43. See for example, A/HRC/RES/32/5. The Mission has relied on credible secondary sources to summarise the relevant historical context. 1947 Constitution, s. 11. The 1948 Union Citizenship Act lists a range of other pathways to citizenship not reproduced here, including several non-automatic modes of acquiring citizenship (for example, naturalisation). Defined as “the Arakanese, Burmese, Chin, Kachin, Karen, Kayah, Mon or Shan race and such racial group as has settled in any of the territories included within the Union as their permanent home from a period anterior to 1823 A. D. (1185 B.E.)”, see 1948 Union Citizenship Act, s. 3(1). E.g. M. Haque, “Rohingya Ethnic Muslim Minority and the 1982 Citizenship Law in Burma”, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 37:4 (2017), pp. 454-469. 113