A/HRC/39/CRP.2 495. The denial of legal status has culminated in 2015 in a complete disenfranchisement of the Rohingya from the political process. This symbolised their exclusion from the Myanmar political community and violates the right to participate in the government of the country. 1093 496. The complete arbitrariness with which the Rohingya population has been treated is appalling. It violates legal certainty, the rule of law and international human rights law generally. Arbitrariness is shown in the way in which citizenship was revoked, domestic laws were applied or not, cards were handed out and revoked, and people were called “illegal immigrants”, yet accepted back in repeated cycles of mass displacement and repatriation. Arbitrariness is also illustrated by the repeated temporary solutions that provide no legal certainty and remain largely unimplemented. The Rohingya have for decades wavered between different levels of participation in Myanmar’s national life –from full citizen, to noncitizen with voting rights, non-citizen without voting rights, illegal immigrant that must leave, illegal immigrant that may stay and reside, illegal immigrant whose citizenship must be verified, – each status symbolised by a different card or its revocation. 497. The Myanmar State as an institution is responsible for its actions, including for the actions of previous governments. A strict application of the 1982 Citizenship Law is not a sign of respect for the rule of law, as professed by the current Government in its insistence on a “citizenship verification process” in line with that law and implemented at all cost, including coercion. It is the continuation by the civilian government of discriminatory policies put in place by a military regime. These policies seek to implement a racist and exclusionary vision. What is required is no less than a re-examination of the link between citizenship and “national races”, and the removal of the latter concept in Myanmar politics and law. This link is particularly problematic considering Myanmar’s flawed legal framework for the protection of human rights, which is largely based on citizenship, in contravention of international human rights law. 498. The emphasis on “national races” and the ensuing discriminatory practices have come to define the question of Rohingya citizenship and statelessness, with the Rohingya, ethnic Rakhine, and the Myanmar Government arguing the question of whether Rohingya are a “national race”. This is beside the point. The issues of belonging to a “national race”, citizenship rights, and human rights should not be conflated. 2. (a) Denial of the right to freedom of movement Overview and legal framework 499. Article 13 of the UDHR guarantees the right to freedom of movement. 1094 This includes the right of everyone lawfully within the territory of a State to liberty of movement.1095 It is an indispensable condition for the free development of a person.1096 Under international human rights law, once a person is lawfully within a State, no restrictions on the right to freedom of movement, as well as any treatment different from that accorded to nationals, may be imposed. The only exception is if provided by law and necessary to protect national security, public order, public health or morals or the rights and freedoms of others. 1097 In the absence of such exceptions, non-citizens should have the right to move from one place to another.1098 The overarching principle of non-discrimination also applies to the realization of the right to freedom of movement. Importantly, the statelessness of a person resulting from the arbitrary deprivation of nationality, cannot be invoked by States as a justification for the denial of other human rights, including freedom of movement. 1099 500. Rohingya in Rakhine State face severe restrictions on their right to freedom of movement which do not fall within the permissible limitations set out above. Their ability to 1093 1094 1095 1096 1097 1098 1099 E.g., UDHR, art. 21(1). Also ASEAN Declaration, art. 15. See ICCPR, art. 12. United Nations Human Rights Committee, General Comment 27: Freedom of movement (Art. 12), 2 November 1999, CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.9. Ibid. See also A/HRC/19/43, para. 8-10. E.g. A/HRC/RES/32/5. 119