A/HRC/39/CRP.2 official duty and got a lighter sentence. Sometimes lawyers are allowed to go to military hearings but mostly we are not, we just get informed of the outcome, we never get a written copy, we are just told orally. We also never know whether or not the rulings are implemented. Even cases before civilian courts have problems. Like with the military courts, we are not given a copy of the judgments. Sometimes if we request them we get them but it takes a long time. For sensitive cases we are generally not allowed to see them – we are told they are lost or in Naypyidaw.901 V. Emblematic situation 2: Rakhine State 405. Rakhine State is located in western Myanmar. It extends some 560 km along the Bay of Bengal and shares a border with Bangladesh. It is geographically remote – much of its internal borders with other states of Myanmar are mountainous and infrastructure links to the rest of the country are limited. Despite its strategic location and fertility, the state remains one of Myanmar’s poorest, with an estimated 44 per cent of the population living below the poverty line.902 All communities in the state are affected by scarcity of livelihood opportunities903 and it scores poorly on many social development indicators.904 406. The state comprises various ethnic and religious groups. The majority of the population is ethnic Rakhine and Buddhist.905 Muslims constitute the second largest religious group, the majority of whom are Rohingya,906 with a smaller proportion of Kaman. There are also a number of other minorities such as Chin, Daingnet, Khami, Maramagyi, Mro, Thet and Hindus. The distribution of ethnic and religious minorities in the state varies by region, with Rohingya constituting a large majority in the northern district of Maungdaw, and ethnic Rakhine in most remaining districts. Estimates of Rohingya remaining in Rakhine State after the mass exodus to Bangladesh of 2016 and 2017 vary between 200,000 and 240,000 in the northern townships and 332,000 and 360,000 for central Rakhine State.907 407. The ethnic Rakhine, like many other ethnic minorities in the country, have grievances against the central Government, which they perceive to have favoured Bamar-Buddhists politically and economically. They are proud of ethnic Rakhine culture, language and history, which they feel is threatened. There is also a strong sentiment that the development of Rakhine State has been neglected. In the words of one ethnic Rakhine who spoke to the Mission, “in Rakhine State, there are a lot of resources but we can’t get these resources from our own State”.908 This sentiment is fuelled by the high poverty levels. According to data from the 2014 census, Rakhine State has the highest unemployment rate in the country, and 901 902 903 904 905 906 907 908 BM-007. UNDP, Poverty Profile, Integrated Household Living Conditions Survey in Myanmar - 2009-2010 (2011). Rakhine State continues to rank low compared to other states and regions in Myanmar on many indicators of living standards. See UNDP, Myanmar Living Conditions Survey 2017 (June 2018). Center for Diversity and National Harmony, Rakhine Needs Assessment II (January 2017). UNICEF, Rakhine State – A Snapshot of Child Wellbeing, available at: https://www.unicef.org/myanmar/Rakhine_State_Profile_30-07-15.pdf It is not possible to provide exact percentages as Rohingya were not included in the 2014 census and, in any case, the 2014 census data on ethnicity has not been released. 63 per cent of the population in Rakhine State was of Buddhist faith when adjusted for the non-enumerated population, principally the Rohingya. This figure includes some other smaller Buddhist groups in addition to the ethnic Rakhine. See also: Center for Diversity and National Harmony, Rakhine Needs Assessment (October 2015). The report estimated the population of ethnic Rakhine at 60 per cent in Rakhine State. On 29 March 2014, a day before the census was due to begin, the Government reneged on an earlier explicit commitment to allow the Rohingya to self-identify their ethnicity on census forms. The presidential spokesperson stated that those wishing to state their ethnicity as Rohingya would not be registered. As a consequence, most of the Rohingya were not enumerated in the census. The census estimates the non-enumerated population at 1,090,000 which would constitute 34 per cent of the total population in Rakhine State. K-113.7. DM-003. 99