The National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) issued a statement on April 9 that the second People Assembly, led by the NUCC, decided to abolish the internationally infamous 1982 Myanmar’s Citizenship Law.

It was reported that 21 proposals and recommendations and three decisions were made at the assembly, which was held for five days from April 4th to 9th 2024.

Among the three decisions, the People Assembly decided to abolish the 1982 Myanmar’s Citizenship Law, which is notorious internationally for violating basic human rights, birthrights, discrimination and oppression.

The Ministry of Human Rights of the National Unity Government (NUG) announced on July 8, 2022, that it would amend and abolish discriminatory laws, including the 1982 Citizenship Law and the Interfaith Marriage Law.

The 1982 Citizenship Law was found to have been used arbitrarily to suppress not only religious minorities but also politicians. In March 2022, the military junta announced that some NUG government members and political activists had been stripped of their citizenship, using the 1982 Citizenship Law.

How Did the Citizenship Law Begin?

General Ne Win deported the Rohingyas with the “Nagar Min Operation,” which started on February 11, 1978. Then, that law came after re-verification and reception processes after the opening of the reception centers on September 15, 1978, on the “Hinthar Project”.

The 1982 Myanmar Citizenship Act was implemented under the leadership of the Burma Socialist Programme Party (so-called Ma-Sa-La) and replaced the 1948 Union Citizenship Law.

In 1976, when the Cabinet presented the Myanmar Citizenship Law (Draft) to the Council of State, the Council of State decided to take time and comprehensively draft it. On October 15, 1982, instead of the articles included in the Myanmar Citizenship Law (Draft), which took six years to prepare, it was enacted as the citizenship law based on the directives of General Ne Win, the chairman of the Burma Socialist Programme Party.

“It was done to monitor mixed blood that did not come from the same race or religion,” said Mr. Ye Hein Aung, who does research on ethnic affairs.

How was the law oppressive? The 1982 Citizenship Law stipulated that children born in the country to people who arrived in the country before January 4, 1948, can apply for citizenship.

It also stipulated that ethnic groups and tribes such as Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Chin, Bamar (Myanmar), Mon, Rakhine (Arakan), and Shan who had always settled in a certain territory of Myanmar (Burma) as the original state since before 1823 (Burmese Calendar Year 1185) are citizens of Myanmar.

“The victims of this law are those who are not Bamar/Buddhist. The main targets of this law are those of Chinese and Indian descent, but ethnic groups are also suffering. Saying it in bad words, it is very clear that it dragged into the Bamar group to get more numbers and take advantage politically,” explained Dr. Than Lwin Oo.

According to the Myanmar Citizenship Law of 1982, citizenship is divided into:

• (1) those born to pure-blooded Bamar parents
• (2) those who are born to Burmese (Myanmar) nationals (one of their two parents is Burmese) and
• (3) those who come from abroad, and General Ne Win instructed that these three types should not be given equal rights.

“Bo Ne Win instructed to amend the constitution if the law is not compatible with the constitution. This means systematic discrimination against people of mixed blood,” said Mr. Ye Hein Aung.

Myanmar’s citizenship law is based on hostile views of people in Myanmar by classifying them, designating ethnic groups and discriminating against non-ethnic groups. After 1988, the military dictators applied the law to restrict equal rights and limit their political rights among citizens – who were born in Myanmar.

“The 1982 law is a fascist law that discriminates against and oppresses minorities and other religious believers,” said Mr. Soe Nay Oo, a Burmese (Myanmar) Muslim. For 42 years, that law had violated, discriminated and oppressed on the basic birth rights of members of minority tribes, including the Rohingya and Muslims in Myanmar.

The 1982 Citizen Law: Bringing Genocide

Successive governments in Myanmar have taken discriminatory administrative measures to deny Rohingya citizenship, according to Fortify Right’s 2019 Report, “Tools of Genocide.”

Using the 1982 Citizenship Law, successive governments have denied citizenship to those who do not fall into the designated 135 ethnic groups. The Rohingya are not part of that indigenous group, so they are completely stripped of their citizenship.

Rohingyas have been forced to accept national verification cards that classify them as “foreigners,” and Myanmar authorities have restricted the Rohingyas’ freedom of movement.

The National Verification Card (NVC) process implemented by the NLD government in 2017 was used to refer to the Rohingya as “Bengali,” and Rohingya were forced to apply the NVCs under threat of force.

In August 2017, Myanmar’s military forcibly attacked the Rohingya in the village of Bawtular in northern Rakhine State to flee to Bangladesh.

According to the 2019 report by Fortify Rights, about 800,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh after Myanmar’ military and police committed mass killings and gang-rapes of women across northern Rakhine State.

“We see that there is a big deviation from democratic and human rights. I like Dr. Zar Ni’s remark about the 1982 Citizenship Law. It is actually true that it is used as ‘Slow Burning of Genocide’. There are many practical examples,” said Dr. Than Lwin Oo, Chairman of the Minority Affairs Institute – MAI (Myanmar).

On August 25, 2017, Bengali terrorists attacked 30 police outposts in Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Rathetaung townships and the local battalion headquarters in Taungbazar village, Rakhine state, state-owned newspapers reported.

The attacks were carried out by the ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army). In order to respond to the attacks of the ARSA, the Myanmar police force had been increased beyond the current forces and the military forces had been strengthened under the title of clearing the area, and they intentionally carried out targeted attacks against the perpetrators as well as the Rohingya people, Ye Hein Aung, who conducts research on ethnic affairs, said.

It may become a hope for minorities, including Muslim and Hindu citizens who have experienced ID card (National Registration Card) difficulties and lost employment, education and citizenship rights, and those who have become stateless in Rakhine State and the Thai border.

“In order to solve the problems of the stateless and promote diversity and multiculturalism in Myanmar, this law needs to be repealed. This is truly improper with human rights,” said Mr. Ye Hein Aung.

Mr. Soe Nay Oo, a prayer leader, and member of the Myanmar Muslim Revolutionary Force, explained that minorities who had been systematically excluded would have more faith in the current revolution and could increase trust between Myanmar religious minorities and other ethnic minorities – due to the repeal of the 1982 Law.

“There should be only one type of citizenship status in the future nation. Citizen IDs that will be issued in the future should not include race or religion, and it must be proof of citizenship,” said Dr. Than Lwin Oo, the chairman of the Minority Affairs Institute – MAI (Myanmar).