The biggest state-sponsored mass statelessness in Southeast Asia was triggered in 1982, when Myanmar rolled out its Citizenship Law that outright deprived the Rohingya of citizenship. Under this law, full citizenship is awarded based on membership of eight national indigenous races representing 153 groups.
The biggest state-sponsored mass statelessness in Southeast Asia was triggered in 1982, when Myanmar rolled out its Citizenship Law that outright deprived the Rohingya of citizenship. Under this law, full citizenship is awarded based on membership of eight national indigenous races representing 153 groups. These groups were considered to have settled in the country before the first occupation by the British in 1824.
More than half a million Rohingya refugees have fled the atrocities in the Rakhine State to neighbouring Myanmar since the latest spate of violence began end of August.
Beleaguered Myanmar State Counsellor, Aung San Suu Kyi expressed that her government does not fear international scrutiny for the ongoing refugee crisis developing in the Rakhine State, in northern Myanmar.“We too are concerned. We want to find out what the real problems are. There have been allegations and counter-allegations. We have to listen to all of them.
