Government to restart population assessment

Government to restart population assessment

By Ei Ei Toe Lwin   |   Monday, 15 July 2013

The government plans to enlist the help of Muslim community leaders in Rakhine State to resume a population assessment that sparked violent confrontations between IDP camp residents and immigration officials in April.

Deputy Minister for Immigration and Population U Kyaw Kyaw Win said at a press conference on July 9 that Rakhine leaders, international NGOs, United Nations agencies and embassies would also be encouraged to support the process.

"Now, we are persuading all persons – religious leaders from different groups, local community leaders, as well as UN agencies – to help us resume the process. After that we will take measures for [Muslims] according to the 1982 Citizenship Law," U Kyaw Kyaw Win said.

He said the state-wide assessment, which would cover people of all ethnic backgrounds, is necessary to ensure that relief and resettlement programs are delivered fairly.

The government had enlisted 63 local organisations to help implement the official population assessment in Sittwe township as well as other parts of Rakhine State, he said.

However, it had to be postponed after disputes broke out at some Muslim IDP camps when immigration officers visited on April 26 and tried to record the ethnicity of camp residents as Bengali.

At a camp near Thatkepyin village, about 10 kilometres (6 miles) from Sittwe, camp residents refused, saying they would only sign as Rohingya, and allegedly threw rocks at the officials.

Seven alleged leaders of the violence were arrested by local authorities and charged with four offences, including disturbing a public servant, causing grievous hurt to a public servant, criminal intimidation and rioting armed with a deadly weapon.

"The process went smoothly at first but later they resisted it and asked to change [their ethnicity to Rohingya] and responded with hostile manner to those staff. So we had to halt the process," U Kyaw Kyaw Win said at the press conference, which was organised by the Central Committee for Implementation of Stability and Development in Rakhine State.

He said it was not clear when the program would restart.

In response to a question from a reporter, U Kyaw Kyaw Win said he was unsure whether the 500,000 Rohingya who hold temporary ID cards, known as white cards, would be given the right to vote in the next general election, despite having been allowed to vote in 2010.

"It is up to the Union Election Commission to decide," U Kyaw Kyaw Win said.

At a press conference on June 29 in Nay Pyi Taw, Minister for Immigration and Population U Khin Yi said there are 1.33 million Rohingya, or Bengali, Muslims living in Myanmar, of whom 1.08 million, or more than 80 percent, are living in Rakhine State.

U Khin Yi said that all official identity documents given to Rohingya had been issued according to the law, and that all Rohingya will get citizenship if they meet the criteria of the 1982 law.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon weighed in on the issue last week, saying in a statement that it was important that the government address the "legitimate grievances of minority communities, including the citizenship demands of the Rohingya in Rakhine".

Mr Ban said that he was deeply concerned about the plight of the Rohingya population and the "disturbing" humanitarian situation in Rakhine State.

Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2013/07/15/government-to-restart-population-assessment/