A/HRC/42/CRP.5 409. The imposition of curfews has had an immediate negative impact on villagers’ ability to harvest rice, farm, cut bamboo and fish. The inability to conduct livelihood activities is exacerbated by villagers’ fear of accessing farmlands due to the proximity of fighting938 and the dangers of mines and unexploded ordinance.939 Villagers have also expressed their reluctance to access farmlands for fear of encountering Tatmadaw soldiers and being subjected to forced portering.940 The livelihoods of Chin farmers, who largely practise crop rotation, often have their farmlands far from their villages, and therefore are particularly affected by these factors.941 Ethnic Rakhine have a particularly well-founded fear of being detained, arrested or tortured.942 410. These curfews and movement restrictions are affecting the population as a whole, but also disproportionately impact the Rohingya whose situation is compounded by their lack of legal documentation or NVCs and by their confinement to IDP camps or their villages, as explained in this report’s section on the situation of the Rohingya. 411. Further exacerbating the food insecurity is the fact that, since early 2019, villagers have been required to obtain authorisation from security forces to bring larger quantities of food items and medical supplies to their villages, affecting their ability to support themselves or others.943 The humanitarian restrictions is purportedly for security reasons and is consistent with the Government’s “four-cuts” strategy to limit the AA’s access to food supplies. In practice the restrictions have heightened food insecurity for IDPs and vulnerable populations, as well as lack of access to basic services. 412. Tatmadaw soldiers involved in the conflict with the AA have taken part in the widespread seizure of villagers’ property, including food and other items indispensable to the survival of the civilian population. The pattern of the Tatmadaw taking civilian supplies in times of conflict has been well documented, including by this Mission.944 Depriving ethnic Rakhine villagers of food and other goods indespensible to their survival is consistent with the use of its “four cuts” policy designed to deprive armed groups of supplies by targeting civilian populations that the Tatmadaw perceives as supporting those groups. On 12 April 2019 the General Administration Department of Kyauktaw Township issued a local order that ratified this approach, authorizing the Township Police to inspect and require a letter of approval for “any transfer of rice, food supplies, and medicines from one place to another, within the township, from one township to another, or via trade route or waterway”.945 413. In the majority of cases, Tatmadaw soldiers have directly demanded goods from villagers without payment, including confiscation of food rations as well as domestic and farm animals. This has largely occurred either when taking up temporary residence inside a village or when passing through a village.946 414. Tatmadaw soldiers have also confiscated civilian property during and after military operations. In ethnic Rakhine villages, villagers who fled when they saw the Tatmadaw entering their village returned to find their belongings taken. 947 Other times, villagers witnessed Tatmadaw soldiers seizing their property.948An ethnic Rakhine man who stayed 938 939 940 941 942 943 944 945 946 947 948 CI-274, CI-279, CI-285, LI-171, LI-0173, LI-181. CI-320, LI-186. CI-279, CI-280, LI-146, LI-157, LI-173, LI-181. CI-248, CI’249, CI-256, CI-258, CI-320, LI-145, LI-146, LI-159. CI-279, CI-280, LI-173, LI-181. CI-319, CI-320, LI-159, See also: UNICEF Myanmar Humanitarian Situation Report #7 (July 2019), Amnesty International, No one Can Protect Us: War Crimes and Abuses in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, (May 2019), p.32. See e.g. A/HRC/39/CRP.2, paras. 345-347. Township General Administration Department Kyauktaw Township, Local Order (1/2019), 12 April 2019, on file with the Mission. LI-143, LI-147, LI-156, LI-157, LI-160, LI-207. CI-324, LI-207, LI-213. CI-324, LI-207, LI-213 117