A/HRC/42/CRP.5 implies the Rohingya are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, 92 and so not citizens of Myanmar. The Government is coercing people into accepting NVCs. It implies that accepting NVCs can lead to receiving citizenship and the fulfilment of other rights but in practice, for the great majority of those holding NVCs, it does not. 67. Intensified efforts by the Government of Myanmar in the lead up to and since the August 2017 “clearance operations” to coerce Rohingya to accept NVCs have been of grave concern. As one interviewee stated: “The authorities have linked everything to the NVC. People cannot fish or cut wood in the forest without holding a NVC. Businesspersons cannot do their business and families cannot visit relatives in prison. The Government is using every possible means to force people to obtain NVC.” 93 68. The Government has denied the Rohingya access to essential life-saving and lifesupporting goods and services as punishment for refusing to accept the NVCs. Rohingya believe their refusal to accept NVCs in 2017 has led to the genocidal “clearance operations”, as described by the Mission’s 2018 report.94 Some civil society actors have gone so far as to suggest that the enforcement of the NVC process is a tool to commit genocide.95 The Government’s use of NVCs in this manner makes it inconceivable that they could be a pathway for the Government to respect the human rights of Rohingya; it is also inconceivable that Rohingya should trust the NVC process. What the Government of Myanmar claims the NVCs provide 69. The Government continues to claim that the only pathway to citizenship for the Rohingya is through the NVC process.96 On 31 May 2019, the Government claimed that 67,699 individuals nationwide had received NVCs during the past three years. 97 On 7 March 2019, U Shein Win, the deputy director-general of the National Registration and Citizenship Department of the Ministry of Labor, Population and Immigration, said that 14,000 NVCs had been issued in Rakhine, with half of the holders subsequently applying for citizenship. He noted that most of the successful applicants received green cards (Naturalized Citizenship cards) and blue cards (Associate Citizenship cards), with few who had the most complete family records receiving pink cards (Nationality cards).98 He did not indicate how many Rohingya had received citizenship through the NVC process. 70. Senior government officials claim that the NVC allows Rohingya to apply for citizenship in accordance with Myanmar’s Citizenship Law. 99 In April 2018, a senior government official stated that “anyone who holds a NVC can apply for citizenship and can become a citizen within five months”.100 In May 2019, Dr Win Myat Aye, Vice-chair of 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 A/HRC/39/CRP.2, Para 460, See also Reuters, Myanmar rejects citizenship reform at private Rohingya talks, available from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya-meetingexclusive-idUSKBN1JN0D7, The Guardian, Rohingya call for recognition as Myanmar holds fresh repatriation talks, 28 July 2019; Council on Foreign Relations, The Rohingya Crisis, 5 December 2018. FI-010. A/HRC/39/CRP.2, Para 485-488, 1130-1133, 1180, 1200. FFFGEN-1-84054; Open Democracy, Genocide cards: Rohingya refugees on why they risked their lives to refuse ID cards, 21 October 2018, Burma Human Rights Network, National Verification Cards, “A barrier to Rohingya Repatriation”, July 2019. See official statement of the Myanmar authorities claiming the number of NVCs distributed as of 31 May 2019, available from https://myanmar.gov.mm/web/guest/news-media/news/latest-news//asset_publisher/idasset354/content/--5113. https://myanmar.gov.mm/web/guest/news-media/news/latest-news//asset_publisher/idasset354/content/--5113. See Irrawaddy, “Rohingya trading identity for partial citizenship in Rakhine”, available from https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/rohingya-trading-identity-partial-citizenship-rights-rakhinestate.html, See also census form available from http://users.pop.umn.edu/~rmccaa/IPUMSI/CensusForms/Asia/mm2014ef_myanmar_census_form.m y.pdf. CI-295, CI-296, CI-298, CI-300, CI-305. Radio Free Asia, “Myanmar Lifts Travel Restrictions on Rohingyas with verification cards”, 19 April 2018, available on https://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/travel-04192018165606.html. 21