Myanmar’s new Population Control Law: Another step towards ethnic cleansing

JAKARTA, 27 May 2015 – The Myanmar government’s passage of a controversial new “population control” law is another in a line of restrictive and illegal measures as part of a policy of persecution and ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya population and must be repealed, ASEAN lawmakers said today.

The Population Control Act is rooted in Myanmar’s rising Buddhist-nationalist extremism and is likely to be used to enforce reproductive restrictions in a targeted fashion against vulnerable minorities. The Act was signed into law by President Thein Sein last week and would allow authorities to mandate three-year birth spacing in specific areas of the country.

“This law, which was rooted in discrimination and is likely to be implemented in a discriminatory fashion, provides a clear basis for the government to continue its targeted persecution of minority populations, including Rohingya and other Burmese Muslims,” said APHR Chairperson Charles Santiago, a member of parliament in Malaysia. “In the context of a climate in which the rights of minorities have been systematically trampled upon, this law threatens to move Myanmar further along a path toward ethnic cleansing and serves as a warning sign for potential genocide.”

Genocide, as defined in Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, means any of a number of acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, including “Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group” (Article 2d). The Convention has become a norm of customary international law.

ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) warned that the Population Control Act amounts to unnecessary restrictions on reproductive rights and could contribute to increasing persecution and violence against ethnic and religious minorities in Myanmar, particularly Rohingya Muslims, and is considered a violation of international law.

The act also violates women’s rights by placing restrictions on the rights of women to make choices about when to have children, APHR said.

The Population Control Act is one of four so-called ‘Race and Religion Protection’ bills, originally proposed by Buddhist extremists from the National Organization for the Protection of Race and Religion, or Ma Ba Tha. APHR remains concerned about the other three bills, which restrict interfaith marriage, religious conversion, and polygamy, and are currently being debated in parliament.

The Population Control Act’s passage could not come at a worse time for Myanmar’s Rohingya, APHR warned. Temporary identification documents, which are held by many Rohingya, were invalidated at the end of March and are due to be collected by the end of May, depriving their holders of any identification and access to state services.

Furthermore, APHR noted that the regional migrant crisis, which has unfolded during the month of May, demonstrates the impact of sustained persecution against Rohingya in Myanmar. This persecution has driven their exodus and is likely to intensify with the passage of this new law.

“In the midst of a regional crisis that is a direct result of the systematic state-sponsored persecution of Rohingya in Myanmar, the Myanmar government has taken the almost unbelievable step of doubling down on its discriminatory policies,” said Santiago.

APHR reiterated its call for ASEAN to pressure the Myanmar government to end its persecution of Rohingya.

“Despite all that has happened in the past month, the Myanmar government continues to press ahead with its efforts to entrench discrimination,” Santiago added. “This just puts an exclamation point on the need for other ASEAN governments to act.”