Rohingya Muslims carry their belongings as they move after recent violence in Sittwe. (PHOTO: Reuters)
By RFA
May 24, 2013
Authorities in
western Myanmar’s Rakhine state have introduced a local regulation setting a
two-child limit on Rohingya families in a bid to restrict population growth
among the Muslim minority group, according to a government spokesman.
Officials announced
the measure—part of a directive that also enforces a ban on polygamy—this month
but have not said how it will be enforced.
The new rules have
been imposed in northern Rakhine state’s Maungdaw district, which comprises
Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships, along the border with Bangladesh.
The two-child limit
only applies to Rohingyas, a stateless group widely considered in Myanmar to be
illegal immigrants from Bangladesh even though they have lived in the country
for generations.
Rakhine state
spokesman Win Myaing said the measures were being implemented to curb
Rohingyas’ high population growth and were in line with recommendations made by
a central government panel probing communal violence that tore through the
region last year.
“The birth rates
for Muslim families in this area are too high,” he told RFA’s Myanmar Service.
“The Rakhine
inquiry commission advised controlling the birth rate in its report, and we
will follow their advice,” he said.
The inquiry
commission’s report, issued in April, recommended family planning education be
provided to Rohingya families, saying their “rapid population growth” had
“fuelled insecurity among some Rakhines” and been a factor leading to the
violence between the two groups.
Buddhist Rakhines
and Muslim Rohingya held bloody clashes in the region in June and October last
year, which left nearly 200 dead and 140,000 displaced.
Rights groups have
said Rohingyas bore the brunt of the violence, with Human Rights Watch accusing
securityforces of complicity in “ethnic cleansing” against the group.
“According to many
Rakhines, the implementation of family planning programs amongst [Rohingya]
communities would go some way to mitigating such concerns and would support the
goal of peaceful coexistence,” the inquiry comisson’s report said.
“If, as proposed,
family-planning education is provided to the [Rohingya] population, the
government should refrain from implementing non-voluntary measures which may be
seen as discriminatory or that would be inconsistent with human rights
standards.”
Surprise checks
Though Myanmar’s
nearly 800,000 Rohingyas are a minority in Rakhine state and the rest of the
country, the group makes up a majority of the population in Maungdaw and
Buthidaung, which are also home to a small Rakhine Buddhist minority.
Authorities are
making surprise inspections on Rohingya homes in the townships to check for
compliance with the birth control regulation, Myanmar Eleven media quoted a
district immigration official as saying last week.
Win Myaing said
families who broke the new rules would be dealt with “according to the
Immigration Law,” but did not give further details. It remained unclear what
measures would be taken against families that have more than two children or
are involved in polygamous marriages.
The measure could
later be extended to other townships if necessary, he said.
Myanmar has no
national laws limiting reproduction, but its ethnic state governments have the
authority to introduce regulations in accordance with regional security
demands.
Reported by Min
Thein Aung for RFA’s Burmese Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in
English by Rachel Vandenbrink.
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