A. National Context
Ethnic Minority Identities and Political Boundaries
Myanmar is one of the most culturally diverse countries in the region, and ethnicity is a
complex, contested and politically sensitive issue where ethnic groups have long believed
that the Government manipulates ethnic categories for political purposes.321 Myanmar’s
ethnic minorities make up an estimated 30 - 40% of the population, and ethnic states
occupy some 57% of the total land area along most of the country’s international
borders.322 The Constitution makes no reference to ethnic minorities. It instead uses the
term “national races”. However this term is not defined by the Constitution, and is
generally interpreted by applying the 1982 Myanmar Citizenship Law, which defines the
135 national races in its 1983 Procedures.323 Under the Citizenship Law, nationals of
Myanmar include the “Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Chin, Bamar, Mon, Rakhine or Shan and
ethnic groups as have settled in any of the territories included within the State as their
permanent home from a period anterior to 1185 B.E., 1823 A.D.”324 Almost all Rohingya
are denied citizenship under the 1982 Citizenship Law – either because they do not meet
its stringent and discriminatory citizenship requirements, or where they do, because they
lack the documentary evidence required. People of Chinese, Indian or Nepali heritage are
mostly denied full citizenship under this law because they do not automatically qualify
under “national races”.
The 2014 national census used the 135 categories of national races, with people required
to check one of them, or indicate “other”; there was no option to indicate the often mixed
heritage of many residents. This categorisation is strongly contested by ethnic minorities,
as they believe it does not accurately represent their true ethnicity and also that the
Government, comprised primarily of ethnic Bamars, is using this to lower the real number