Arakan Army tightens movement restrictions on Rohingya in Burma
Rohingya in Kyauktaw face multiple permits, checkpoint controls and fees for routine travel between villages and town
YANGON, Burma (MNTV) — Rohingya Muslims in western Burma’s Kyauktaw Township are facing tighter restrictions on their freedom of movement, with residents saying they must obtain multiple permission letters and pay fees before making even routine journeys.
According to the Rohingya Khobor, Rohingya residents said that checkpoints operated by the Arakan Army, the ethnic armed group that controls Kyauktaw and most of Rakhine State, are turning back Rohingya travelers who cannot produce the required documents.
Residents said they can be required to obtain separate recommendation letters from village and area-level administrators as well as an office or police post locally known as “DELEP.”
The process reportedly costs about 12,000 Myanmar kyats ($5.70) in total — 5,000 kyats at the village level, 2,000 at the area office and another 5,000 at DELEP.
The restrictions mean Rohingya cannot freely travel to Kyauktaw town or, in some cases, between nearby villages for work, trade, shopping, family visits or other everyday needs.
One resident said even urgent journeys now require advance permission, while another said the fees impose an additional burden on families already struggling to afford food.
The accounts point to the continuation of a system of movement controls that has restricted Rohingya life in Rakhine State for years, despite a dramatic shift in who governs much of the region.
Burma’s military subjected the predominantly Muslim Rohingya to systematic restrictions on citizenship, movement and livelihoods long before its 2017 military campaign drove more than 700,000 people into neighboring Bangladesh.
The Arakan Army has since displaced the military from most of Rakhine State, but rights monitors say Rohingya living under its rule continue to face many of the discriminatory restrictions previously imposed by Burmese authorities.
The United Nations has documented severe movement and livelihood restrictions imposed on Rohingya by the Arakan Army, while the U.N. human rights office has reported that Rohingya have been charged high fees for permission letters allowing them to leave their villages.
Human Rights Watch has also accused the Arakan Army of imposing severe movement restrictions alongside arbitrary detention, forced labor, recruitment and other abuses against Rohingya Muslims.
In Kyauktaw, residents said documentation requirements compound the problem. Identity papers can be required to secure travel permission, while some Rohingya lack documents recognized by the authorities.
Residents said earlier household registration papers issued under the United League of Arakan administration were withdrawn, with some people later obtaining new documents after reportedly paying between 70,000 and 80,000 kyats.
The restrictions are particularly significant because Kyauktaw had previously been considered among the areas under Arakan Army control where Rohingya movement was somewhat less restricted than in northern townships such as Maungdaw and Buthidaung. Earlier documentation nevertheless found Rohingya there remained subject to controls.
The latest accounts suggest that for Rohingya in Kyauktaw, the change in territorial control has not brought freedom to move within their own homeland.
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