Regime gathering info on IDPs sheltering in Yangon

By Admin 17 Aug 2024

DMG Newsroom
17 August 2024, Sittwe

Myanmar’s military regime has used the population census as an excuse to register internally displaced people (IDPs) taking shelter in Yangon Region, critics say.

Since the second week of August, the regime has been making head counts of displaced people staying in Yangon’s Sanchaung, Kyaukmyaung, Hlaingtharyar and Thanlyin townships, registering their citizenship ID cards and taking their photos.

“We have to tell the ward administration office from where we come. We also have to provide our current address and our citizenship ID card numbers,” said a woman from Sittwe who is taking shelter in Yangon.

Worries are growing among those facing scrutiny as the regime has collected their personal information.

“We don’t know why we have to register. We feel unsafe after giving our names and citizenship ID data,” said a displaced man staying in Kyaukmyaung Township.

Though there is still no fighting in Yangon, the regime has imposed tight security measures in the commercial capital, conducting random checks on people and prosecuting some on political charges that carry long prison sentences for anything deemed critical of the regime.

Many displaced people from northern Shan State, Mandalay Region and Arakan State are taking shelter in Yangon; a vulnerable population that feels increasingly insecure in Myanmar’s biggest city.

One displaced woman from Arakan State who is staying in Yangon said: “We have to report to authorities regularly as per overnight registration regulations. Recently, we were also required to register with authorities for the population census. We also don’t feel safe here as the regime makes arbitrary arrests whether you are native or you are from somewhere else.”

More than 3 million people have been displaced by the civil war in Myanmar since the military’s 2021 coup.