Annan Report Released

Yesterday a commission led by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan released an important report regarding the future of Myanmar’s Rakhine State. It recognizes the many root causes of conflict there.

At the top of the report’s pile of recommendations is a call for reviewing the country’s 1982 Citizenship Law. That law as currently interpreted is partly responsible for more than one million Muslims in Rakhine State being stateless. The law’s critics say it defines citizenship along ethnic lines.

Many other factors beyond the citizenship law explain why so few Muslims (only 13,000, according to the report) in that area have been recognized as full citizens or naturalized. Yet if tweaks to the law increased that number by even a modest amount, it would send an important signal that the future there won’t be dominated by extremists.

Asking for that signal might be asking too much. Moderates on Rakhine State issues are a rare and endangered species. As one veteran UN official told me over lunch recently, “there’s no nuance there.” Surely the Annan Commission heard that opinion expressed often. Just the same, I’d like to believe its report can be a tool for tolerance.