UN Bill Urges Myanmar to Drop Identity Plan

The European Union-drafted resolution, obtained by The Associated Press, puts pressure on the Southeast Asian country to change its campaign, preferably before world leaders including President Barack Obama arrive for a regional summit in less than two weeks.

Myanmar's 1.3 million Rohingya have been denied citizenship and have almost no rights. Attacks by Buddhist mobs have left hundreds dead and 140,000 trapped in camps. Others are fleeing the country.

Authorities want to officially categorise the Rohingya as "Bengalis," implying they are illegal migrants from neighboring Bangladesh.

The Rohingya counter that many of their families have been in Myanmar for generations. Effectively stateless, they are wanted by neither country and say the Myanmar government's campaign feels like an effort to have them systematically erased, AP reported.

The vast majority of Rohingya live in the state of Rakhine. President Thein Sein, a former general, is considering a "Rakhine Action Plan" that would make people who identify themselves as Rohingya not only ineligible for citizenship but candidates for detainment and possible deportation.

The resolution now before the General Assembly's human rights committee is nonbinding, but a strong vote in its support would send a message that international opinion is not on Myanmar's side.

The resolution expresses "serious concern" about the Rohingya's status. It calls on the government to "allow freedom of movement and equal access to full citizenship for the Rohingya minority" and to "allow self-identification."

Myanmar's plan worries some in the Muslim world, and the Organization for Islamic Cooperation pushed for strong language in the resolution.

The Rohingya have emerged as a sensitive issue as Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist state, tries to move away from decades of repressive military rule toward democracy.