I am wondering if anyone, especially anthropologists, can help us.
A few Burmese refugees in India are trying to resettle in New Zealand
under the Family Support category. The major problem is the fact that
they do not have identity documents the NZ High Commission would accept
- either a birth certificate, passport or the national identity card (a
large majority leave these behind when they enter India through the
north eastern borders and passports, we are informed are difficult to
acquire). All Burmese nationals however have the "Family Chart" - I
believe this is a document that is drawn up for all families in Burma,
which gives information about the number of people, their age, sex,
occupation, address. This document is issued under the seal of the
Department of Immigration of the Union of Myanmar. This seems to me to
be sufficient if all that the NZ High Commission wants to do is to
verify the authenticity of the applicant.
I am however told that this has not been accepted by the people in the
High Commission in Delhi because they do not recognize it. Maybe its the
first time that they have come across this very non traditional document.
So my question is - are there any documents that explain the
difficulties for people to get these documents and given information
about these various kinds of identity documents and their use and
authenticity? Any "Burma expert" who has written anything??
Thanks for you assistance! I look forward to hearing from you.
Sahana Basavapatba,
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