[The Rohingya community is a Muslim minority that has faced repeated persecution and violence in Myanmar, which is predominantly Buddhist. Forcing Rohingya people to return to Myanmar could constitute refoulement, a crime under international law, E. Tendayi Achiume, a U.N. human rights expert, said in a statement.]
By Vidhi Doshi
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Seven
Rohingya men to be deported sit as Indian and Myanmar security officials
exchange
documents before their deportation on India-Myanmar border at
Moreh
in the northeastern state of Manipur, India, on Oct. 4. (Reuters)
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NEW
DELHI — India deported seven Rohingya Muslims who had
fled their native Myanmar back to their country Thursday, sparking concerns
that the move could endanger their lives and violate international laws that
protect refugees.
The move comes as India’s ruling Hindu
nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has escalated its rhetorical attacks on
migrants who have entered the country illegally. The party’s powerful
president, Amit Shah, has repeatedly promised to deport all such migrants, and
portrayed them as a security threat. At a public rally in September, he likened
them to “termites.”
The northeastern state of Assam, where the
seven men were imprisoned since 2012, has been ramping up efforts to identify
and deport immigrants who are in the country illegally.
“If someone enters the country illegally, we
will send them back,” Bharat Bhushan Babu, spokesman for India’s Home Affairs
Ministry, said. When asked if that included people fleeing violence in their
native countries, he said, “This is applicable to everyone.”
The Rohingya community is a Muslim minority
that has faced repeated persecution and violence in Myanmar, which is
predominantly Buddhist. Forcing Rohingya people to return to Myanmar could
constitute refoulement, a crime under international law, E. Tendayi Achiume, a
U.N. human rights expert, said in a statement.
“The Indian Government has an international
legal obligation to fully acknowledge the institutionalized discrimination,
persecution, hate and gross human rights violations these people have faced in
their country of origin and provide them the necessary protection,” the
statement said.
Achiume also raised concerns about the men’s
extended detention in India and the country’s failure to give them adequate
legal counsel.
An exodus of more than 700,000 Rohingya from
Myanmar to Bangladesh in 2017 drew the world’s attention to Myanmar’s human
rights abuses against its Muslim minority. The United Nations has called it a
genocide. Myanmar’s government has repeatedly denied that charge and accused
Rohingya communities of setting their own villages ablaze to draw the world’s
sympathy.
An additional 40,000 Rohingya refugees are
thought to be in India, although only 18,000 are registered with the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Many of India’s Rohingya refugees came
before the most recent wave of violence in 2017. A statement from the UNHCR
said the seven men deported Thursday were not registered with the agency.
On Tuesday, India’s home minister said the
government had asked states to start collecting Rohingya biometrics so they
could be sent back to Myanmar.
Under increasing international pressure to
allow the Rohingya refugees to return, Myanmar’s government has issued notices
on social media purportedly showing a handful of Rohingya going back to their
homes and receiving supplies from the government.
According to officials who briefed The
Washington Post on a recent trip to Rakhine state, two families have been
resettled. But experts have cast doubt on their authenticity, with news reports
and locals in Rakhine state saying the repatriations were staged.
The U.N. statement also said conditions in
Myanmar were not “conducive for safe, dignified and sustainable returns for
Rohingya.”
“These individuals should be allowed to make
an informed decision about their return to Myanmar in the current conditions
and/or access their right to seek safe asylum,” the statement said.
Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, a senior police
officer from Assam state, said the police were not considering the Rohingya’s
ethnic or religious background when deporting them. “I’m not bothered if they
are Rohingya or Muslim or Hindu or Christian. We’re not bothered by caste and
creed. We are bothered about the law,” he said.
The men are from Kyauk Daw township in
central Rakhine. They were arrested and jailed at the Silchar central prison in
Assam in 2012 and charged with irregular entry, according to India’s Ministry
of External Affairs.
The ministry said in a statement that
Myanmar’s government had identified the men as “residents” of Myanmar and had
provided “Certificates of Identity to facilitate the travel of these
individuals to their hometowns in Rakhine state.” The statement said the men
had asked to be repatriated in 2016 and that the ministry on Wednesday had
confirmed “their willingness to be repatriated.”
Full citizenship — and not “residency” or
“certificates of identity” — has been one of the key demands of Rohingya
activists seeking repatriation.
Rohingya leaders say Myanmar’s refusal to
acknowledge the Rohingya’s long history in the country is a key reason for the
discrimination against them. Rohingya are often incorrectly termed illegal
immigrants from Bangladesh and referred to as “Bengalis” — stripping them of
their rights as equal citizens of Myanmar.
Human rights lawyer Prashant Bhushan had
urged India’s Supreme Court to stop the deportations, or at least allow the
United Nations to speak to the deportees to ensure they knew the risks of
returning to Myanmar. On Thursday, Ranjan Gogoi, India’s chief justice, said
the court would not interfere with the deportation.
Assam, where the men were arrested, has made
huge efforts to “detect-delete-deport” illegal migrants in recent years. The
state has a long border with Bangladesh and huge migration flows that many say threatens
Assamese jobs and culture.
In July, the state of Assam released a list
of its citizens, but excluded 4 million people. Many, especially Muslims who
were left off the list, fear it could lead to detentions and deportations.
Shibani Mahtani in Hong Kong contributed to
this report.
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