Notice: Function _load_textdomain_just_in_time was called incorrectly. Translation loading for the onecom-wp domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /customers/d/b/2/rohingyapost.com/httpd.www/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6121 {"id":27184,"date":"2021-03-10T13:44:50","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T13:44:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/?p=27184"},"modified":"2021-03-10T13:44:50","modified_gmt":"2021-03-10T13:44:50","slug":"india-halt-all-forced-returns-to-myanmar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/india-halt-all-forced-returns-to-myanmar\/","title":{"rendered":"India: Halt All Forced Returns to Myanmar"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Human Rights Watch<\/p>\n

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Returned Refugees Face Risks to Life, Liberty Under Oppressive Junta<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

(New York) \u2013 The\u00a0Indian<\/a>\u00a0government should halt any plans to deport ethnic Rohingya and others to\u00a0Myanmar<\/a>, where they would be at risk from its oppressive military junta, Human Rights Watch said today. On March 6, 2021, the authorities in Jammu and Kashmir\u00a0detained nearly 170 Rohingya<\/a>, sent them to a holding center as part of a verification process, and said they plan\u00a0to deport them<\/a>. Myanmar authorities have also asked the Indian government to\u00a0return eight police officers<\/a>\u00a0who with their families sought refuge in India after the military coup.<\/p>\n

Since the February 1 coup, when the Myanmar military overthrew the democratically elected government, the security forces have used\u00a0excessive and lethal force against peaceful protesters<\/a>\u00a0throughout the country. They have killed\u00a0at least 55 people<\/a>\u00a0and carried out hundreds of arbitrary arrests and detentions including enforced disappearances. The junta has\u00a0amended laws to strip away basic rights<\/a>, brought politically motivated prosecutions, and intermittently blocked internet access.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny plan to forcibly return Rohingya and others to Myanmar will put them back in the grip of the oppressive military junta that they fled,\u201d said\u00a0Meenakshi Ganguly<\/a>, South Asia director. \u201cMyanmar\u2019s long-abusive military is even more lawless now that it is back in power, and the Indian government should uphold its international law obligations and protect those in need of refuge within its borders.\u201d<\/p>\n

The recent detention of Rohingya in Jammu and Kashmir follows the Indian government\u2019s\u00a0announcement in 2017<\/a>\u00a0that it would\u00a0deport all Rohingya<\/a>, whom they consider to be \u201cillegal immigrants.\u201d Since October 2018, the Indian government has\u00a0deported 12 Rohingya to Myanmar<\/a>, claiming that they left voluntarily.<\/p>\n

Many Rohingya in Jammu and Kashmir\u00a0say that they hold identity documents<\/a>\u00a0issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and that they feared for their safety in Myanmar. Over a million Rohingya have fled Myanmar, primarily to Bangladesh, most of them since the military\u2019s campaign of ethnic cleansing that began in August 2017. The 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Myanmar\u2019s Rakhine State face severe repression and violence, with no freedom of movement, no access to citizenship, or other basic rights. Abuses against the Rohingya in Rakhine State amount to the\u00a0crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution<\/a>, Human Rights Watch said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not ready to go back, until the situation improves in Myanmar,\u201d said Mohammad Saleem, 42, a Rohingya refugee in Jammu and Kashmir. \u201cIt is extremely distressing for us to be sent back to Myanmar against our wishes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indian authorities nonetheless say that they will deport Rohingya irregular immigrants not holding valid travel documents required under the Foreigners Act. But any forcible returns to Myanmar will violate the international legal principle of\u00a0non-refoulement, which prohibits countries from returning anyone to a country where they may face persecution, torture, or other serious harm, Human Rights Watch said.\u00a0Although India is not a party to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol,\u00a0non-refoulement\u00a0is recognized as customary international law and is binding on all countries.<\/p>\n

Human Rights Watch has extensively documented\u00a0rampant<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0systemic<\/a>\u00a0human rights violations against the Rohingya in Myanmar. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in January 2020\u00a0imposed provisional measures on Myanmar<\/a>\u00a0to prevent genocide while it adjudicates alleged violations of the Genocide Convention. The International Criminal Court (ICC) in November 2019\u00a0began an investigation<\/a>\u00a0into Myanmar\u2019s forced deportation of Rohingya and related crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n

India has an estimated 40,000 Rohingya, at least 16,500 of whom are registered with UNHCR. Since 2016, extremist Hindu groups have targeted Rohingya refugees in Jammu and called for their eviction. A public anti-Rohingya campaign, claiming that they are \u201cterrorists,\u201d instigated vigilante-style violence, including a\u00a0reported arson attack<\/a>\u00a0by unidentified assailants on five Rohingya houses in April 2017.<\/p>\n

In February, at least\u00a081 Rohingya refugees from the Bangladesh<\/a>\u00a0refugee camps, were found crammed in a fishing boat that had been drifting in the Andaman sea after its engine failed on the way to Malaysia. They were suffering severe hunger and dehydration; eight people died. After the refugees sent their GPS location to relatives, the Indian navy and coast guard located the boat and provided food, medical, and technical aid. The Indian government has sought to send the refugees back to Bangladesh, which has\u00a0refused to accept them<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Police in India\u2019s Mizoram state said that an\u00a0estimated 100 people<\/a>, mostly police and their families, had crossed the border from Myanmar. Several Myanmar police officers said they fled after refusing to follow orders and use violence against those protesting the coup, which had deposed the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi\u2019s National League for Democracy. Mizoram state officials have provided humanitarian assistance to the refugees, and the National Campaign Against Torture, a Delhi-based group, has\u00a0called on Indian authorities<\/a>, including the National Human Rights Commission, to urgently process their asylum requests.<\/p>\n

The Indian government has\u00a0expressed concern over the coup<\/a>\u00a0saying, \u201cWe believe that the rule of law and the democratic process must be upheld.\u201d The UN special envoy on Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener has\u00a0called on the UN Security Council<\/a>, of which India is presently a member, for \u201cresolute and coherent\u201d action \u201cputting the security forces on notice and standing with the people of Myanmar firmly, in support of the clear November election results.\u201d<\/p>\n

India should not deport Rohingya or others, including the police officers and their families, to Myanmar until the Indian government can appropriately determine whether they are seeking asylum. If so, they have a right to a fair and efficient review of their claim. Those found to be refugees should have access to education, health care, and employment. Anyone slated for deportation should have access to a fair procedure to determine whether they face harm on return.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s failure to provide fair asylum procedures or allow UNHCR to make refugee determinations violates the government\u2019s international legal obligations, Human Rights Watch said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Myanmar military\u2019s increasingly brutal repression following the coup puts any returnees at serious risk of abuse,\u201d Ganguly said. \u201cInstead of putting more lives in harm\u2019s way, India should join other governments in pressing the military junta to restore democratic rule.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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By Human Rights Watch Returned Refugees Face Risks to Life, Liberty Under Oppressive Junta (New York) \u2013 The\u00a0Indian\u00a0government should halt any plans to deport ethnic Rohingya and others to\u00a0Myanmar, where they would be at risk from its oppressive military junta, Human Rights Watch said today. On March 6, 2021, the authorities in Jammu and Kashmir\u00a0detained […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oct_exclude_from_cache":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[203],"tags":[878,250,220,366,227,869,249,215],"class_list":["post-27184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-refugee-news","tag-forced-repatriation","tag-human-rights","tag-india","tag-jammu-kashmir","tag-myanmar","tag-non-refoulement","tag-refugees","tag-rohingya"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27184"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27186,"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27184\/revisions\/27186"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}