Skip to main content

Rohingyas in India Demand Full Refugee Status

Men, women and children from Burma's Rohingya minority group take shelter in a makeshift camp in New Delhi's Vasant Vihar neighborhood. (Photo: Zarni Mann / The Irrawaddy)
In an echo of the Occupy movement that attracted so much attention around the world last year, hundreds of Rohingya asylum seekers have camped out for nearly four weeks in front of the UN refugee agency’s office in an upscale New Delhi neighborhood to demand full recognition as refugees.
The protesters, who belong to a Muslim ethnic minority persecuted in Burma and shunned by Bangladesh, say they are being unfairly discriminated against by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) because they are denied services granted to refugees.

“We are recognized as asylum seekers, while Chin, Arakanese and some others from Burma are recognized as refugees. We have been discriminated against as we are not receiving any assistance from the UNHCR, like education for our children, health care and financial support, which others are receiving,” said Shom Shul Alomr, one of the protesters.

“We will not leave here till we are recognized as refugees,” he added.

The men, women and children now living makeshift camps in New Delhi’s exclusive Visant Vihar neighborhood say they made their way here from Buthitaung and Maungdaw Townships in Burma’s Arakan State via Bangladesh. Long scattered around India, where they have lived for three to 10 years, they say have gathered here to demand their rights.

“I came from Maungdaw. I fled from the Burmese government’s human rights abuses and formerly lived in Bangladesh. Later, we moved to India because we believed that this is a democratic country with sympathy and peace, where we can take refuge. If we cannot live here as refugees, we want to go to another country where we can live as refugees,” said one of the protesters.

Local residents have expressed sympathy for the plight of the Rohingyas, but also say they fear that their presence disturbs the peace and could cause health problems.

“We are sympathetic to them, but we don’t feel safe,” said one resident. “How can we live peacefully when there is a crowd out there day and night in our neighborhood? Moreover, the area is becoming dirty due to a lack of proper sanitization.”

Others said the the Indian government should do more to assist the asylum seekers.

“The government of India is providing free education to everyone who lives in the country. I have many refugee and asylum seekers friends from different neighboring countries who send their children to government schools. I hope the government and UNHCR can help them,” said a local taxi driver.

Officials from the UNHCR said they are having an ongoing dialogue with the group to find the best way to assist them.

“There are different approaches to treating refugees in India. For this group of people, we believe the asylum-seeker status protects their interests,” said Nayana Bose, the UNHCR’s associate external relations officer.

“The majority of this group is dispersed and lives in areas far away from Delhi, where UNHCR is not present. It is not possible for UNHCR to provide support services in all the different parts of India, for reasons both of lack of proximity as well as lack of resources,” she explained.

“However, the agency does have a responsibility towards persons of its concern no matter where in the country they are located. For this reason, UNHCR supports them to the extent possible through governmental, NGO and other partners,” she added.

“As for right to health care and education, this is available for everybody. They can access free education at government schools.”

According to the UNHCR, there are around 1,800 Rohingya registered as asylum seekers in India. Each one has been issued an identity card to protect them from harassment, arbitrary arrest, detention and expulsion, and to prevent them from being forced back to a country where their life or freedom may be in danger. The UNHCR says this gives them the same protection as refugees.

create here

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Rohingya MP U Shwe Maung undergoes questioning

Rohingya MP U Shwe Maung By Kayleigh Long Myanmar Times February 07, 2014 Union Solidarity and Development Party MP U Shwe Maung has been questioned by police in Nay Pyi Taw over comments he made to Democratic Voice of Burma about possible police involvement in a fire that broke out in a Muslim village in Rakhine State late last month. More than a dozen homes were destroyed in the blaze at Du Chee Yar Tan West village near Maungdaw in northern Rakhine State on January 28. U Shwe Maung said the February 4 interrogation came at the behest of President U Thein Sein, who sent a letter to Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann requesting permission for police question the MP. The interview lasted about 90 minutes and was conducted at his USDP living quarters in Nay Pyi Taw. It focused on allegations that U Shwe Maung, a Rohingya, had defamed the state and police by saying that residents believed security forces were involved in starting the fire. ...

ERC representatives and Dr.Maung Zarni partook a seminar in Sweden

ERC Delegation Meet Dr. Zarni Mohamed Farooq ( Mayu Press) May 7, 2013 The Stockholm University of Sweden held a seminar on “Forum for Asian Studies” at William Olsson Hall, the department of geological science on 3rd May 2013. It depicts Rohingya tragedy and Human Right Eradication in western Burma. Burma (Myanmar) is a nation with ambition to make their name and discharge their White Man’s Burden, one of the world’s hottest assignments in the world of diplomats, development consultants, NGO experts and academic researchers, a lucrative ‘frontier’ market for investors, venture capitalists and multinationals, a must-go for both citizen-tourists and global luminaries. This lecture will critically discuss the rose-tinted view of reforms in Burma against the troubling realties as lived by the people of that country, including full-scale Rohingya genocide of 40 years, the 60-years of Burmese army’s un-ending internal colonial wars against the Christian Kachins, the Kare...

রোহিঙ্গা শরণার্থীদের কোনো ভবিষ্যৎ নেই

বাংলাদেশের আশ্রয়শিবিরে বসবাসকারী রোহিঙ্গা শরণার্থীদের কোনোই ভবিষ্যৎ নেই বলে মন্তব্য করেছেন রোহিঙ্গা বিষয়ক আইনজীবী রাজিয়া সুলতানা। তিনি এই আশ্রয়শিবিরকে চিড়িয়াখানার সঙ্গে তুলনা করেছেন এবং রোহিঙ্গাদের ফেরত পাঠানোর জন্য একটি উপযুক্ত কৌশল নির্ধারণের আহ্বান জানিয়েছেন। কয়েকদিন আগে যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের পররাষ্ট্র মন্ত্রণালয়ের ইন্টারন্যাশনাল ওমেন অব কারেজ এওয়ার্ড (আইডব্লিউসিএ) পুরস্কার পান রাজিয়া সুলতানা। সাহসিকতা দেখানোর জন্য সারা বিশ্ব থেকে বাছাই করা ১০ জন নারীকে এ পুরস্কার দেয়া হয়।  রাজিয়া সুলতানার একটি সাক্ষাৎকার নিয়েছে বার্তা সংস্থা রয়টার্স। তাতে তিনি রোহিঙ্গাদের পরিণতি নিয়ে হতাশা প্রকাশ করেন। রাজিয়া সুলতানা বলেন, মিয়ানমারের মুসলিম সংখ্যালঘু সম্প্রদায়ের রোহিঙ্গা শরণার্থীদের মধ্যে আশার অভাব রয়েছে। ২০১৭ সালের আগস্টে মিয়ানমারের সেনাবাহিনীর নৃশংস নির্যাতনের ফলে তারা পালিয়ে এসে বাংলাদেশে আশ্রয় নিতে বাধ্য হয়। রাজিয়া সুলতানা বলেন, এই আশ্রয় শিবিরে যত বেশি সময় শরণার্থীরা থাকবেন ততই পরিস্থিতির অবনতি ঘটতে থাকবে। ওই সাক্ষাৎকারে তিনি আরো বলেন, হ্যাঁ, এ কথা সত্য যে, শরণার্থীরা খাবার পাচ্ছে। কিন...