UN concern over plan to deport Rohingya

gauhati — India plans to send seven Rohingya Muslims back to Myanmar, in the first deportation of members of the Myanmar minority group since the Home Ministry ordered state authorities last year to identify and deport them and other illegal immigrants.

Senior police officer Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said on Wednesday that the seven were arrested in 2012 for entering India illegally and have been held in an Assam state prison.

Mahanta said the seven are likely to be handed over to Myanmar border guards on Thursday. India has obtained travel permits for them from Myanmar authorities.

On Wednesday, the seven were taken in a bus from the prison to the border town of Moreh in Manipur state, Mahanta said.

Meanwhile, a United Nations legal expert has voiced concern over India’s plan. “Given the ethnic identity of the men, this is a flagrant denial of their right to protection and could amount to refoulement,” UN Special Rapporteur on racism, Tendayi Achiume said.

“The Indian government has an international legal obligation to fully acknowledge the institutionalised discrimination, persecution, hate and gross human rights violations these people have faced in their country of origin and provide them the necessary protection,” the law professor said. Achiume said New Delhi was obliged to refer Rohingyas under its custody to the UN refugee agency to assess their protection needs.

More than 700,000 ethnic Rohingya fled an offensive by Myanmar troops launched nearly a year ago in reprisal for attacks on border posts by Rohingya rebels who took up arms against the ill-treatment of the stateless minority.

The United Nations has termed the repression “ethnic cleansing” and ‘genocide’. Myanmar’s army has denied nearly all wrongdoing, insisting its campaign was justified to root out Rohingya insurgents.

The UN expert said she was “appalled” at the amount of time the seven men from Kyauk Daw township in central Rakhine state had been detained. “Prolonged detention of this kind is prohibited,” Achiume said. “It could be considered arbitrary, and could even fall under the category of inhuman and degrading treatment.”

The scheduled deportations follow an Indian government order last year to return Rohingyas, but the Supreme Court is still considering a petition challenging the order on the grounds it was unconstitutional.

The UN expert said nearly 200 Rohingya are known to be detained in India on charges of illegal entry.