Rights groups urge India to honour duty to Rohingyas:

Rights groups urge India to honour duty to Rohingyas:

Days after the United Nations expressed concern over the government’s plans to deport about 40,000 Rohingya immigrants from Myanmar, international human rights agencies Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called upon India to “abide by international legal obligations” and not force them to return, which they termed an “outrageous” move.

Context

•  Rohingyas are the muslim minority community of Myanmar who fled to India after violence in the Western Rakhine State of Myanmar. Rohingyas refugees were mainly settled in Jammu, Hyderabad, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi-NCR and Rajasthan.
• The United Nations has expressed concern over the India’s plans to deport about 40,000 Rohingya immigrants from Myanmar.

Human Rights Watch & Amnesty International Concern:

• International human rights agencies Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called upon India to “abide by international legal obligations” and not force them to return, which they termed an “outrageous” move.
• According to the Human Rights Watch “While India is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol, it is still bound by customary international law not to forcibly return any refugee to a place where they face a serious risk of persecution or threats to their life or freedom”.
• The Amnesty International referred international principle of “non-refoulement” adopted by the UN and stated that “Indian authorities are well aware of the human rights violations Rohingya Muslims have had to face in Myanmar and it would be outrageous to abandon them to their fates”.
• Also, the Office of UN Secretary General had expressed concerns over the Indian Home Ministry statement on identifying and deporting Rohingyas, including about 16,500 who have been registered by the UN High Commission for Refugees in India.

India’s stand on immigration of Rohingyas

• India is in discussions with the Myanmar and Bangladesh governments on the plans to deport Rohingyas.
• India has stated that the government was planning to set up “detention centres” for the refugees, and if required “push them back” over the India-Myanmar border, if Myanmar refuses to accept the refugees back.
• In the Parliament, Mr. Rijiju had said that the government has directed States to conduct surveys and prepare to deport Rohingyas in a “continuous manner.
• The Home Ministry has issued an advisory to all State governments on August 8 and the state government were told that the “powers to identify and deport the foreign nationals staying illegally in the country” delegated to them, and that they should “sensitise all law enforcement and intelligence agencies” to the risk from Rohingyas.
• India’s decision is in step with the Myanmar government’s decision to “disassociate itself” from a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution in March this year proposed by the European Union and the United States to enquire into human rights abuses in Myanmar against the Muslim minority Rohingya community.

Conclusion:

•  India’s decision to deport Rohingys of Mynamar is to check the infiltration from Rakhine State of Myanmar into Indian territory.
• The illegal immigration of Rohingyas community poses security challenges to India besides being burden on the limited resources of the country