NHRC issues notice on Rohingyas

NHRC issues notice on Rohingyas

Context

• The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Friday issued a notice to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs over the calculated deportation of about 40,000 Rohingya immigrants from Myanmar, asking for a detailed report within four weeks.

The observation of NHRC

• The government’s plan to deport the Rohingyas by setting up “detention centres”.
• The NHRC observed that the refugees are no doubt foreign nationals but they are human beings, they fear persecution.
• Before taking such a big step, the Government of India has to look into every aspect of the situation.
• Keeping in focus the fact that the members of the Rohingya community, who have crossed into India and are residing here for long, have a fear of persecution once they are pushed back to their native country.
• The NHRC emphasized on the Supreme Court’s decisions that say the Right to Life and Personal Liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution apply to all, irrespective of their citizenship.
• It observed that its interference in the matter was appropriate given the potential implication on the human rights of the Rohingyas.
• The NHRC said that though India was not a signatory to the 1951 Convention on Refugees and the 1967 Protocol, it was a signatory to many United Nations and world conventions on human rights.
• Till this date, India has evolved a practical balance between human and humanitarian obligations on the one hand and security and national interests on the other.