By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: Asylum seekers must not be seen from religious angle while granting or refusing them refugee status in any country. These people flee their homeland sometimes seeking freedom from political tyranny or intensive religious discrimination and sometimes a mix of both. But at the end of the day when they land in a foreign country their situation is so pathetic that they deserve sympathy on humanitarian ground, not any other one.
While the press in last one month has extensively reported on the condition of asylum seekers from Myanmar in Delhi the government has adopted a clear negligent approach to them – all of them happen to be Muslims. The UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) hasn’t been forthcoming either.
These Muslim asylum seekers from Myanmar, whose number is said to be around three thousand, have been in different parts of India for five to seven years. But in April this year they gathered in New Delhi to put pressure on both UNHCR and the central government to grant them status of refugees as many thousands of refugees from other communities from the same Myanmar were granted refugee status in India in last one decade.
But when they reached Delhi in April and camped near UNHCR office in Vasant Vihar they found both the UN body and state as well as central government less than sympathetic, rather hostile as the police kept them in a jungle area with no access to water, toilet and food. Two weeks back they thrown out of the place and kept in another secluded jungle area of Vasant Kunj on Mahipalpur Road. And ultimately on 15th May the police asked them to leave Delhi. They are said to have returned to places in the country where they had been living for last some years.
Why this hostile approach to Myanmar Muslims?
They were not the first group of people to seek refuge in India. In fact our country, due to a long and strong tradition of hospitality, today hosts more than two lakh refugees – 92% of them are Tibetans and Sri Lankans who are directly protected and assisted by Government of India. There would be negligible or no presence of Muslims among these Tibetan and Sri Lankan refugees.
Muslim refugees of Myanmar at Vasant Kunj area in New Delhi
According to the data provided to TCN by UNHCR official, there are 218,300 refugees in India. Of them, the Government of India directly protects and assists Tibetan and Sri Lankan refugees. Tibetans (almost all Buddhists) are 100,000 plus and Sri Lankans about 68,000 – all in camps. Another 33,000 Sri Lankan refugees are also in India but not in camps. Only 17,300 refugees from other countries are registered under the UNHCR-India mandate.
Latest Figures of Refugees in India by April 30, 2012
Refugees directly protected and assisted by India: About Two Lakh
Tibetans: 100,000 plus (in camps)
Sri Lankan s: 68,000 (in camps)
Sri Lankans: 33,000 (not in camps)
Other nationalities include refugees from Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Somalia and Sudan.
It is also not that India and UNHCR have not given refugee status to people from Myanmar in the past. The data provided by UNHCR shows that out of 17,300 refugees registered with UNHCR include 6,977 people from Myanmar. While the UNHCR did not provide community-wise breakup of this figure, but these Muslim asylum seekers allege that those granted refugee status are members of other communities. People from Myanmar started entering India in the year 2000.
Refugees registered under UNHCR’s mandate in India: 17,300
Afghan: 9,157
Myanmar: 6,977
Other Nationalities: 1,166
Asylum Seekers registered under UNHCR’s mandate in India: 3,572
Afghan: 786
Myanmar: 2,599
Others: 187
(Source: UNHCR-India)
Refugees in India by January 2011
Refugees: 184,821
Asylum seekers: 3,746
(Source: UNHCR-India)
Year-wise presence of refugees from Myanmar in India since 2000
|
Year |
Refugees from Myanmar |
|
2000 |
779 |
|
2001 |
876 |
|
2002 |
1043 |
|
2003 |
940 |
|
2004 |
1162 |
|
2005 |
1471 |
|
2006 |
1812 |
|
2007 |
1812 |
|
2008 |
1967 |
|
2009 |
2952 |
|
2010 |
4630 |
|
|
|
|
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
|
Afghanistan |
12,760 |
11,972 |
11,371 |
10,283 |
9,761 |
9,700 |
9,472 |
9,011 |
8,441 |
8,528 |
9,094 |
|
Bangladesh |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bosnia and Herzegovina |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
China |
92,343 |
92,344 |
92,346 |
92,349 |
94,349 |
77,200 |
77,200 |
77,200 |
100,003 |
100,003 |
100,003 |
|
Congo |
1 |
2 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cuba |
|
5 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Côte d’Ivoire |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
|
Democratic Republic of the Congo |
|
|
|
|
|
|
6 |
6 |
6 |
7 |
11 |
|
Eritrea |
|
|
1 |
0 |
6 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
14 |
16 |
35 |
|
Ethiopia |
10 |
10 |
14 |
11 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
7 |
9 |
|
Iran (Islamic Republic of) |
114 |
95 |
87 |
73 |
59 |
41 |
44 |
45 |
62 |
46 |
69 |
|
Iraq |
30 |
24 |
26 |
22 |
20 |
17 |
12 |
53 |
109 |
130 |
122 |
|
Israel |
4 |
4 |
16 |
14 |
7 |
6 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Kazakhstan |
|
|
|
3 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
Lao People’s Democratic Republic |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
Liberia |
5 |
5 |
7 |
7 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
Myanmar |
779 |
876 |
1,043 |
940 |
1,162 |
1,471 |
1,812 |
1,812 |
1,967 |
2,952 |
4,630 |
|
Pakistan |
|
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Russian Federation |
|
3 |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rwanda |
6 |
6 |
6 |
7 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Serbia |
5 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sierra Leone |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
|
Somalia |
84 |
68 |
68 |
66 |
27 |
104 |
130 |
221 |
489 |
655 |
747 |
|
Sri Lanka |
64,743 |
64,061 |
63,767 |
60,922 |
57,274 |
50,730 |
69,609 |
72,934 |
73,286 |
72,883 |
69,998 |
|
Sudan |
56 |
67 |
87 |
55 |
8 |
3 |
12 |
15 |
16 |
14 |
18 |
|
Syrian Arab Republic |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4 |
0 |
|
|
|
Togo |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
Turkmenistan |
|
1 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
West Bank and Gaza Strip |
|
|
|
|
|
|
61 |
227 |
141 |
77 |
78 |
|
Yemen |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
2 |
Source: UNHCR-India
UNHCR’s operation in India is based in New Delhi and has an office in Chennai. In New Delhi, UNHCR conducts mandate Refugee Status Determination (RSD) for individual asylum seekers from non-neighbouring countries, with the exception of Myanmar. The UNHCR office in Chennai supports the voluntary repatriation of Sri Lankan refugees to their home country.
Website: http://unhcr.org.in/