India cannot deport Rohingya refugees, says UN official

Even as the Union Home Ministry is zeroing in on a plan to deport Rohingya refugees, the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) has criticised the measure, calling it inhuman and against international obligations. "I deplore current measures in India to deport Rohingyas at a time of such violence against them in their country. Some 40,000 Rohingyas have settled in India, and 16,000 of them have received refugee documentation. The Minister of State for Home Affairs has reportedly said that because India is not a signatory to the Refugee Convention the country can dispense with international law on the matter, together with basic human compassion," said Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, High Commissioner, UNHRC, and a Jordanian diplomat.

He said India cannot send the Rohingyas back to a place where they are facing atrocities. "By virtue of customary law, its ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the obligations of due process and the universal principle of non-refoulement, India cannot carry out collective expulsions, or return people to a place where they risk torture or other serious violations," he said.

Earlier, the US-based Human Rights Watch also made an appeal to the Modi government to not force ethnic Rohingya refugees to return to Myanmar. "India has a long record of helping vulnerable populations fleeing neighbouring countries, including Sri Lankans, Afghans, and Tibetans," said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Director, Human Rights Watch.

About 16,500 Rohingyas living in India are registered with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). They are largely living in Jammu and Kashmir, Telangana, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Rajasthan. The estimated1.2 million Rohingyas, most of whom live in Burma's Rakhine State, have long been targets of government discrimination, facilitated by their effective denial of citizenship under the 1982 Citizenship Law.