The South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre (SAHRDC) has closely been monitoring the situation of the Burmese refugees in Asia with special focus on India.
Hundreds of pro-democracy activists took shelter in border states of North east India. The staunch support of pro-democracy movement by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi made students in Yangoon to seek help from India. However, after five years diplomatic stand-off, Prime Minister Narashima Rao sent Mr J N Dixit to Yangoon in April 1993 to mend fences with the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). The Deputy Foreign Minister of Burma also visited New Delhi early 1994 and exerted pressure upon New Delhi to stop anti-SLORC activities..
The Burmese refugees have either been pressurized to stop their pro-democracy activities or been asked to return to their country. The death sentence that awaits them in Yangoon does not count in geo-politics.
The handful pro-democracy activists in Delhi who are looked after by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have been under strain to return to Manipur. UNHCR officials have allegedly told the Burmese students to go back to their camps in Manipur and Mizoram. South Block has allegedly been asking the UNHCR to send them in border states of North east.
However, the situation of the Burmese refugees is worse in the North East, often harassed by the security forces. SAHRDC has appealed to stop further refoulement and involuntary repatriation of Chin refugees from India to Myanmar (Burma).
The State Government of Mizoram in North Eastern India and the Union Government of India initiated a campaign to expel from Mizoram 40,000 Chin refugees. Order No 37 of the Champhai Sub-Divisional Office of the Government of Mizoram officially closed the Myanmarese refugee camp at Champhai on 1 June 1995. This abrupt closure left thousands of Chins without housing or adequate provisions. Additionally, a Task Force under the chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner has already been created for the express purpose of crafting an effective and efficient plan for the mass expulsion of the Chins.
The Chin nationals, recognized by the United Nations as “indigenous peoples”, fled their homeland in Burma to escape widespread and systematic persecution at the hands of the country’s ruling junta, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). The atrocious human rights record of the SLORC regime requires no reiteration here. Often referred to as one of the worst human rights abusers in the world, the SLORC is repeatedly admonished by the international community. UN Special Rapporteur to Myanmar, Yozo Yakota, has documented the absence of any progress toward SLORC compliance with UN General Assembly Resolutions and UN Commission on Human Rights Resolutions. Since the well-publicized massacre of pro-democracy activists in 1988, fear of forced labor, arbitrary detention, extra-judicial executions, and torture drove the Chins in ever increasing numbers from Burma to Mizoram.
The first batch of refugees were sent back from India to Burma in September and October 1994. At least 1000 refugees, with estimates ranging up to 10,000, were expelled from India over a one month period. SAHRDC has learnt from reliable sources that these repatriated refugees were received by Myanmar military personnel whereupon the deportees were jailed pending hearings to be scheduled before military tribunals. Reports indicate that the returnees endured six months of pre-trial detention followed by grossly unfair military trials. The Government of India temporarily discontinued this repatriation program in October 1994 only to re-initiate the deportation of Chin refugees as of 15 June 1995.
The present repatriation takes place in the wake of Indo-Myanmar meetings on border trade at Rihkhawdar Village, Myanmar. SAHRDC has received reliable reports that the trade pact established at said meetings included an informal understanding calling for the repatriation of Chin refugees to Burma as well as joint Indo-Myanmar operations to quell both the domestic insurgency movements in Northeast India and the Burmese democratic forces currently living in India. The armies of India and Burma have begun on 12 April 1995 a series of joint military campaigns code named Operation Golden Bird. The Government of India maintains that members of the Chin National Front (CNF) have joined forces with domestic insurgent groups, the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). However, no evidence of this collaboration exists and the military commander of ULFA, Paresh Barua, has repeatedly denied any CNF involvement. The substance of the border trade agreement and the details of the military encounters under Operation Golden Bird point to a different rationale. The Government of India seeks the cooperation of the SLORC in combatting insurgency groups from the North-east who are based on the Burmese side of the border. In return, the Government of India agreed to deport not less than 30 persons per week as part of a larger cooperative effort between the two countries to eradicate their respective insurgency movements. The Chin National Front, it must be remembered, is a pro-democracy movement resisting one of the most brutal regimes in the world and, at most, comprises only a very small percentage of the 40,000 Chins in India. The SLORC will receive deportees from Thingsai village, Lunglei district at Thatlang, Myanmar and deportees from Chakkhang, Chhimtuipui district at Hmawngtlang, Myanmar.
At present, these refugees are denied the international legal protections embodied in the Convention Concerning the Status of Refugees. Remarkably, the Government of India has not as yet certified the Chin as refugees. The predicament of the 40,000 Chins in this regard is gravely complicated by the fact that the Government of India also denies UNHCR access to the seven states of the Northeast including Mizoram. The UNHCR has certified the refugee status of over 200 Burmese who were able to reach New Delhi to apply in person, however, this strategy is simply unworkable for the vast majority of the refugees. Following the closing of the Champhai Refugee Camp, nearly 600 families who were unable to assimilate swiftly and directly into the Mizo community have been left for dead without food, shelter, or medical provisions. Despite such unforgiving conditions, the Chin refugees will not voluntarily return to Myanmar.
SAHRDC interviewed Mr Salaizahungmang, a refugee from Thantlang Township, Chin State who lived in Champhai Refugee camp, Mizoram from October 1988 to February 1995. News reports concerning government policy directives have been circulated by The Sakeibaknei News Magazine and The Observer newspaper, both of Aizwal, Mizoram.
On 16 November 1995, three Burmese students participating in a peaceful hunger strike outside the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees were picked up by Delhi Police.
Though they were not unharmed and not charged with any crime, the actions of the Delhi Police constitute harassment. Most of the strikers were Chins. The elders among them told SAHRDC that if UNHCR does not take up their case as soon as possible they will continue their hunger strike till the end. They claim that they were cheated by UNHCR. While in Mizoram, seven among them received letters from UNHCR saying that they could come to Delhi with their families. They would be reimbursed for their travel expenses. However, when they reached Delhi they were only issued “under consideration certificate”. This certificate must be re-issued by UNHCR every two months. The refugees say they can not travel between New Delhi and Mizoram every two months. They also pleaded that there are only 20-30 Chins in Delhi who applied for refugee status so it should not be very big burden on the UNHCR to recognize them.
Many of these ethnic groups aspiring for democratic rights and greater autonomy joined the pro-democracy movement which came to the fore during the Rangoon uprising of 1988. This led to massive militarization of the Arakans and Chin inhabited areas. The Arakanese allege that presently over 30 Battalions of the Burmese Army under the Western Command are stationed in the Arakan region. Repression on these ethnic minorities often led to influx of refugees to India and Bangladesh.
Moreover, construction of dams in the Arakan province and the practice of forced labour caused hardship amongst the minorities. The ethnic minorities are made to plough the land to grow rice for the military.
Many Arakanese fled their traditional villages to seek refuge in India and Bangladesh. The first influx of the Arakanese refugees was reported in April 1993 when 45 families from two villages of Pagawa and Foaylak-wa of Northern Arakan Hill Tracts fled to India. Many of them were tortured and were conscripted for forced labour for the construction of Kyauktaw-Paletwa road and the military camps by the Burmese army of the Battalion No. 378 based in Kyauktaw town of Arakan.
Occasional refugee influx occurred in mid 1994 when over 20 families from the villagers of Mereit-wa, Ngoaylak-wa, Quandaung and Foaylak-wa, Kyauk-ten of northern Arakan had fled to India to escape from unpaid forced labour, portering and torture by the SLORC’s troops at the border area.
In 1995, there has been a fresh influx of Arakanese refugees. More than hundred families arrived in four batches by June 1995 and settled at Parva area which is about 50 miles from the Chhawgnte area of Chakma Autonomous District under the Mizoram State of India.
Though a few years have elapsed since the arrival of the ethnic minority refugees from Burma to India, they still do not get any assistance of food, medicine and clothing either from the government or any other agencies. They have been surviving under extremely difficult circumstances.
The areas where the Arakanese refugees reside are almost inaccessible and cut off from the world. There is an obvious dearth of information as to the circumstances and the present condition of the refugees. The lack of information has led to continuous flouting of the United Nations Principles on the Protection of Refugees by the Government of India and State Government of Mizoram. International community has remained unaware of the situation. The lack of information on the ethnic minority refugees from Burma makes it difficult to analyze the situation of the ethnic minority refugees.
The lack of food, medicines and other basic necessities have allegedly led to the death of five Arakanese children under the age of 7 years. A delegation of Arakanese refugees met the concerned officials of Ministry of Home Affairs. The officials told that they would seek information from the State Government of Mizoram.
The Arakanese refugee leaders met Mizoram State Government’s Minister of Home and Planning and Finance, Mr J Lasang Zuala in Aizwal. The refugee leaders also met Joint Secretary in the State Home Ministry of Mizoram. No help have been given to these refugees.
India is presently a member of the Executive Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. It entails the responsibility to adhere to the principles of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1966 Protocol. However, the utmost necessity for protection1 of refugees does not prevail over a state’s complex geopolitical relations and economic interests.
The ethnic Burmese refugees were refused refugee status across the region. In Bangladesh, the Chins and ethnic Arakanese are not recognized as refugees. They are often harassed by the security officials.
There are over 60,000 ethnic Keren, Mom, Kenernni and Tavoyan Burmese refugees in Thailand. For years, the Thai authorities refused to recognize them as refugees. UNHCR was not allowed to help the refugees. NGOs were allowed to help the refugees. However, in 1994, the Thai Government imposed new restrictions on the NGOs helping the Burmese.
Around 5000 Mon refugees were not granted refugee status and forcibly repatriated. The Burmese military will often cross international border and torch the makeshift refugee camps. The Thai military authorities for their alleged business links remained dormant on the issue. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has also reportedly refused to act on the issue and help the Mon refugees.
There are 10,000 Burmese Kachin refugees in Yunnan Province of China. They fled to escape from the oppression of the Burmese military junta.
Note: Protection is meant here consistant with various United Nations mechanisms dealing with protection of refugees.