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USIA REPORT ON BURMESE MUSLIMS BEIN



Subject: USIA REPORT ON BURMESE MUSLIMS BEING TORTURED BY SLORC & FORCED LABOR IN BURMA

ACCESSION NUMBER:00000
FILE ID:97071805.POL
DATE:07/18/97
TITLE:18-07-97  BURMESE MUSLIMS ALLEGE TORTURE AND FORCED LABOR IN MYANMAR

TEXT:
(UNHCR requests access to refugees in Bangladesh) (310)
By Wendy Lubetkin
USIA European Correspondent

Geneva -- The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says an estimated
5,000 to 7,000 Burmese Muslims have entered Bangladesh over the past
two months, some of them claiming that they were tortured or subject
to forced labor in Burma.

"We are not being given access to these people," said UNHCR
spokesperson Pam O'Toole. "Many of them are being jailed or forcibly
returned to Myanmar."

While it is true that people often cross the border at this time of
the year for economic reasons, O'Toole said, "some of the new arrivals
have told reporters that they are fleeing because of excessive forced
labor and some have even alleged that they have been tortured."

UNHCR has asked the Bangladesh government for access to the refugees,
but has not yet received a reply.

UNHCR believes some of the refugees "may genuinely fear persecution if
they return to Myanmar," O'Toole said. "We again call on the
Bangladesh government to allow us to interview these people and
establish who might be deserving of UNHCR protection."

Beginning in 1991, some 250,000 Burmese Muslims have crossed into
Bangladesh, but most have since been repatriated. Of the approximately
21,000 who remain in the country, some 7,500 have been cleared by the
Burmese government for return. But Bangladesh has told UNHCR it wants
all the refugees to return home.

O'Toole said UNHCR is appealing to Bangladesh to "show flexibility in
their treatment of the final caseload."

"Quite apart from the problem that many are not cleared by the Myanmar
authorities as genuine Myanmar citizens, we believe that a proportion
of the remaining refugees may also risk persecution if they return
home," she said.