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Date : 8th September 1998

REFUGEES IN SOUTH ASIA MET IN NEW DELHI


A Meeting of the refugees in South Asia took place in New Delhi on 5-7
September 1998 in New Delhi. The meeting was attended by 19 refugees'
representatives from Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, Sri Lanka and Kashmir. At
the same time, the parallel meeting on Refugees and Forced Migration -
Need for National Laws and Regional Cooperation took place in New Delhi on
5-7 September 1998. It was attended by representatives of six South Asian
countries : India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The
two meetings held a public meeting jointly in the evening of 7th September
1998. The followings are the resolutions of the refugees' meeting.



Analysis of the roots and causes of being refugees in South Asia


	We, the refugees from Afghanistan, Burma, Bhutan, Iraq, Sri Lanka
and Kashmir have come together, shared our experiences and discussed the
roots and causes of us being refugees in South Asia.

	Due to the lack of democracy and state repression by the military
regime in Burma, people from Burma are taking shelter in various parts of
India. There are about 500 refugees living in Delhi and most of them are
recognized by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). There
are between 40,000 and 50,000 refugees from Burma are taking shelter in
Mizoram State of India and most of them are Chin nationals from Burma.
There are about 3,000 Akakanese from Burma currently taking shelter in the
border areas of Mizoram State of India. The Chin nationals from Burma left
the country due to repression by the ruling military regime in Burma,
religious persecution and forced conversion by the authorities in Burma,
being deprived of fundamental human rights such as right to culture and
language, and economic upheavals in the country. The Arakanese nationals
from Burma left the country due to Burma's army atrocities, forced
labouring, armed conflicts and economic conditions in Arakan State of
Burma. About 1,000 Burman nationals are taking shelter in Mizoram State of
India. About 2,000 Kachins from Burma are currently taking shelter between
Arunachal Pradesh of India and Burma due to civil war. The place is called
"Pinaung Zup".

	Due to the lack of democratic governance and repressive National
Policies of the government in Bhutan, nearly 1/6 of the total population
of Bhutan becomes refugees in Nepal and India. About 98,000 Bhutanese
refugees are living in Nepal and they are recognized as refugees by UNHCR.
Between 15-20,000 Bhutanese refugees are currently taking shelter in West
Bengal, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh States of India. They are not
recognized as refugees by UNHCR. The repressive laws of the government of
Bhutan such as marriage act, economic policy, code of conduct and ethnic
cleansing of the Bhutanese government forced these refugees to take
shelter in its neighbouring countries.

	Due to the foreign occupation of Afghanistan in 1979, about 65,000
Afghanistan nationals out of total 6 million refugees came to India to
take refuge. And the ongoing- civil war forced its citizens to flee from
the country and take shelter in India. Currently, there are about 45,000
Afghanistan refugees taking shelter in India. Afghanistan refugees are
also in Pakistan and Iran too. Estimated 10 lakhs and 15,000 people were
killed since after 1979. Even after foreign troops left the country, the
people of Afghanistan are being sandwiched among the armed groups being
supported by certain foreign countries.

	Due to deprivation of right to language of the Tamils in Sri
Lanka, about 150,000 Tamils from Sri Lanka came to India for shelter after
1983. Moreover, Tamils are not treated as equal citizens in Sri Lanka. And
due to civil war and its continuing result of atrocities by the government
forces, many Tamils are still leaving the country and taking shelter in
India. Currently, there are about 70,000 Sri Lanka refugees in 133 camps
in Tamil Nadu of India. There are about 80,000 Sri Lanka refugees are
living outside these camps in Tamil Nadu State.

	Due to ethnic cleansing and oppression of a particular religious
minority group by a majority group in Kashmir in 1990, more than 400,000
Kshmiri Hindu pundits had to flee from Kashmir and take shelter in other
parts of India. Even after 8 years had passes, the Kashmiris pundits are
unable to go back to their homeplaces. They are the refugees inside their
own country.

	Due to the dictatorship in Iraq, about a hundred of Iraqis are
currently taking shelter in India.


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The participants of the Meet proposed the following suggestions for the
different Agencies in the region:

To the Governments in South Asia

1.	The Governments should officially recognize the refugees, who are
taking shelter in the region.
2.	There should be effective National Laws to protect the refugees in
all countries.
3.	National policies on refugees should be evolved in all countries
to free the refugees from police harassment and guarantee the freedom of
movement.
4.	Governments should provide residential permits and identity cards
to the refugees in their countries.
5.	Reservations should be provided for refugees in educational
institutions.
6.	Governments should provide emergency, basic needs such as food,
health care and other facilities to the refugees, who are not receiving
any assistance from any governmental or non-governmental organizations .


To the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

We express our concern that while the number of the refugees and their
problems are increasing, the assistance and help of the UNHCR to the
refugees is declining.

Therefore, we demand that UNHCR offices in South Asia :

1.	Fulfill guidelines prescribed in the Organization's statutes;
2.	Give equal status to children and women and work with special
attention to the empowerment of women in health, education and all
decision-making processes;
3.	Current amount of financial assistance being provided to the
refugees should be increased due to rising living costs in the countries
of South Asia;
4.	Play an active intervening role in dealing with the governments
and ensure safe legal protection of the refugees.
5.	The current process of application for grant of refugee status by
the UNHCR is not satisfactory. The process to ascertain the refugee status
should also be made be transparent. 
6.	Every refugee recognized by the UNHCR should be given the refugee
certificates.
7.	The UNHCR should provide/facilitate in equipping with necessary
educational and vocational skills to the refugees in the countries of
refuge.


To the Non-Governmental Organizations and International organizations

1.	We appeal to the NGOs of the region to work in the areas where the
refugees are staying. The organizations which are working for the
refugees, run by the refugees themselves should be encouraged to approach
the governments in the region and other philanthropic national and
international agencies to help the causes of the refugees, especially in
relief, rehabilitation and mobilizing the local governments and public
opinion.
2.	The NGOs which are being involved in the refugee-issues should
come together as a consortium so that comprehensive refugee work can be
done in helping the refugees.
3.	Fact-finding teams should be sent by international agencies like
United Nations Human Rights Committee and National Human Rights
Commissions in the countries of the region to investigate and report the
real situations of the refugees in various parts of the region. 
4.	Also fact -finding teams should be constituted from time to time
by the refugees themselves with  concerned eminent persons and sent on the
similar missions. 
5.	To provide emergency basic needs such as food and medicine to the
refugees who are not receiving any assistance from any governmental or
non-governmental organizations.



We appeal to :

	The people of the countries in South Asia and political
organizations, students and youth organizations, women organizations,
trade unions and mass organizations in the region to respond to the
problems of the refugees.


Repatriation

	We want to go back to our countries/places from where we came from
with justice and dignity. The countries where we belong to and from where
we come must have democratic and just form of government. There must be
permanent and peaceful solution to the conflicts/war in our respective
native countries/places. Any repatriation should be voluntary and the
refugees should be a part of any discussions/negotiations regarding
repatriation. The repatriation should be through a democratic process with
the participation of the refugees. As long as justice do not prevail to
the refugees, repatriation should not be there. Any repatriation of the
refugees should take place on an individual basis, and carried out in an
atmosphere of transparency with the cooperation of UNHCR and NGOs working
in the area of relief and protection. The areas from where the refugees
were forcefully evicted should be declared as disputed land till such time
that democratic solution is found.


A Forum of Refugees in South Asia 

-	The participants agreed that there should be a Forum of Refugees
in South Asia which will work for the refugees and run by the refugees
themselves.

-	The forum will bring together different refugees nationalities who
are 	taking shelter in the countries of South Asia to work and fight
together for the causes of refugees.

-	The objectives of the proposed forum are :

	a.   to campaign and work for the welfare of the 	refugees;
	b.   to work for the resolutions of the problems the 	refugees
are faced with;
	c.   to fight together against the root causes which 	threw us
out of our land, houses and other     	properties;
	d.   to work for promoting peace in the region;
	e.	to educate and raise public opinion of the 	people of
the region about the problems the 	refugees are faced with;

-	The participants agreed to meet in January 1999 to continue the
work of the formation of the forum.

-	Since the time was insufficient, the participants resolved to
constitute a Working  Group of seven to evolve the formation of the forum
and plan for the proposal on the nature of the forum like functioning,
constituencies,  etc..

-	We resolved to enlarge the forum with other refugees communities
who were not able to participate in the meeting.

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