The Situation of Burmese Refugees i

[Rangoonp@xxxxxxx]

Subject: The Situation of Burmese Refugees in Asia:  Special Focus on India

The Situation of Burmese Refugees in Asia:

Special Focus on India


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 also
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.