10.10.2007 - Source: Amnesty International

Manipur/North-Eastern India: 3 Myanmar nationals arrested after entering the state without valid documents on 2 October 2007; AI fears that they will be forcible returned and that they will be at risk of torture as the current situation in Myanmar is unstable; according to Indian media reports, India is planning to increase security arrangements along the Indo-Myanmar border ("Urgent Action 257/07 [ASA 20/018/2007]") [ID 21351]

Document(s): Open document

06.03.2007 - Source: US Department of State

Chin Refugees from Burma ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2006") [ID 19795]

"UNHCR provided refugee status and assistance to approximately 1,800 Chin from Burma who were living in New Delhi. However, UNHCR did not have access to the larger population of ethnic Chin living in the northeastern states."

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07.12.2006 - Source: Human Rights Watch

India must halt arms sales and training to Burmese army ("Military aid to Burma fuels abuses") [ID 18109]

Indian government is offering package of military assistance to Burmese army, which is likely to use such arms and training to attack against civilians in war against ethnic insurgents

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24.05.2004 - Source: US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants

Annual report on conditions affecting refugees and asylum seekers in 2003 ("World Refugee Survey 2004") [#22816],  [ID 6886]

"At the end of 2003, some 317,000 refugees were living in India, including some 100,000 Tibetans, an estimated 50,000 refugees from Myanmar, some 15,000Lhotsampa--ethnic Nepalese refugees from Bhutan, and some 11,500 mandate refugees, mostly Afghans (10,300) assisted by UNHCR, and some 400 claims pending before UNHCR. In addition, almost 100,000 Sri Lankan refugees remained in India with some 20,000 living unrecognized by the government outside of camps, some 20,000 registered with the police outside the camps and almost 60,000 government-recognized refugees in camps. Thousands of Nepalese also fled to India during the year, and up to 40,000 Afghans were living in India unassisted by UNHCR. According to the Dalai Lama’s office, some 3,500 Tibetans arrived in India in 2003. The Indian authorities permitted Tibetan refugees to enter, but the government has not granted legal temporary residence to most Tibetans who arrived in recent years. [...]

In November, Indian police used water cannons, electric batons, and canes to disperse about 500 Myanmarese refugees who were demonstrating outside of the UNHCR office in New Delhi in protest of cuts in their assistance. At least 25 were injured, some seriously including head and chest wounds, and several hundred were detained for the night. In addition, authorities jailed 24 on charges of rioting and obstructing the police. UNHCR had cut subsistence payments to the Myanmarese by as much as 60 percent, with the stated goal of promoting self-reliance, although they agreed to continue to make payments to individuals they classified as vulnerable. However, India prohibits all refugees, even those recognized by UNHCR, from working. Even if refugees were able to find jobs with their limited Hindi and English, working in the underground economy would put them at risk of harassment, exploitation, and arrest for breaching the Foreigner’s Act. However, UNHCR India advised it has a program to train the refugees and help them find suitable jobs, and also employs refugees directly for stipends. UNHCR notes that the Indian officials tolerate the refugees working in the informal sector.

Various Myanmarese Chin organizations and local Indian newspapers reported that residents in the state of Mizoram–with the acquiescence of state officials –evicted several thousand Chin refugees in from their homes and took them to the border where an unknown number were deported. Unconfirmed reports by local human rights groups stated that police supplied the trucks to and stationed troops at the border to prevent those returned from re-entering. UNHCR received reports that there were over 200 Myanmarese living in camps on the border in dire circumstances. Indian officials refused UNHCR access to the area. A Myanmarese immigrant who allegedly raped a nine-year-old girl in July heightened already tense relations between the Myanmarese and locals, provoking organizations such as the Mizoram Youth Organization and the Mizo Women’s Organization to evict the Myanmarese. Agence France Press reported in August that the Mizoram state government announced it was launching a drive to detect and deport thousands to Myanmar in response to pressure from local residents. The Mizoram Home Minister formed a special border management team to carry out a village-to-village survey to detect Myanmarese after which, he said, anyone staying illegally would be deported or “their application for asylum might be taken up.” He added, “We cannot allow our state to be a dumping ground for asylum seekers.” Authorities generally do not allow the Myanmarese to claim asylum, although most are fleeing persecution from the military Junta in Myanmar."

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25.02.2004 - Source: US Department of State

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2003 ("Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2003") [#19765],  [ID 6887]

"The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had no formal status, but the Government permitted the UNHCR to assist certain groups of refugees (notably Afghans, Iranians, Somalis, Burmese, and Sudanese). Unlike in previous years, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees did not visit the country. [...]

During the year, the UNHCR began to end the monthly subsistence allowance of Burmese refugees. As a result, Burmese refugees and asylum seekers demonstrated outside the UNHCR office in New Delhi during the year. On November 12, the authorities used water cannons, electric batons, and canes to forcibly disperse 500 demonstrators and 25 of the demonstrators were injured. [...]

Ethnic Chins were among the non-recognized refugees in the northeastern states, particularly Mizoram. During the year, tensions between security forces and Chin National Force (CNF) insurgents operating in Burma allegedly resulted in the detention, interrogation, and expulsion of some persons associated with the CNF to Burma, where they credibly feared persecution. In 2001, there were news reports that thousands of ethnic Chins were asked to leave Mizoram. The Mizoram Chief Minister stated that he wanted the border with Burma to be "fenced to check further infiltration of immigrants into the state." Human rights monitors alleged that approximately 1,000 Chin refugees were arrested in Mizoram, and some 200 had been repatriated forcibly to Burma between July and September 2000. NGOs estimated that 10,000 persons were expelled to Burma, where "the deportees were jailed pending hearings to be scheduled before military tribunals." An estimated 40,000 to 50,000 Chins lived and worked illegally in Mizoram."

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02.11.2003 - Source: Human Rights Watch

At least 25 demonstrators (Burmese nationals) injured while staging a protest ("India: Investigate Police Attack on Burmese Demonstrators") [#17930],  [ID 6888]

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08.09.2003 - Source: Refugees International

Over 5,000 Burmese from the Chin ethnic group forced to leave their homes in India's northeastern state of Mizoramand, live in hiding or cross the river into Burma ("Forced Back: Burmese Chin Refugees in India in Danger") [#16301],  [ID 6889]

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18.04.2002 - Source: Reporters Sans Frontières

Burmese journalists in exile, reputed for his reporting on human rights violations in Burma, detained for several times, allegedly for his activities as a journalist ("RSF questions the true reasons for the arrest of a Burmese journalist") [#6548],  [ID 6890]

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