UNHCR regrets India's deportation of 2nd Rohingya group

By Muhammet Ikbal Arslan and Sena Guler

ANKARA (AA) - The UN Refugee Agency on Friday said it regrets India’s decision to deport a second group of Rohingya, Myanmar’s persecuted Muslim community.

“A family of Rohingya asylum-seekers from Rakhine State, registered with UNHCR [The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees] in India, was sent back to Myanmar on Thursday, 3 January, after being detained in India’s Assam, where they had been serving a prison term since 2013 for illegal entry into India,” it said in a statement.

The five Rohingya, including two women, had been living in a foreigner detention camp in Sonitpur, Assam since entering the country illegally.

The UN body said that it didn’t receive any response from authorities in India “regarding requests for access to individuals”.

“This is the second such incident since October 2018, when India returned seven Rohingya to Rakhine State in Myanmar, where conditions are not conducive for return,” it said.

Thus, the agency wasn’t able to assess whether the repatriation was voluntary or not.

“UNHCR continues to request access and seek clarification on the circumstances under which the return has taken place,” it noted.

The statement also said that there were an estimated 18,000 Rohingya refugees registered with UNHCR in India.

Last October, India also deported seven Rohingya Muslims detained in 2012 to Myanmar after the Union Home Ministry asked state governments to identify and deport illegal immigrants.

The Supreme Court of India had allowed the deportation of the Rohingya, saying they were found by the competent court to be "illegal immigrants" and have been accepted by their country of origin as citizens.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

Since Aug. 25, 2017, some 750,000 refugees, mostly children and women, fled Myanmar when Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community, according to the UN.