India deports 7 Rohingyas to Myanmar
October 03, 2018  16:02
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India sends seven Rohingya Muslims to the border for deportation to Myanmar. The men, from the Kyauk Daw township in central Rakhine State, were detained in 2012 and held at the Silchar central prison in Cachar district, Assam, on charges of irregular entry.


India shares a border with Myanmar at four states -- Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur.


The deportation comes after a bench declined to list a  plea filed in the Supreme Court for urgent hearing seeking a restraint on the Government of India from deporting the seven Rohingyas.


United Nations special rapporteur on racism E Tendayi Achiume has expressed alarm at the governments decision to deport the seven men to Myanmar. Achiume has said in a statement that forcing the men to leave India could be considered refoulement, which violates international law.

Non-refoulement is a principle in international law that stops a country from returning a person to a place where they would be at risk of persecution.


However, the Ministry of Home Affairs has said in its affidavit before the Supreme Court that India, that as a non-signatory to the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention, it was not obliged to adhere to the principle of non-refoulement.


Representational image of a family from the Rohingya community at thier their shack at a refugee camp in Delhi. Pic: Cathal McNaughton/Reuters.
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