Summary:
-
Even though the UNHCR helped, an asylum seeker from Myanmar was sent back to Myanmar on October 21, according to information the UNHCR got.
-
Sending them back to Myanmar, which has had civil unrest since February 2021, puts them “at risk” and “exposes them to damage,” the UN agency representative said.
-
Unconfirmed claims surfaced on Sunday claiming that airstrikes targeting a concert put on by rebel forces in Kachin resulted in the deaths of at least 50 people.
-
Gillian Triggs, the UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, said that sending them back to the country would put many lives in danger.
-
The senior UNHCR official argued that Myanmar’s neighbors should stop holding asylum seekers and refugees there “indefinitely,” while also voicing alarm over the widespread, indiscriminate violence against civilians that has continued since the military coup.
Even though the UNHCR helped, an asylum seeker from Myanmar was sent back to Myanmar on October 21, according to information the UNHCR got. Refoulement occurs when refugees and asylum seekers are deported in this manner.
Sending them back to Myanmar, which has had civil unrest since February 2021, puts them “at risk” and “exposes them to damage,” the UN agency representative said.
On Sunday, unconfirmed reports said that at least 50 people died when airstrikes hit a concert in Kachin that was put on by rebel forces.
Non-negotiable and non-refoulement
According to Ms. Mantoo of UNHCR, the principle of nonrefoulement is “a cornerstone of international law” and “binding on all states.”
The change comes after the UN refugee agency asked the countries in the area to stop sending Myanmar citizens who are trying to get away from serious harm back against their will.
Gillian Triggs, the UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, said that sending them back to the country would put many lives in danger.
The senior UNHCR official said that Myanmar’s neighbors shouldn’t keep asylum seekers and refugees there “indefinitely.” He was also worried about the fact that since the military coup, there has been a lot of random violence against civilians.
Ms. Triggs says that fighting between the Myanmar military and ethnic armed groups has also gone on in a number of border areas, forcing people to leave both inside and outside of Myanmar.
Spiral of Myanmar
Tuesday’s warning from the UNHCR echoed widespread and serious worries about what will happen to people who have left Myanmar. At a Human Rights Council meeting last month, Tom Andrews, an UN-authorized independent human rights expert, said that the situation in Myanmar had “gone from bad to worse, to awful for countless innocent people.”
According to Mr. Andrews, more than 13,000 children have been slain, 28,000 homes have been demolished, and villages have been completely burned down, displacing over 1.3 million people inside Myanmar.
The top rights expert went on to say that the country is also facing a food crisis, with 130,000 Rohingya living in de facto detention camps and other people facing prejudice and hardship due to their lack of citizenship.
Analysis by: Advocacy Unified Network
