The Burmese refugees in New Delhi

Human Rights Feature

With temperatures approaching the high 40s, hundreds of Burmese refugees in New Delhi held a demonstration on 9 June, protesting the refusal of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to grant them refugee certificates and Subsistence Allowance (SA). The demonstration, the most recent in a series of protests organised by members of the Burmese refugee community, highlights a number of severe problems faced by refugees in New Delhi.

While Burmese refugees in Thailand and Bangladesh have received some attention, their situation in India is not well known internationally. India's Northeastern states, in particular Mizoram and Manipur, host the overwhelming majority of Burmese refugees in India. In recent years, in part due to the warming relationship between India and the Union of Myanmar, state and federal governments have undertaken campaigns of arrest and deportation of refugees. While many Burmese in the Northeast are able to integrate locally, for others harassment, exploitation and persecution are common. The change in Indo-Burmese relations has also added to the insecurity of the Burmese community in Delhi and makes the granting of legal rights to refugees less likely.

The UNHCR New Delhi Office is working under constraints and restrictions imposed by the Government of India as well as their head office in Geneva. However, notwithstanding these constraints, it has failed to adequately protect the Burmese refugee community. In addition, it has failed to appeal to and lobby the Government of India, the United Nations and the international community for support. UNHCR is thus breaching its mission to provide protection and seek out long-term solutions for these refugees.

The refugee community it is mandated to protect does not trust UNHCR. This is due to the poor and often insensitive treatment of refugees by UNHCR employees and the ineffectiveness of their programmes and the programmes of UNHCR's NGO partners.

Plight of the refugees
There is a great deal of confusion within the Burmese refugee community in New Delhi following the threatened withdrawal of financial support from UNHCR, which has lead to the current "SA crisis." Some refugees believe that in order to receive financial support in the form of SA, they need to undertake vocational training with the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), while others think that if they did so, their SA would be cut off. Most are extremely anxious at the prospect of no longer receiving SA. Without the legal right to work in India or a genuine chance of becoming financially self-sufficient, many feel that there is no realistic means of survival for them in Delhi if their SA were to be terminated.

Most Burmese refugees in New Delhi are living in just adequate housing conditions; however, it is the numbers sharing a single accommodation that make their dwelling conditions so difficult. Routinely, between five and ten or more people share small single rooms, in which they live, cook, eat and sleep. This in part results from the number of people living in the community who have cases pending or have been rejected by UNHCR, as well as those people who have had their SA cut off. In addition, the level of financial assistance provided by UNHCR is such that few if any can afford to live on their own.

Role of UNHCR
UNHCR practices a sexually discriminatory policy of SA distribution, under which women are automatically considered dependants of their husbands. A single woman who originally registered as a primary applicant for SA, receiving Rs.1, 400 a month (approximately $30), will have her SA automatically cut down to Rs.600 a month ($13) if she later marries. Furthermore, the money is also no longer given to her directly, but to her husband, thus removing financial control and decision-making from women.

Attempts by UNHCR to make Burmese refugees "self-reliant," by providing vocational training courses through the YMCA and other partner NGOs, have been unsuccessful. Most refugees are unemployed and see little hope for finding work, let alone achieving financial self-sufficiency. This is in large part due to lack of language skills in Hindi and English and hostility or discrimination on the part of the local community. It is also illegal for refugees, as for all foreigners, to work in India without proper permits. UNHCR has also largely failed to encourage or support economic initiatives that have originated from within the refugee community itself.

Families report widely varying amounts of money received for the education of their children. There is a strong commitment in the Burmese community to both primary and higher-level education, but many can simply not afford it especially those who have had their SA cut off, or those with large families or additional dependants to provide for.

The drawbacks
UNHCR's continued policy of reimbursing refugees for expenses related to medical care and treatment provided that it is obtained at a government hospital fails to meet the needs of all refugees. Many refugees feel that government hospitals are not a realistic option for them and they therefore have to finance private medical treatment. The main reasons given for this are that the illness or health problem is too urgent (and they are unable to wait for long periods of time at a government hospital), that the treatment is ineffective, or that they have had prior negative experiences with government hospital staff. The latter includes everything from neglect to physical and verbal abuse.

Resettlement in third countries is seen by many Burmese refugees as the only long-term, realistic solution to their problems. However, the lack of transparency of UNHCR's policies for recommending individuals for resettlement and their failure to adequately inform the refugee community about the procedures and criteria used by third-country governments considering resettlement applications has led to disappointment, frustration, anger and distrust within the Burmese community. UNHCR has also not effectively lobbied third country governments to accept and prioritise Burmese refugees for resettlement.

Concluding remarks
The current situation for many Burmese refugees in Delhi is perilous. The recent violence and detention of pro democracy leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi does not augur well for their already vulnerable condition. Without a secure legal status, and with limited capacity for economic self-sufficiency, the withdrawal of financial support by UNHCR will place many in a situation of considerable risk. As SAHRDC's research has shown, UNHCR in India has been failing to fulfil its mandate. It does not adequately protect the refugees within its jurisdiction and has failed to seek out and promote realistic durable solutions. These failings are compounded by the manner in which the UNHCR office and its employees have treated the refugee community. As a result, refugees have a fundamental lack of trust in the organisation.

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