NEW DELHI (CU)_International human rights NGO, Human Rights Watch (HRW), has urged the government of India to provide refuge to dozens of Rohingya whose boat has been drifting in the Andaman Sea for over two weeks.
It is reported that 81 such refugees continue to stay crammed on a fishing boat, and India has been providing them with food, medical and technical aid. The boat had set sail from Southern Bangladesh on February 11, as the refugees hoped to reach Malaysia, before the boat’s engine began to have technical issues.
Meanwhile, eight people have died on board after suffering from extreme dehydration, having run out of food and water just few days into their journey. Although India’s coastguard repaired the vessel, they are however not permitting it to enter Indian waters.
Rights groups and Rohingya refugees in India are calling on the Indian government to bring these distressed refugees to land.
“We are begging Indian authorities to bring our people to land. How can all countries refuse to accept 81 lives stranded in international waters?” said Sabber Kyaw Min, one of the 16,000 Rohingya refugees living in India.
Meenakshi Ganguly, the South Asia director of Human Rights Watch, urged New Delhi to uphold its obligations under international law.
“The Rohingya have been so persecuted, and for so long, they are desperate to find a place where they can be safe and made to feel welcome. And yet, no country in the world, even those that sympathise with them, are willing,” she said.
However, India is not party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, which sets out the rights and responsibilities related to refugees, nor does the South Asian country have a domestic law protecting refugees. Nevertheless, Bangladesh, which has been hosting more than a million Rohingya refugees, expects India, the closet country, or Myanmar, the refugees’ country of origin to accept the survivors on the boat.
India’s foreign ministry has not clarified if these refugees will be allowed to enter the country, nor has it provided an update on talks with neighbouring Bangladesh regarding the issue.
