FROM THE DVB NEWSROOM
Rohingya refugees in India have been arrested, detained, and beaten by local authorities, according to a Fortify Rights report published July 28. It obtained the evidence through interviews with 14 people in India, including 12 Rohingya refugees, as well as through photographs and video footage from inside detention centers. Hundreds of Rohingya have been detained in the capital New Delhi, as well as in Jammu, Manipur, and Assam states for violating immigration laws. An estimated 40,000 Rohingya refugees live in India and 20,000 of them are registered as refugees with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Fortify Rights states that Rohingya refugees face violence and continue to be detained even after they serve their prison sentences. Hundreds of Rohingya protested their detention in Hiranagar Detention Center in Jammu on July 18. Authorities cracked down on the protests using teargas and beatings. A Rohingya child died but Indian officials denied the child was killed during the unrest. Refugees have reported that they face poor living conditions inside the detention centers and that their children are not provided with any form of education.
Fortify Rights calls on India to immediately release detained Rohingya refugees and investigate alleged human rights abuses committed in their detention facilities. “The Indian government must end its indefinite detention of refugees and investigate the violent crackdown and beatings of Rohingya refugees in detention,” said Zaw Win, Human Rights Specialist at Fortify Rights. He added that India should allow Rohingya refugees access to legal status, education, and freedom of movement.
Over 700,000 Rohingya fled a 2017 Burma Army crackdown in northern Rakhine State that forced them into Bangladesh’s refugee camps. The U.N. called it a textbook example of ethnic cleansing and the U.S. government labeled it a genocide in 2022.
