A United Nations expert has censured Indian naval forces for reportedly abandoning Muslim Rohingya refugees in the sea and telling them to return to Myanmar by swimming.
UN special rapporteur Tom Andrews said on Thursday that he was investigating “credible reports” that Rohingya refugees were forced off an Indian navy vessel into the Andaman Sea.
Andrews, an independent expert mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate the matter, said he was “deeply concerned by what appears to be a blatant disregard for the lives and safety of those who require international protection.”
Last week, Indian authorities in New Delhi reportedly rounded up several Rohingya refugees. They flew them to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where they were transferred to an Indian naval ship, according to Andrews.
“After the boat crossed the Andaman Sea, the refugees were reportedly given life jackets, forced into the sea and made to swim to an island in Myanmar.”
Guterres urged Myanmar’s authorities to listen to their people and get the democratic transition back on track.
Andrews said that forcing Rohingya refugees into the sea is an “unconscionable” action carried out by the Indian naval forces.
“The idea that Rohingya refugees have been cast into the sea from naval vessels is nothing short of outrageous,” he said.
Andrews said he was seeking further information and testimony regarding these developments and “implore the Indian government to provide a full accounting of what happened”.
“Such cruel actions would be an affront to human decency and represent a serious violation of the principle of non-refoulement,” he said.
“The government of India must immediately and unequivocally repudiate unconscionable acts against Rohingya refugees, stop all deportations to Myanmar and ensure that those responsible for these blatant violations of India’s international obligations are held responsible.”
Andrews said Rohingya Muslims “face the threat of violence, persecution and other grave human rights violations in Myanmar”.
A Rohingya teenager has been killed and at least six people injured when mortar shells fired from Myanmar exploded in Bangladesh.
For decades, Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya have been heavily persecuted by the Myanmar military.
Myanmar’s military forces launched a genocidal campaign against the Muslim Rohingya that started in 2017 during the rule of the ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was supported by the West.
Muslims were killed, raped, tortured, or arrested by the junta forces, according to the UN, which has described the community in the western state of Rakhine as the most persecuted minority in the world.
Since then, Myanmar’s military has been accused of ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya and other minority groups in the country.
Rohingya refugees have fled to neighboring countries, mainly Bangladesh.
About a million Rohingya who fled the genocidal campaign live in a string of squalid camps and makeshift settlements across Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, less than 400km south of the capital city, Dhaka.
