On the plight of the Rohingyas

BACKGROUND

"Approximately 671,000 Rohingya refugees have fled targeted violence and serious human rights violations in Myanmar since August 2017. Many walked for days through the forest to reach safety in Bangladesh, including pregnant women, young children, the sick and the elderly. Refugees have spontaneously settled in and around existing refugee communities in two main settlements, Kutupalong and Nayapara, overstretching already-limited services and scarce resources. (Source: https://unhcr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=5fdca0f47f1a46498002f39894fcd26f)

For more information about the Rohingya Emergency, consult this page - https://www.unhcr.org/en-in/rohingya-emergency.html

WHICH ACTORS ARE AT PLAY - Myanmar, Bangladesh, India and UN High Commission for Refugees

India - https://www.unhcr.org/4cd96e919.pdf 2011 FactSheet and a more recent on here - https://www.unhcr.org/protection/operations/50001ec69/india-fact-sheet.html

"India is not party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol and does not have a national refugee protection framework. However, it continues to grant asylum to a large number of refugees from neighbouring States and respects UNHCR’s mandate for other nationals, mainly from Afghanistan and Myanmar. While the Government of India deals differently with various refugee groups, in general it respects the principle of non-refoulement for holders of UNHCR documentation" (Source: https://www.unhcr.org/4cd96e919.pdf)

RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK - The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees 1951. Myanmar, Bangladesh and India are not members of this convention, which is widely accepted and ratified. A fact sheet about membership is here - https://www.unhcr.org/protection/basic/3b73b0d63/states-parties-1951-convention-its-1967-protocol.html

MOST RELEVANT IOs & Civil Society Actors - UN High Commission for Refugees, AMNESTY International, Human Rights Watch

You can take a look at the Report of Amnesty International here - https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/ASA1617742020ENGLISH.PDF which provides a larger context of looking at the larger context of violence and curbs on freedom of expression and general violations of human rights in Myanmar.

A summary, in brief, while the origins of the plight of Rohingya's lie in Myanmar, we see that Bangladesh is currently bearing the burden of accommodating a large number of Rohingyas who have sought refuge there. In this context, the UNHCR India office is directly engaged in providing relief, but there is a significant gap in what they can provide. 

While Myanmar's actions are generally condemned, India, which might have some leverage over Myanmar hasn't expressed any significant concern over the plight of Rohingyas, and in fact, handed over a family of five to Myanmar in January 2019. This is suggestive of India violating the principle of non-refoulement which is argued to have taken on a customary nature under International Law.  It is reported that 40,000 Rohingyas are now in India in different parts of the country, but the Citizenship Amendment Act and the associated process of creating a National Register of Citizens only puts further pressure on the Rohingyas who are Muslims, and are excluded as a category from CAA. So the prospects look very bleak for them in India.

This only means that, Bangladesh will continue to bear the burden of hosting the Rohingyas and any international aid, directed through the UNHCR, will only be partially adequate to meet the needs of these refugees.

One noteworthy matter that needs to be looked at is the Case brought by Gambia against Myanmar, before the International Court of Justice, for violating the Genocide Convention, to which Gambia and Myanmar are parties. This suggests that there are other forms of pressure being brought to be born on Myanmar to address the plight of the Rohingyas.