Assam: Rohingya, Chin Refugees Begin Hunger Strike Over Indefinite Detention

GUWAHATI: Rohingya and Chin refugees from Myanmar, lodged in a transit camp in Goalpara of Assam, have gone on hunger strike to protest what they termed indefinite detention, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Additional Chief Secretary Ajay Tewary said, "Thereafter, the inspector general of prisons, and the home secretary were sent to the camp to talk to the refugees. And the officials are hopeful that the issue will get resolved soon." The hunger strike started on Monday evening, and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has been informed about the situation.

The camp is said to be detaining a total of 103 refugees from Myanmar, including women and children from the Rohingya and Chin ethnic groups who entered India illegally.

The authorities continued to insist that the guidelines in the prison manual are followed, along with adequate nutrition and all other facilities as may be required by all inmates.

They are demanding that they be handed over to the UNHCR in New Delhi so that they can be transferred to a detention centre in the capital and then resettled in a third country.

A Rohingya human rights activist said 40 of the inmates have refugee cards issued by the UNHCR, but even so they remain detained.

Sabber Kyaw Min, Director of the Rohingya Human Rights Initiative, continued with the fact that they had fled their homes and country to seek refuge in India. He called upon one and all to be involved and to advocate so that they could live with dignity.

In July, 35 Myanmar refugees at the Goalpara detention camp wrote to the district administration stating that they would like to be transferred out of the detention camp. The letter was forwarded to the state home department.

The Matia detention centre in Goalpara is the country's largest and was launched in January 2023.

India is not a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol.

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