UN Chief Concerned About India's Plans To Deport Rohingya Muslims: Spokesman

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is concerned about India's move to deport Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar, his spokesperson has said

UNITED NATIONS, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Aug, 2017 ) : UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is concerned about India's move to deport Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar, his spokesperson has said, while stressing that refugees should not be returned to countries where they fear persecution once they are registered.

"Obviously, we have our concerns about the treatment of refugees. Once refugees are registered, they are not to be returned back to countries where they fear persecution," Guterres' Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters at the regular noon briefing at UN Headquarters in New York on Monday.

He was responding to a question about India's announcement that it would deport Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar regardless of whether they are registered as UN refugees or not.

Guterres, who was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) before his appointment as UN chief, is a staunch supporter of the cause of refugees.

The spokesman said on Monday that the UNHCR office would take up the issue with the Indian government. He reminded India of UN's position against deporting refugees. "You are aware of our principle of non refoulement," he said, referring to the doctrine in the UN Convention on the Status of Refugees.

According to the principle, refugees cannot be returned to a place where their life or freedom would be “threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion".