The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : ‘Refugees trigger fears of human trafficking’

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Friday, Jul 03, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

‘Refugees trigger fears of human trafficking’

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: The influx into India of unaccompanied minors from Somalia and Myanmar is raising human trafficking concerns, the Montserrat Feixas Vihe, Chief of Mission, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), New Delhi, said on Thursday.

In her key-note address at a discussion on “Refugee Protection in South Asia” hosted by the Centre for Asia Studies and the Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University, Ms. Vihe said large-scale refugee movements in recent times have been a trigger for fears over the possible abuse of minors by traffickers.

The UNHCR chief said one of the mandates of the organisation was to address the requirements of those with specific needs, such as unaccompanied minors, women and girls and to facilitate repatriation of refugees whose protection needs could not be met in India.

One lakh Tibetans

India was sheltering an estimated one lakh refugees from Tibet, 70,000 refugees from Sri Lanka, 8,000 from Afghanistan, 3,000 from Myanmar and over 600 refugees from Somalia.

Predicting an increase in refugee movements, given the endemic nature of ethnic conflicts and the porous nature of the international borders of South Asian countries, Ms. Vihe sought a more active engagement of the Government of India in dealing with refugee influx.

“At present, the Government is supporting our efforts. Ideally, there should be a role reversal on the refugee management front,” she said.

Ms.Vihe pointed out that in the absence of a National Refugee Law in India –as was the case across South Asia –refugee protection and rehabilitation work was operating in a “legal vacuum.”

On the refugee situation in Sri Lanka, where the UNHCR was engaged in one of its biggest resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons, Ms.Vihe said some of the complex challenges the agency faced pertained to the rapid rate of displacement, limited access to refugee centres and overcrowding at relief camps.

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