Over 500 Chin refugees demonstrated in Delhi

30 October 2013: More than 500 Chin refugees took to the streets in Delhi today, highlighting their ‘unsafe’ conditions in both India and Burma.

The Chin Refugee Committee (CRC) based in New Delhi said in their statement that it was not yet time for them to return to Burma.

They added that the reforms in Burma had not really changed the lives of the people on the ground and that serious human rights violations still prevailed in the country.

CRC President David Ngun Lian said in the Chin Star that Chin Christians in Burma still faced discrimination and repression and that they were not safe as refugees in India.

A recent report entitled Unheard Plight of Chin Refugee Women in Delhi said that women asylum seekers in India were more vulnerable and easily targeted for sexual assaults and other forms of exploitations.

The Indian government has been urged to adopt policies that would put an end to all kinds of discrimination and harassment facing women refugees and continue supporting refugees in general from Burma.

According to the UNHCR’s statistics, there are 8,306 Burmese refugees in Delhi, of which 3,924 are women.#