Uncertainty over fate of Afghan refugees in India
An Afghan Christian widow and three of her daughters were denied
refugee status by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees
(UNHCR) in New Delhi for the second time last month, and currently face
imminent deportation to their home country where they could face
imprisonment for apostasy and a potential death sentence.
The widow and her daughters, whose names have not been released for
security reasons, received a deportation notice from the Indian Ministry
of Home Affairs after their first application for asylum was rejected
in October 2009, International Christian Concern (ICC), a global
Christian advocacy group, informed The Christian Post.
When the mother reapplied in July 2011 with her three daughters and a
fourth daughter, who is widowed with a child, only the widowed daughter
and the child were accepted. The others are no longer permitted to
correspond with the UNHCR office and are currently living in India as
illegal immigrants, ICC said.
"All members of the family left Afghanistan for the same reason, all
of them are Christians, and all are facing the same kind of problem,"
Obaid S. Christ, a leader of the Afghan Christian community in New
Delhi, told ICC.
"If two members of the same family are recognized as refugees and
four others are denied, there is definitely something wrong with the
UNHCR judgment system. We believe that the UNHCR office blindly closed
their application without making any inquiry, investigation, or
considering the new facts and real danger that these women are facing
back in their home country."
The UNHCR "Guidelines for International Protection" state: "the term
'refugee' shall apply to any person who [qualifies as having]
well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion,
nationality, membership of a particular social group or political
opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or,
owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of
that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the
country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is
unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it."
The women were turned down by the agency on the basis that they
failed to meet the criteria set forth in Article 6B of the UNHCR
statute, which states that a person can receive refugee status if "[he
or she has a] well-founded fear of persecution by reason of his race,
religion, nationality or political opinion," ICC told CP in a statement.
The Christian Post was unable to contact UNHCR in India or the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs for immediate comment.
Apostasy in Islam can be punished with death, based on Sharia, or
Islamic law (influenced by the Quran and teachings from the prophet
Muhammad). Multiple cases of persecution against Christian converts in
countries where Muslims are in the majority have been reported in recent
years.
The situation in Afghanistan, where 99 percent of the population is
reportedly Muslim, is very unfriendly toward not only converts, but
Christianity in general, according to multiple reports. In October, the
U.S. Department of State reported that there was not one Christian
church or school left in Afghanistan.
The U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)
wrote in its recent report that "conditions for religious freedom [in
Afghanistan] remain exceedingly poor for minority religious communities
and dissenting members of the majority faith, despite the presence of
U.S. armed forces in Afghanistan for almost 10 years and the substantial
investment of lives, resources, and expertise by the United States and
international community."
The agency's chairman, Leonard Leo, said recently that Afghanistan is
a country of particular concern to the USCIRF, because religious
minorities, including Christians (less than 1 percent of the
population), are facing imminent danger and possible eradication.
"In 2011, at least two Christians in Afghanistan were imprisoned by
the Karzai administration, another was brutally beheaded by the Taliban,
and nearly all Afghan Christians lived in fear of persecution," Aidan
Clay, ICC Regional Manager for the Middle East, said in a statement to
CP. "There is no evidence to suggest that the situation for Christians
is improving, but every indication that it is only getting worse.
Deporting the Christian widow and her three daughters back to
Afghanistan will lead to inevitable hardship, if not imprisonment or
even death. We urge the UNHCR to immediately reopen and approve this
family's applications for asylum."
Afghan Christian refugees in India are not alone, as similar requests
have been denied by the UNHCR in other countries as well, including
Britain, Clay told CP.
The UNHCR would not define the Afghan women as refugees, but as
"asylum-seekers" – "someone who says he or she is a refugee, but whose
claim has not yet been definitively evaluated," according to the
agency's website.
"National asylum systems are there to decide which asylum-seekers
actually qualify for international protection," the page explains.
"Those judged through proper procedures not to be refugees, nor to be in
need of any other form of international protection, can be sent back to
their home countries."
The UNHCR in New Delhi came under fire in June 2011 after officials
rejected the applications of eight Afghan Christian families who had
recently fled persecution in their homeland.
There are currently 184,821 refugees residing in India, according to UNHCR data.
Source: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/uncertainty.over.fate.of.afghan.refugees.in.india/29197-2.htm
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