21 June 2011: Over 2500 Chin refugees in New Delhi, India demonstrated outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
(UNHRC) office in Jantar Mantar from 11 am to 2 pm. on June 20. The protest was organized by the Chin Refugee Committee.
With the Burmese Army attacking ethnic armed groups, there will be more and more Burmese refugees in New Delhi. Now there are about 11,500 Chin refugees in New Delhi.
The Chin Refugee Committee (CRC) president Mr. Steven Ral Kap Tluang said, “Nothing has changed under the Burmese government. It is still fighting ethnic armed groups – the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), DKBA, Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, Karen National Union (KNU) and SSA, the Shan State Army.”
He added that the Burmese government is violating human rights in Chin state continuously, so Chin people cannot live on their own land and are facing many hardships.
He asked UNHCR in New Delhi, the Indian Government, and social communities in India and International NGOs to understand their situation and to provide more support on World Refugee Day that was celebrated around the world.
There are only 8000 Burmese refugees in New Delhi according to UNHCR records said Newsleaks in its 17 June online issue.
Burma Today online edition also said that UNHCR has given jobs to 14% of the refugees in New Delhi allowing them to earn Rs. 7000 a month. About 127 families have got jobs.
But only eight families of Chin refugees have been sent to third countries between January to June 2011 from UNHCR in New Delhi. It is not a good sign for the future of Chin refugees.
There are more than 40,000 Chin refugees in Malaysia, 70,000 in Mizoram and more than a thousand in Thailand. – Khonumthung News