On Rohingya Muslims, UN can't force India not to deport them

India had said that it would deport those Rohingya Muslims living illegally in India as they posed a security threat.

A top UN official Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein slammed India on the Rohingya Muslim issue. India had said that it would deport those Rohingya Muslims living illegally in India as they posed a security threat.

While many have quoted UN conventions on this issue while criticising the government's decision to deport Rohingya Muslims, the question is whether the same would apply to India.

If International organisations call on India not to deport the Rohingya Muslims, then India could cite that it is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention of the UN.

India could also say that it did not sign the 1967 Protocol. Around 148 countries have signed either of the two protocols which clarify the rights of refugees and help protect them.

Moreover as late as May 2017, India had not ratified the United Nations Convention against torture despite being a signatory to the convention in October 1997. Article 3 of the Convention against Torture states that "no party shall expel, return (refouler) or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture".

For the purpose of determining whether there are such grounds, the competent authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations including, where applicable, the existence in the State concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights, it also says. India is yet to make a law to ratify the convention.

OneIndia News