UNHCR: Denial of the right to asylum

UA-10-2001: The refugee status case of Mr. Thuingaleng Muivah
UNHCR – Denial of the right to asylum

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As issued previously (UA 151/00), Mr. Thuingaleng Muivah (67), General Secretary and chief negotiator of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN), a leader of the Naga indigenous peoples in the northeast of India, has been denied refugee status by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

On January 19, 2000, while Mr. Muivah was on his way to The Hague via Bangkok to attend the eighth round of the ongoing peace talks, he was arrested at Bangkok international airport on the charge of travelling on a fake South Korean passport. The Thai immigration authority is prosecuting him on a criminal charge of possessing a fake document and entering Thailand illegally. He spent nearly eight months in jail, and is now out on bail.

After his arrest, he appealed to the office of the UNHCR in Bangkok for recognition as a refugee. But he was excluded under Article 1(F) of the 1951 Convention on the grounds that he is reported to have committed ‘war crimes and serious non-political crimes’. But the rejection letter issued by UNHCR did not give any details of the alleged ‘crimes’, nor the evidence that the UNHCR had relied on in taking the decision to exclude him. Mr. Muivah immediately appealed against this decision. Nearly six months have passed, but he has not received any response from the UNHCR, not even an acknowledgement of the receipt of his appeal.

As Mr. Muivah is a vital leader of the Naga people, we believe that excluding him from refugee status, paving the way of his deportation and arrest in India, would surely put unbearable strain on the cease- fire and peace process in Nagaland and put him at great personal risk.
BACKGROUND

The government of India and the NSCN have been engaged in peace talks since 1997. At the time of India’s independence, the Naga indigenous people opposed a British decision to include their homeland into the territories of India and Burma. When the British and the leaders of India refused to accept their legitimate demand, on August 14, 1947 the Nagas declared the establishment of an independent Nagaland comprising all the Naga inhabited areas in India and Burma. The Nagas informed all the major world governments and the United Nations about their declaration of Independence.

During five decades, the Naga freedom movement has been ruthlessly suppressed by members of the Indian armed forces. The Indian government does not grant passports to persons who challenge Indian authority, therefore, as a Naga Nationalist who has rejected India’s claim over his homeland, Mr. Muivah could not have requested the Indian government for a passport.

The decision of the UNHCR to exclude Mr. Muivah on the grounds of ‘war crimes’ came as a rude shock to the human rights movement in South Asia. The NSCN has never been accused of terrorist crimes by any of the international human rights groups that have investigated the human rights situation in the Naga areas regularly over the past three decades.

The NSCN was formed in 1977, after an Indian state-manipulated split in the Naga national movement. It is essentially a political organization of the Naga people with an armed wing. The NSCN was admitted to The Hague-based international body “Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO)”, despite the government of India’s objection to the NSCN’s application on the ground that is a terrorist organization. The UNPO’s executive committee, after considering the written objections of the Indian government, came to the conclusion that the allegations were baseless and therefore rejected the submission of the Indian government for lack of evidence.

After Mr. Muivah’s arrest, the NSCN cease-fire monitoring office in Kohima was forcibly closed down by the Indian army and several NSCN political activists were arrested on old and new charges in what amounted to a violation of the cease-fire agreement. Mr. Muivah’s deportation to India would severely hamper the ongoing peace process in India’s northeast.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Please write to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the Director of the Asia-Pacific Bureau of UNHCR to draw their attention to the case of Mr. Thuingaleng Muivah and urge them to reconsider the decision to exclude Mr. Muivah from his deserved refugee status.
 

 

 

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