Burmese Refugees are Dying Silent Death

Burmese refugees are dying silent death.

“I always found the name false which they gave us: Emigrants.
That means those who leave their country. But we
Did not leave, of our own free will
Choosing another land. Nor did we enter
Into a land, to stay there, if possible for ever.
Merely, we fled. We are driven out, banned.
Not a home, but an exile, shall the land be that took us in.”

– Bertolt Brecht, “Concerning the Label Emmigrant”, 1938.

At the second floor of a building in Sitapuri, West Delhi, Simin, a 30-year-old petite mother of two daughters plays with her 1.5 years old daughter on the bed in her one-room apartment in dark due to the power outage. She fled to India with her husband in 2009. Four months back her elder daughter *R was assaulted near their house in Janakpuri when a 12-year-old boy penetrated her vagina through fingers which caused bleeding. The family rushed her to the nearest Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Hospital where Doctors refused to accept case saying “nobody would do this to a little girl.” Another time, a group of locals abused and banged the door of her house after bolting it from outside and switching off the lights.

November 2013, a local middle-aged shopkeeper tried to rape *W, a 8-year-old girl inside his electric shop who was also his neighbour. Luckily, a 10-year-old boy saw this and told his friends who were playing nearby. One of the boys came and shouted. They called the police which took prompt action because of the involvement of a minor. The police called Child Helpline and filed a case. Local people, more than 20 in numbers, threatened the families of the girl and the witness of dire consequences. The family to the witness changed the house to protect themselves.

Soon after this incident, a 20-year-old woman was dragged and the community thought it that was an act of retaliation. The locals also threatened to ostracise whole community. Just last Friday while the witness of W’s case, the boy was playing outside his house, three unidentified men came and slashed his abdomen with a razor. He had to undergo 18 stitches.

Tizano, is a 18-year-old orphan living alone in Janakpuri. He was attacked by three unknown locals by blade on his neck when he was crossing the street to go to a tailor shop. This incident was unprovoked.

Dr Alama Goimoi, the founder of Burma Centre, says the comments like ‘Chinki’, ‘Nepali’, ‘Bahaddur’, ‘Momos’ were regularly passed on to the locals. Phua Mang, a 68-year-old refugee living with his three daughters recounts an incident in which on the false complain of cooking dog, cat meat and beef by the neighbours in 2012 they had to vacate the house immediately. He asserts that traditionally Chin do not eat any of these.

Rosalinn Zahau, Project Officer, Chin Human Rights Communication tells me that they have documented over 200 cases of violence against women and children in Delhi in the last three years.

Actually, refugees do not want to file criminal cases for sexual and gender-based violence and racism. Refugees don’t know the culprits and also strongly feel that the police and DDU Hospital is biased towards the locals. Also, fighting for the justice is not only time taking but also economically taxing. For every hearing, a day’s income is lost. Besides this, there are issues like difficulties in comprehending legal language, local laws and the harassments, violence and boycott from the locals. There have been a few instances when refugees were asked by the landlord to vacate the house immediately while ensuring that nobody in the locality the rents house to them. The more recent of one such case happened with Zingchin Par last week when she threatened her landlord with a police complaint in case he fails to return her gold necklace which he allegedly stole and offered to pay in money. But, one of the most dominant reason according to Simin and many others I interviewed for this article is that they want to migrate to the west to live a “life of dignity” and court cases will prevent them leaving the country.

Racism and sexual and gender violence isn’t the only thing which makes life extremely difficult of the Burmese refugees. Out of approximately 12,000 Chin refugees living in Delhi, 95% are from the Chin province of Burma rest are Rohingyas, Kachin etc. Chin province is dominated by agriculture, forestry and hunting related work because of which literacy is not high among refugees. According to a 2013 study on poverty by the Burmese government, about 73 per cent of the people in the Chin State live below the poverty level.

The lack of knowledge of Hindi and English further reduces their chances to interact with the local people and get better jobs. Most of the refugees work in the informal sector like the small electronic industrial unit, sweepers, waiters, mason, or as maids. They are exploited in terms of wages, work hours and many a time women are subjected to sexual and gender-based violence in the workplace. Some of the refugees also do traditional weaving and export it abroad. Though a traditional coat costs Rs. 7000 it takes about three months to complete it. According to a recent study titled ‘Chin Refugees in Delhi: Challenges and Reality’ by Jesuit Refugee Service, South Asia, 58.4 % of the families earn less than Rs. 5000 every month. A house with one room costs between Rs. 2500-3000 and the landlord charge Rs. 8.5 per unit for electricity. Because of these costs, sometimes three families live in a two-room house. The UNHCR also gives subsistence allowance is 3800 for three months to one year.

All this leaves very little to spend on food and health that is why most of the Burmese refugees in Delhi purchase the leftover vegetables from the market. The poorer among refugees collect leftover vegetables and decomposed leaves after the market is closed. Simin remembers incidents when locals spit on her and others while they were doing this. “Because of all these issues, the refugees are dying a silent death because of TB, Hepatitis A, B and C. Malnutrition leads to anaemia which results in low eyesight, back and nerve pain.”, says Dr Tint Swe, founder of Yamuna Clinic. Dr Swe provides free treatment to the refugees and has also performed 344 deliveries. Besides these diseases, other diseases are HIV, Kidney stones, Cancer to name a few apart from ordinary ailments like fever, water-borne diseases. In the same survey “more than half of the respondents, 60 per cent, state that the quality of treatment they receive at the DDU hospital is bad or very bad.” Another avenue for healthcare is the clinic at the Socio Legal Information Centre but because of lack of staff, it can’t reach too many people.

India is one of the few countries which aren’t a signatory to the UN Convention on refugees 1951 and Protocol 1967. Though, the Registration of Foreigners Act of 1939, the Foreigners Act of 1946, and the Foreigners Order of 1948 are the primary laws that control the treatment of all foreigners in India. Despite this, the government gives asylum to people from Afghanistan, Tibet, Sri Lanka and Burma. “The lack of a coherent policy results in a treatment on the ad-hoc and case to case basis. This creates inconsistency in policy and discrimination among the refugees leaving them with little protection for their civil and political rights and no legal provisions for their safety and welfare”, laments Zahau.

Hindi translation of this story was published in BBC Hindi.

Burmese Chin lives in the narrow alleys of Sitapuri, Vikaspuri and Janakpuri in Delhi.

Simin with her daughter *R.

The witness in W’s case with slashed abdomen. The stiches opened on a day before he was photographed.

The witness in W’s case with the slashed abdomen. The stitches opened on a day before he was photographed.

Tizano, 18-year-old orphan living alone in Delhi, showing the scar in his neck.

Phua Mang, 68 year old refugee living with his three daughters recounts an incident in which on the false complain of cooking dog, cat meat and beef by the neighbours in 2012, they had to vacate the house immediately. He asserts that traditionally Chin don’t eat any of these.

Phua Mang, a 68-year-old refugee living with his three daughters recounts an incident in which on the false complain of cooking dog, cat meat and beef by the neighbours in 2012, they had to vacate the house immediately. He asserts that traditionally Chin do not eat any of these.

Zingchin Par (sitting far right) was asked to vacate her house last week when she threatened her landlord with a police complaint.

62 year old Thin Hnam weaving a sweater. She lives alone at a 8x8 flat. Her son left house and is now untraceable.

62-year-old Thin Hnam weaving a sweater. She lives alone at an 8×8 flat. Her son left the house and is now untraceable.

The only photo of her son with a poster of Jesus Christ.

A women hand weaving through traditional method. A men’s coat sells for Rs. 7000 in India and Women’s dress is more expensive. Most of it is exported in Australia.

A women hand weaving through the traditional method. A men’s coat sells for Rs. 7000 in India and Women’s dress is more expensive. Most of it is exported to Australia.