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Last Minute Reprieve Saved Red Faces

Mr Mang Za Khup, a Burmese asylum seeker whose final appeal had failed, was due to be deported back to Burma today. Clayton Cosgrove, the Associate Minister of Immigration, after receiving a special plea from Human Rights campaigners in New Zealand, gave him a last minute reprieve. Mang Za Khup has been granted a two-year work permit, and is due to be released from Mt Eden prison later on.

OPEN LETTER

Dear Minister,

As a matter of the utmost urgency to request that you intervene today to prevent the deportation of Mr Mang Za Khup, a Burmese national of Chin ethnicity. He was recently transferred to Papakura Police Station where he awaits imminent deportation unless you overturn the order.

Mang Za Khup is a well-known pro-democracy activist. If you decide to deport him back to Burma, you will be doing so in the full knowledge of the dire consequences of such an action. I have gone to great lengths to make UNHCR’s Country of Origin Information (COI) available to you. This COI, sent to you by UNHCR Canberra in November 2005 [SEE BELOW], clearly states the harsh treatment received by deportees from other countries on their forced repatriation to Burma.

In recent years, the New Zealand government has been very supportive of the Burmese pro-democracy movement. Today you are presented with an opportunity to show your commitment to this righteous cause by cancelling Mang Za Khup’s deportation order.

Yours faithfully,

Mr Mang Za Khup’s situation was similar in many ways to that of Stanley Van Tha, a Burmese citizen who applied for asylum in Switzerland in 2003. His asylum application was rejected, as was his appeal. In April 2004, Stanley Van Tha was escorted back to Rangoon by two Swiss policemen and handed over to the authorities.

He was given a 19-years prison sentence, which he is currently serving in Burma’s notorious Insein prison. The incident was a severe embarrassment to the Swiss Government, which subsequently declared that Switzerland would not send anyone else back to Burma. It was entirely likely that Mr Mang Za Khup would have suffered a similar fate if NZIS had returned him to Burma.

Whilst supporters of Mang Za Khup are elated at the result, they will continue to press the New Zealand government for a consistent line on forced repatriations to Burma. It is hoped that UNHCR will soon include Burma on the list of dangerous countries that currently comprises Iraq, Afghanistan & Somalia.

An extract from a UNHCR statement sent to Clayton Cosgrove in November 2005, as mentioned in above letter.

"It is well documented that the prevailing human rights situation in Myanmar is extremely poor. In the context of return to Myanmar, it must be assumed that individuals will be subject to government scrutiny upon arrival. Persons with a political profile are reasonably likely to be subject to disproportionate punishment, and so the question of whether of not an individual has such a profile must be carefully evaluated as part of the refugee status determination process.

Even if an individual does not in fact have a political profile, it is reasonable to believe that any person whom the Myanmar Government suspects to have applied for refugee status abroad, and who has the profile of someone who may harbor a political opinion, risks being charged under the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act upon his or her return to Myanmar, and subjected to disproportionate punishment. For example, while a rejected asylum-seeker (such as a manual laborer) who has been found to be an economic migrant and is unlikely to have been politically active would probably be questioned by the government upon return to Myanmar and later released, someone who has not been politically active but has the profile of an individual who could have been active (such as an intellectual or a student) risks being charged and disproportionately punished under the Act.

UNHCR's capacity to monitor returnees to Myanmar is extremely limited. Nonetheless, UNHCR is aware that detention of returnees does occur. A case of particular note is that of a person returned by the Swiss Government accompanied by officials from that country, who was reportedly sentenced to 19 years imprisonment for 'crimes' including leaving Myanmar illegally, 'bringing his country into disrepute" by applying for asylum in Switzerland, and re-entering Myanmar illegally.

The safety upon return of the individual concerned should be ascertained prior to a removal arrangement. The utmost care should be taken to avoid raising his individual profile in the eyes of the Myanmar authorities, as this may have the effect of exposing him or her to a risk of the disproportionate punishment discussed above."

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Comments

Sah Ja Boh said _

Exerpt from the second para following the original letter: _  "It was entirely likely that Mr Mang Za Khup would have suffered a similar fate if NZIS had returned him to Burma....."
            NZIS probably stands for New Zealand Immigration Service, I could not help but think that if NZIS had indeed sent him back to Burma, then we could rightfully add an "a" to make it "NaZIS"
 

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