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UN:
SUDANESE DEPORTATION OF ETHIOPIAN REFUGEES DRAWS CRITICISM FROM UN AGENCY:
12/10/2007 (MaximsNews Network)
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UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network /
- 12 October 2007 -- The
United Nations refugee agency yesterday condemned the recent deportation of at
least 15 Ethiopian refugees by the authorities in Sudan, calling it a breach of
the country’s international legal obligations.
Sudanese
officials handed over the refugees to Ethiopian authorities at the Metema border
crossing, about 500 kilometres southeast of Khartoum, on 27 September, but the
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
said in a statement issued in Geneva that it had only learned of the
deportations this week.
UNHCR
said information it had received so far indicated that the deportees are part of
a group of more than 30 Ethiopian refugees arrested by Sudanese authorities in
early July in Khartoum and in Damazine, the capital of Blue Nile state.
The
Sudanese Government has not responded yet to UNHCR’s repeated appeals on the
refugees, and UNHCR said it fears the remaining Ethiopians in the group are in
jail and could also face deportation.
Under
the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, refoulement – or forcibly returning
individuals to their country of origin where they could face persecution – is
prohibited.
“UNHCR
urges the Government to abide by this important principle of international law,
which is also an integral part of Sudan’s National Interim Constitution,”
the agency said. “UNHCR also urges authorities to abstain from any further
deportations.”
After a
separate case of refoulement to Ethiopia in early August, the Sudanese
Government had assured UNHCR that it would not do this again.
Labels: United
Nations, U.N.,
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