|
Negligence of the officials of the UNHCR in India, has put an Iranian
refugee in serious danger: Death is imminent for Jahanguir!
Jahanguir Eslah
who is a refugee with 7 years acceptance by the UNHCR is in serious
danger
Based on the report sent to the office of IFIR, due to the
negligence of UNHCR in India’s officials, an Iranian refugee is at
the verge of dying.
Jahanguir Eslah is a political refugee and one of the activists of
the Mojahedin Khalgh Organization (MKO). It is now 7 years that
along with his wife and two children, Jahanguir has been waiting to
be settling to a safe third country. Despite being officially
accepted as a refugee by the UN commissionaire for refugees in
India, his request concerning being settle to a third country has
been refused by Canada, US, Sweden, Netherlands and New Zeeland. It
is worth mentioning that Jahanguir’s mother, brother and 2 sisters
are Canadian residents. The UN commissionaire for refugees has not
taken any serious measure to put pressure on these governments for
acceptance and immediate transfer of this family to a third country.
The UNHCR of India has left these refugees in harsh living
conditions depriving them from minimum support. It is not hard to
understand how psychological, bodily and financial pressures that
are all due to stress and worries about the future of his family,
have created a background for a heart attack for Jahanguir, last
week. Few Iranian refugees immediately brought Jahanguir to a
cardiology hospital in New Dehli. The UNHCR of India has refused to
pay for any of the treatment expenses of Jahanguir. After spending 3
days at the cardiology hospital, Jahanguir contracted a stroke and
was transferred to a neurology hospital. Based on the latest
reports, Jahanguir is in critical condition and will definitely die
if not treated now. This refugee has survived until now only through
other refugees’ donations and emotional supports. Treatments are
costly and other refugees are not able to help more. On the other
hand, the hospital will continue his treatment with the condition
that the expenses are paid at this point. Some of the refugees have
constantly put pressure on the UNHCR officials and asked them to
take a serious action to save the life of this refugee, but until
now, UN officials have presented only excuses and have refused to
help. Due to negligence and the policy of carelessness, the life of
this refugee has put under serous threat.
The office of IFIR has received many reports concerning the behavior
of the officials of the UNHCR in India. It seems that lot of
overcharging and extortion is practiced by this office against the
refugees. This office has just easily refused to implement the
international obligations and commitments that it has and is playing
with the life of hundreds of refugees.
The International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR) is
protesting against this anti-refugee policy of the UN commissionaire
for Refugees in India and is asking the followings:
1-
Full payment of Mr. Jahanguir Eslah’s hospital and treatment
expenses.
2-
Immediate settle of the Eslahs to a safe third country.
3-
Inquiry regarding the behaviors of the officials and the policies of
the UN office in India concerning refugees especially the ones who
have fled the Islamic Republic.
4-
Expedition of the Iranian refugees requests concerning transfer to a
third safe country and commitment of the UN regarding financial
support of the Refugees’ health and daily expenses.
We are calling on all human rights organizations of the world to
oppose the irresponsible policies of the UN commissionaire office in
India and to ask that the above items be immediately in place.
We also ask all the Iranian refugees in India to get organized and
join the Federation to fight for their human rights.
International Federation of
Iranian Refugees (IFIR)
June 16th, 2006
|
