UNHCR protests to Malawi over deportations

The Lusaka-based regional representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Oluseyi Bajulaiye, has lodged a "strong protest" over the recent deportation of 24 Eritrean nationals from Malawi to Ethiopia aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Addis Ababa. During a scuffle with security forces when they were taken aboard the flight on 21 August, one of the Eritreans was reportedly killed. In a statement sent to IRIN on Friday Bajulaiye said: "We have registered a strong protest with the Malawian authorities over this incident which has resulted in the unnecessary loss of life." According to UNHCR, the group came from Addis Ababa on 14 August, and had attempted to enter the country on what the Malawi authorities claimed were fake visas, prompting their arrest upon arrival in the Malawian capital, Lilongwe. UNHCR said that during the group's detention, UNHCR staff in Lilongwe and Lusaka, met with the relevant authorities so that the Eritreans could present their case. However, despite UNHCR's efforts, it was advised by the Malawian authorities that the incident was being treated strictly as an immigration issue, on account of the fact that they had allegedly entered with fake visas. Alerted by their imminent deportation, the Eritreans reportedly staged a protest when it came to boarding the flight. "Assessing an asylum seeker's case on merit, irrespective of how the individual entered the country, is an obligation under international refugee conventions, to which Malawi is a signatory," Bajulaiye said. He said he was "extremely concerned" at the reception the deportees may have found on their return to Ethiopia, given the high level of tension between Ethiopia and Eritrea following recent border clashes: "Records from the International Committee of the Red cross (ICRC), as well as statements from relatives in Ethiopia, confirm that the individuals had previously been detained in Dedesa prison, some 400 km outside the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa," Bajulaiye said. He expressed the hope that the incident would not signal the introduction of "restrictive asylum policies by the Malawi authorities." He added that the UNHCR office in Malawi had received assurances from the Malawian immigration authorities that it would in future allow for the "assessment of claims" by asylum seekers and "not resort to actions such as happened in this case."