30 March 2007
Source: Media Relations & Public Information, UNHCR, Geneva
(Clearwisdom.net) According to credible information received by UNHCR,
a Chinese asylum seeker and her 8 year-old daughter were taken by the Russian
authorities from their St. Petersburg residence last Wednesday (28 March) and
put on a plane departing to China via Novosibirsk. The woman and her daughter
had submitted a claim for asylum in accordance with the Russian Federation Law
on Refugees. Their appeal against a first negative decision was scheduled to be
considered by the Dzerzhinky District court in St. Petersburg this afternoon.
Both had been registered by UNHCR as persons in need of international
protection.
UNHCR is concerned at their forcible deportation in violation of the Russian
Federation's international obligations and of the Russian Federation Law on
Refugees, both of which prohibit the return of asylum seekers to their country
of origin before a final decision on their asylum claims has been made. The
Russian Federation is a signatory to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status
of Refugees.
UNHCR is following up with the asylum seekers' legal counsel and the Russian
authorities to clarify the facts of the matter.
Category: Falun Dafa in the Media