New Delhi:  Highlighting their plight, refugees from Myanmar’s Chin region here lamented their poor living conditions and a lack of refugee status for the tens of thousands who have sought shelter in India.

“Ever since the military regime took over the country in 1988, an estimated 82,000 Chin-Burmese have fled to India,” said Cheery Zahau, a coordinator of the Mizoram-based Women League of Chinland.

“About 70,000 are in Mizoram, which borders the Chin region, 10,000 are in Manipur and 2,000 in Delhi,” she added at a seminar organised by the All India Christian Council at the YMCA Tourist Hostel here Sunday.

Zahau said many Chin people in Mizoram were not recognised as refugees, as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) requires refugees to come to its Delhi office for recognition – a condition most refugees, who are poor unskilled workers, can’t comply with.

“The Chin region, where a majority of people are Christians and speak the Chin language, has been facing the brunt of the military regime, which has an agenda of one nation, one religion and one language.

“The regime has been persecuting the community to pressure their members to adopt the Buddhist religion and the Burmese language. The military has created such a situation that it is impossible for the Chin people to survive in their own land,” she claimed.

Zahau also said the Chin-Burmese in India faced financial woes as they received only a nominal subsidy from the UNHCR. Finding employment was an uphill task due to the language problem.

Most refugees in Delhi live in Janakpuri and Vikaspuri areas. “Even in Delhi, over 20 refugees have to live together in a single small house,” she said.

“Most children from our region work at tea stalls and various factories in Delhi to make both ends meet. Many Chin girls are forced into prostitution,” Zahau added.