Ex-UN official languishes as Syrian refugee in India

Former UN official Mohammad Ahmed would never have imagined that after providing protection and assistance to millions of Palestinian refugees while working with the United Nations (UN), a day would come when he would have to fight for his own survival before the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in India.

It was little past 12 pm on January 11, Ahmed and Mohammad Wahab, both Syrian refugees, were desperately waiting for somebody at the Delhi office of the UNHCR to respond to their long-drawn request for third country resettlement. 

After yet another brief conversation with a junior-level officer, they were told that the UN was still studying their cases and would respond in two weeks.

Frustrated with the same copycat response from the official, Ahmed confronted him and said: “There is nothing to study in our case and what is it that you are studying for the last four years?” 

Way back in 2011, Ahmed set off for India to seek a dignified life far away from the war-ravaged Syria after his house was bombed by air strikes in Damascus. After one year, Mohammad found that it was getting hard to survive without a Long Term Visa (LTV) or a job permit and approached the UNHCR to get a third country settlement.

“It is almost four years since I am asking for resettlement, but there is nothing that the UNHCR can offer us. Every time I visit I am asked to visit their outreaches. I have given more than 20 interviews to 20 different officials but no solution has come as of now,” added Ahmed.   

Ahmed, who holds a Masters degree in Applied Linguistic from the Damascus University, was left downcast as he could not come to terms with the level of insensitivity being shown by UN officials. “I never thought that there would ever be a day when I have to fight for my own identity,” he lamented.

Ahmed told Millennium Post that after completing his Masters, he was appointed as a lecturer in the Damascus University and taught there for five years. Apart from this, he also worked with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which provides assistance and protection to Palestine refugees, for two years as a teacher. 

“After doing all this, I am being treated worse than an animal by these officials. I don’t belong anywhere, I have no rights, no job. I am fighting to survive with no identity in India. And these UNHCR officials expect me to be submissive, may be this is how they treat other refugees,” said a visibly disturbed Ahmed.

Ahmed’s case is not an isolated one. There are at least 18 highly qualified people in their 30s living under the dark shadow of uncertainty. 

Another Syrian refugee, Wahab came to India on a student visa and completed his Masters in English Literature from the Jamia Millia Islamia in 2013. Eight months ago, when he approached  the Indian authorities for a long-term visa, he was asked to leave the country. “I have already got the exit paper, anytime I can be kicked out of this country.