Repatriation is the process of transporting a claimant or their body back to their own country after they have been injured or killed in a foreign country.
India has so far singed the agreement with 18 countries under the Repatriation of Prisoners Act, 2003. United Kingdom (UK) was the first country with which India had signed this pact in 2004.
The right to return to one’s home country is assured under Article 12(4) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. A sentence served in a foreign land, far away from family, familiar food and language, has been globally perceived to be more onerous than one served at home. Therefore, the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963, provides for information to consulate, consular protection and consultation upon arrest, detention and during trial in a foreign country including entitlement to travel documents.
Myanmar and Bangladesh signed an agreement in November to repatriate an estimated 700,000 Muslims who fled northern Rakhine after two deadly attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on government security forces in the past two years and a brutal military counterinsurgency campaign. Last month, Myanmar signed a MoU with UN agencies on the voluntary return of the refugees.
