Nepal, Jan. 12 -- Due to hostile environments in India and Bangladesh, Rohingyas fleeing genocide in Myanmar may look to Nepal for refugee, and in order to protect Nepal's sovereignty and national security, they should be barred from entry into Nepal, argued Prasanna Mahat in her article entitled The Rohingya in Nepal published on January 1 in this newspaper. While the situation is undoubtedly complex, the idea that Nepal should deny entry to new arrivals is a problematic argument for several reasons.

First of all, the idea that welcoming refugees fleeing persecution harms or violates a state's sovereignty at all, let alone to any meaningful or significant degree, is a highly contested notion. Moreover, the idea that refugees fleeing gen...