Refugee Policy of India

• Recently, a large number of Kuki-Chin refugees from Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tract Area entered Mizoram (India) out of concern that they would be attacked by Bangladeshi security forces.
• The Chin-Kuki-Mizo refugees' plight was taken to heart by the Mizoram government, which also committed to providing temporary shelter, food, and other forms of assistance as it saw fit.

What Leads to This Refugee Overflow?

• The Khagrachari, Rangamati, and Bandarban districts of southeast Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), which borders Mizoram to the east, Tripura to the north, and Myanmar to the south and southeast, cover more than 13,000 square kilometers.
• Tribal people make up a sizeable section of the population and are culturally and ethnically distinct from the Muslim Bangladeshis who make up the majority on the nation's deltaic mainland.
• The tribal people of the CHT share ethnic ties with the tribes in the nearby parts of India, particularly in Mizoram.
• Bangladesh and Mizoram have a 318-kilometer border.
• Approximately 30,000 refugees who have been escaping fighting in Myanmar's Chin state since around July or August 2021 are currently staying in Mizoram.

In India, how are refugees protected?

• India makes ensuring that refugees have access to the same protection services as their fellow Indian hosts.
• Aadhaar cards and PAN cards are available to refugees who have been officially registered by the government, such as those from Sri Lanka. This enables their inclusion in the economy and the financial system.
• They can participate in national welfare programs and make valuable contributions to the Indian economy.
• However, those who have registered with UNHCR, such as refugees from Afghanistan, Myanmar, and other nations, do not have official documents despite having access to limited protection and aid services.
• They are thereby unintentionally left behind because they are unable to open bank accounts and do not benefit from all government support programs.

What is the refugee policy of India?

• Despite the growing number of refugees entering India, there is no explicit legislation to address the issue.
• The main treaties governing refugee protection, the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, do not recognize India as a party.
• However, India has a fantastic track record when it comes to protecting refugees. India has a moral legacy of integrating immigrants' cultures.
• The Foreigners Act of 1946 also ignores the unique issues that refugees as a group face.
• Additionally, it allows the Central government unrestricted authority to remove any foreign national.
• The Indian Constitution also upholds the dignity, freedom, and right to life of all people.
• While these rights are available to citizens, the Supreme Court ruled in National Human Rights Commission v. State of Arunachal Pradesh (1996) that "persons, including foreign nationals, are entitled to the right to equality and the right to life, among others."
• Furthermore, the right against refoulement is covered under Article 21 of the Constitution.
• The concept of non-refoulement in international law argues that someone fleeing persecution in his own country shouldn't be made to return there against his will.

How are refugees faring in India?

Since gaining its independence, India has taken in several different groups of refugees from its neighbors, including:

• Partition Refugees from Pakistan in 1947.
• Tibetian refugees that arrived in 1959.
• Chakma and Hajong from present-day Bangladesh in the early 1960s.
• Other Bangladeshi refugees in 1965 and 1971.
• Sri Lanka Tamil refugees from the 1980s.
• Most recently Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, 2022.

Why has India not yet created a law regarding refugees?

Immigrants vs. Refugees:

• In the recent past, a lot of people from nearby nations have a tendency to immigrate illegally to India—not because the government is persecuting them, but rather because India offers superior economic prospects.
• The two groups frequently get grouped together, despite the fact that the majority of the discussion in the nation focuses on illegal immigrants rather than refugees.

Open Range of the Manoeuvre:

• India has been able to leave its options open on the refugee issue due to the lack of legislation. Any group of refugees may be deemed unlawful immigrants by the authorities.

What is the current legal framework in place to deal with refugees?

• The Central government is authorised to find, arrest, and deport unauthorised foreign people under Section 3 of the Foreigners Act of 1946.
• Article 258(1) of the Indian Constitution allows for the removal of an unlawful foreigner by force, according to Section 5 of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920.
• All foreign nationals (except Indian citizens living abroad) entering India on a long-term visa (more than 180 days) are required by law to register with a registration officer within 14 days of their arrival. This is in accordance with the Registration of Foreigners Act of 1939.
• 1955's Citizenship Act included provisions for citizenship renunciation, termination, and deprivation.

The distinction between migrants and refugees:

• Refugees are people who have fled their home countries and are in need of international protection because there is a major threat to their life, bodily safety, or freedom there due to persecution, armed conflict, violence, or significant public disorder.
• Migrants depart their home nation in order to work, pursue their education, or start a family.
• Before a person can qualify as a "refugee," there are clear and explicit requirements that must be met.
• There is no universally recognised legal definition of what constitutes a migrant.

Way Forward

• The next step is for an expert committee to rewrite model asylum and refugee rules that were created by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) decades ago but never implemented by the government.
• Enacting such laws would ensure the protection of human rights by giving law sanctity and uniformity.
• If India had domestic refugee legislation, it might have discouraged any tyrannical governments in the area from persecuting their citizens and forcing them to migrate to India.
• Consistent with the Fundamental Duty contained in our Constitution, protection of women and children who are refugees from violence and harassment by local inhabitants and authorities.
• Every citizen is required by Article 51A (e) to disavow actions that are disrespectful to women's dignity.