Experts urge legislation or policy to govern refugee issue in India

Despite hosting several refugees from neighboring countries, experts in India believe that in the absence of legislation or a proper policy to govern their stay, they are facing immense problems.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency to mark the World Refugee Day, which is being observed on Monday, prominent human rights activist Ravi Nair, said that refugees face a lot of problems in the country in absence of the domestic legislation to attend to their issues. He said that India is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention and its 1967 protocol and does not have a formal asylum policy.

“All foreign nationals (including those claiming to be refugees) are governed by the provisions contained in India’s foreigners Act, 1946,” he said.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugee India, as many as 47,098 refugees and asylum-seekers were registered with their New Delhi-based office. Out of them, 976 individuals mainly from Afghanistan and Myanmar were registered in February 2022.

Officially the government has maintained that since the refugees enter the country clandestinely and surreptitiously without valid travel documents, they do not possess authentic data at the central level.

“In absence of a law…India continues to treat refugees arbitrarily, discriminating against them and inhumanely detaining and deporting them, in violation of customary international law and its international treaty obligations,” said Nair, who is executive director of the New Delhi-based South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre.