Rohingya Refugees in India

Rohingya Refugees in India

Recently a report titled ‘A Shadow of Refuge: Rohingya Refugees in India’ was released, prepared by The Azadi Project, a women’s rights non-profit, and Refugees International, an international NGO that advocates for the rights of stateless people.

Rohingya

• Rohingya, an ethnic group, mostly Muslim, hail from the Rakhine province of west Myanmar, and speak a Bengali dialect. 
• Myanmar has classified them as “resident foreigners” or “associate citizens.
• They were forced to leave Myanmar in large numbers after several waves of violence, which first began in 2012. 
• The report is based on trips to Rohingya settlements in Delhi and Hyderabad in February and March 2023.
• The research was conducted through interviews with Rohingya refugees, refugee-led organisations, UN officials, local and international NGOs providing humanitarian and legal assistance to the Rohingyas and other experts.

 Major Issues Highlighted by the Report 

• India is not allowing exit permissions for Rohingya refugees who have completed refugee status determinations with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and “gained approval from third countries for resettlement.
• The Rohingya in India are vilified as “illegal migrants”, face growing “anti-Muslim and anti-refugee xenophobia”, and live under constant fear of being deported back to Myanmar, “to the genocidal regime from which they fled”.
• Other challenges: Arbitrary detention.
  • Actual and threatened deportations have also fostered a sense of fear within the Rohingya community, prompting some to return to camps in Bangladesh. 
  • The report details the harsh living conditions of the Rohingya in slum-like settlements with no safe running water or toilets, and no access to basic healthcare, education for children, or employment opportunities. 
  • Those who speak out for the Rohingya are being threatened, particularly with the loss of permission to access foreign funding.
• Downgrading of the UNHCR cards: the UNHCR cards had provided access to some level of education and livelihoods, and to protection from detention and deportation, now the government has taken a stand that “UNHCR refugee status without valid travel documents is of no consequence in India”.

 Suggestions and Recommendations

• Instead of refusing exit visas, India can help facilitate more resettlement opportunities” by advocating for resettlement in ally countries such as the U.S., Canada, Australia, Germany, and other European nations at forums like the G-20 summit. 
• to formally recognise the Rohingya in India as “refugees with a right to an asylum rather than as illegal migrants”. 
  • To make this happen, India needs to sign the Refugee Convention and establish a domestic law on refugees and asylum. 
  • Short of this, the least that India could do is “a simple acknowledgement of residency” by recognising UNHCR cards 
• Better treatment of refugees is in India’s interest, as it would “give the government more global credibility” and also “serve national security interests, as new arrivals would be officially documented and not incentivised to remain under the radar.
• International Cooperation
  • It also urges the U.S. to raise with India concerns over detention, deportation and the status of Rohingya in India during upcoming visits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
  • The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as the International Genocide Convention obligate India not to return the Rohingya to Myanmar.

Practice Questions for Prelims

Rohingya migrants originate from which of the following countries?
a_ Bangladesh
b) Myanmar
c) Pakistan
d)Afghanistan

Ans. b)

Mains Practice Question

Briefly explain the Rohingya crisis and its impact on India. How has India responded so far and what should India do to deal with the issue of Rohingya refugees?

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