Refugees in India

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------------------------------------------------- refugees in india: need for a legal framefork ------------------------------------------------- PAYAL LAMBA* ------------------------------------------------- 1. BACKGROUND India has been hoisting several thousand refugees from various parts of the world, particularly, from the neighboring countries, such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar besides several thousand Tibetans, Iranians, etc.In spite of the fact having this large refugee population India doesn’t have a legislation protecting the refugees. Refugees in India face a lot of difficulties, the difficulty they face the most is discrimination. India has not acceded to the 1951 Refugee Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol and also doesn’t have any refugee protection legislation in place. Since it does not have any domestic law in place, it doesn’t have any statutory duty or international obligation to protect the refugees. However, India became a member of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner for the Refugees (EXCOM) in 1995 in recognition of its active support and assistance given to refugees in India. However, India is has signed several UN conventions and follows the principle of non-refoulement, which is the key principle of refugee law that concerns the protection of refugees from being returned to places where their lives or freedoms could be threatened. Supreme Court of India has interpreted Article 14 and 21 as applicable to both citizens and aliens. In Chakma Refugee case , the Supreme Court held that Chakma Refugee who had come from Bangladesh cannot be sent back to Bangladesh as their life might be in danger. In this case the Supreme Court allowed National Human Rights Commission to intervene and lay standards for repatriation. Further, it ordered that that the custody of the refugees should be

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