India and Refugee Law: Gauging India’s Position on Afghan Refugees
The turbulent transition of power from the Ghani administration to the Taliban regime has not only signalled a death knell to the fundamentals of representative democracy, but it has also provided fertile ground for the large-scale exodus of refugees into neighbouring nations. In view of this, a scr...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Laws |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/11/2/31 |
| _version_ | 1797410416063676416 |
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| author | Atul Alexander Nakul Singh |
| author_facet | Atul Alexander Nakul Singh |
| author_sort | Atul Alexander |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The turbulent transition of power from the Ghani administration to the Taliban regime has not only signalled a death knell to the fundamentals of representative democracy, but it has also provided fertile ground for the large-scale exodus of refugees into neighbouring nations. In view of this, a scrutiny of the Indian state’s response to the influx of Afghan refugees is warranted. India is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, nor to the 1967 Protocol, and, in the absence of any concrete national refugee law and policy, Afghans who are seeking refugee status are processed on a haphazard case-by-case basis. In chalking out a future course of action, this paper aims to analyse India’s response to the possible Afghan refugee inflow in the aftermath of the Taliban takeover and in light of India’s recent endorsement of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR). Against the backdrop of the limited mandate of the UNHCR and the lack of “political will” from the successive governments, we contend that the Supreme and High Courts of India have been instrumental in construing a tentative shield of protection for persons already in the country, which is working out of a judicial form of the endorsement of the <i>non-refoulment principle</i>, in the absence of legislative and executive commitments, and the preferential “acts of kindness” strategy, which discriminates amongst different refugee groups as per origin or religious belief. Moreover, it is argued that the GCR has made few inroads into the overall paradigm as to how refugees are perceived in India. The research concludes that India must enact legislation on refugees for any constructive engagement beyond archaic quick-fix solutions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:29:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-473aceab24514bbcb4d1fe23814fb5e0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-471X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:29:38Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Laws |
| spelling | doaj.art-473aceab24514bbcb4d1fe23814fb5e02023-12-03T13:36:38ZengMDPI AGLaws2075-471X2022-04-011123110.3390/laws11020031India and Refugee Law: Gauging India’s Position on Afghan RefugeesAtul Alexander0Nakul Singh1Department of Law, West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata 700098, West Bengal, IndiaDepartment of Law, West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata 700098, West Bengal, IndiaThe turbulent transition of power from the Ghani administration to the Taliban regime has not only signalled a death knell to the fundamentals of representative democracy, but it has also provided fertile ground for the large-scale exodus of refugees into neighbouring nations. In view of this, a scrutiny of the Indian state’s response to the influx of Afghan refugees is warranted. India is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, nor to the 1967 Protocol, and, in the absence of any concrete national refugee law and policy, Afghans who are seeking refugee status are processed on a haphazard case-by-case basis. In chalking out a future course of action, this paper aims to analyse India’s response to the possible Afghan refugee inflow in the aftermath of the Taliban takeover and in light of India’s recent endorsement of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR). Against the backdrop of the limited mandate of the UNHCR and the lack of “political will” from the successive governments, we contend that the Supreme and High Courts of India have been instrumental in construing a tentative shield of protection for persons already in the country, which is working out of a judicial form of the endorsement of the <i>non-refoulment principle</i>, in the absence of legislative and executive commitments, and the preferential “acts of kindness” strategy, which discriminates amongst different refugee groups as per origin or religious belief. Moreover, it is argued that the GCR has made few inroads into the overall paradigm as to how refugees are perceived in India. The research concludes that India must enact legislation on refugees for any constructive engagement beyond archaic quick-fix solutions.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/11/2/31AfghanistanIndiarefugeesnon-refoulmentrefugee conventionUNHCR |
| spellingShingle | Atul Alexander Nakul Singh India and Refugee Law: Gauging India’s Position on Afghan Refugees Laws Afghanistan India refugees non-refoulment refugee convention UNHCR |
| title | India and Refugee Law: Gauging India’s Position on Afghan Refugees |
| title_full | India and Refugee Law: Gauging India’s Position on Afghan Refugees |
| title_fullStr | India and Refugee Law: Gauging India’s Position on Afghan Refugees |
| title_full_unstemmed | India and Refugee Law: Gauging India’s Position on Afghan Refugees |
| title_short | India and Refugee Law: Gauging India’s Position on Afghan Refugees |
| title_sort | india and refugee law gauging india s position on afghan refugees |
| topic | Afghanistan India refugees non-refoulment refugee convention UNHCR |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/11/2/31 |
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