Chennai:
India has an approximate number of 300,000 refugees in the
country of which 100,000 are from Tibet, according to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
This was revealed during a workshop on 'Human Rights and
Refugee Protection' conducted by UNHCR officials Nayana Bose and R Vidjea
Barathy and organized by Press Institute of India and Research Institute for
Newspaper Development.
During
the workshop the discussions focused on the rights of
the refugees and also on who comes under the purview of being a refugee.
It was learnt that the term refugee was loosely used in the media. The
discussion also revolved around over whether the Kasmiri Pundits could
be
termed as refugees.
The officials clarified that the term refugee as UNHCR
pertains to any person any person who owing to well-founded fear of being
persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership to a
particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of origin
of his nationality and is unable or owning to such fear, is unwilling to avail
himself of protection of that country.
During the discussion on the status of Bangladeshis who
entered India, it was felt that they are just the migrants and does not enjoy
the refugee status. “They are not persecuted in their country. They are in the
country to make money,” it was stated.
Interestingly, the focus was also on the internally displace
persons in Sri Lanka and also the refugees from Sri Lanka in India.
During the meeting it was also highlighted that India is not
a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or the
1967 Protocol and there is no regional
legal framework for rfugees Though repeatedly recommended by the
National Human Rights Commission, India still does not have a national refugee
law, the officials said.
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