India’s Concern of Rohingya Crisis : Daily Current Affairs

Relevance: GS-3: Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security. Security challenges and their management in border areas

Key Phrases: Rohingya Refugee Crisis, Trafficking and smuggling of humans, Myanmar Coup, Foreigners Act, 1946.

Context:

Recently a tweet from a Union Minister and clarifications later on from the Union Home Ministry brought into discussion the Rohingya Refugee crisis once again.

Background

The Rohingya people are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnic group who predominantly follow Islam and reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar.
Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, an estimated 1.4 million Rohingya lived in Myanmar.
Rohingyas are the most persecuted minority in the world according to the United Nations. Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh is the biggest refugee camp in the world today.
In order to escape discrimination and violence in Myanmar, minority Rohingya Muslims have fled from the Buddhist-majority country to neighbouring Bangladesh and other countries, including India.

Cause of concern for India’s security

The illegal immigration of Rohingyas into India and their stay here can have serious national security ramifications and poses serious security threats.
It impacts the interests of local populations in the areas seeing large-scale influxes of illegal immigrants.
It increases the political instability when leaders start mobilizing the perception of the citizens against the migrants.
The persistent attacks against the Muslims perceived as illegal migrants have given way to radicalisation.
Trafficking of women and human smuggling has become quite rampant across borders.
The rule of law and integrity of India are undermined by the illegal migrants due to their engagement in illegal and anti-national activities.

The Controversy

Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs announced a shift from Centre’s non-accommodating policy towards Rohingyas.
He tweeted that the central government has invoked the principle of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam and decided that the “refugees” will be shifted to EWS flats in Bakkarwala in Delhi, they will be provided basic amenities, UNHCR ids and accorded round-the-clock police protection.
Later, the Union home ministry clarified that the government does not have any housing scheme for the Rohingya, that it regards people from the community as “illegal immigrants” and plans to deport them to their home country.

Illegal Immigrant vs Refugee

Under the 1951 UN Convention on the Status of Refugees and the subsequent 1967 Protocol, the word refugee pertains to any person who is outside their country of origin and unable or unwilling to return owing to a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.
Stateless persons may also be refugees in this sense, where the country of origin (citizenship) is understood as a ‘country of former habitual residence.
Persons in India without either valid Indian citizenship or a visa are considered by the central government as illegal and unlawful immigrants.
Illegal immigrants are subject to The Foreigners Act, 1946 which defines a foreigner as a person who is not a citizen of India.

Myanmar coup

The Rohingya exodus has intensified since Myanmar’s military overthrew the country’s democratically-elected government. Since the power seizure, there has been an influx of people into Mizoram.
Many of them are democracy activists belonging to the Chin ethnic group, or policemen who said they disobeyed orders to shoot at protesters.
They fear the Myanmar Army will kill them if they go back.
In refugee terms, there is no real difference between Rohingya and these new arrivals. Both have fled the Myanmar Army, although in different circumstances.
The only difference is that Myanmar accepts one lot as citizens while it rejects Rohingya, who are stateless.

India’s attitude towards handling Refugees

India has welcomed refugees in the past and nearly 300,000 people here are categorized as refugees at present.
But India is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention or the 1967 Protocol. Nor does India have a refugee policy or a refugee law of its own.
This has allowed India to keep its options open on the question of refugees. The government can declare any set of refugees as illegal immigrants - as has happened with Rohingya despite the UNHCR verification - and decide to deal with them as trespassers under the Foreigners Act or the Indian Passport Act.
The Foreigners Act, 1946 in India has procedures to deport illegal immigrants.
Myanmar shares a 1,600-km border with the four North-eastern states of Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
The Center had asked these states to “take appropriate action as per law” and “maintain a strict vigil at the border” to prevent a Rohingya influx.
The state governments were told that they did not have the authority to declare anyone as “refugee” since India is not a signatory to the Refugee Convention of 1951.
This lack of generosity and compassion is a blemish on India’s record of treating communities under siege in its neighborhood – Tibetans, people from erstwhile East Pakistan and Sri Lankan Tamils.

Way Forward

The CAA Act maintains that religion is a criterion for deciding who gets fast-tracked citizenship among those seeking sanctuary in India.
But can a country aspiring for global power status afford to discriminate among the vulnerable?
The Delhi High Court held that the country has won accolades for its sensitive handling of refugees.
However, the absence of a refugee law means that communities such as the Rohingya or the Chin refugees from Myanmar have to search for security through ad-hoc policy changes and judicial interventions.
The latest controversy on the Rohingya should impart urgency to conversations for such a law.

Source: Indian Express

Mains Question:

Q. Lack of generosity and compassion in handling the Rohingya Crisis is a blemish on India’s record of treating communities under siege in its neighborhood. Critically Analyze [150 Words].