Dear Raghunath,
Your query is new but mainteniance of Rfugees are made through International donations through global and Regional Co-Operation. However there are laws for Refugees for their protection as mentioned hereunder:
India has not acceded to the Refugees Convention of 1951 and its optional protocol of 1967. Yet, India is a home of Refugees sheltering nearly three lakhs Refugees from various countries. The problems of Refugees is a big one and no one country can solved the Refugees problems rather it has to be tackle globally and on Regional basis as burden sharing. But unfortunately again not a single South Asian countries have any legal framework for dealing with the refugees situation. The Latin America has Cartagena Declaration while the African countries have OAU Declaration.
Due to lack of this specific framework and the consequent difficulties faced by the asylum seekers in India, a group of eminent persons under the guidance of former Chief justice of India P.N.Bhagwati, drafted the Model National Law on Refugees in November 1996 and placed before the SAARCLAW seminar in New Delhi in 1997, and the Model Law was formally adopted in its annual meeting in Dhaka on 11 November 1997, and again in Kathmandu on 9-10 November 1998, and all the SAARC countries decided that the Model Law should be harmonized with country specific legislative and Judicial requirements and formally propose it to the respective government.
But till today India does not have any specific and separate law to deal with the refugees problems but in the absence of any such specific law the various Indian laws such as the CRPC, IPC, Evidence Act and the various Human Rights law regimes to which India is a party are applied.
India became a party to Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme ( EXCOM) in 1995, an organization of UN, which approves and supervises the material assistance programme of United nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR and this indicates India’s commitment towards refugee matters.
India voted affirmatively in the UN for adoption of Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, United Nations Declaration of Territorial Asylum of 1967, India ratification of International Covenant on Civil and political rights 1966, and the International Covention of Economic,Social and Cultural Rights 1966, Convention on the rights of the child, Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.
Rights of the Refugees are reflected in the following Articles of Universal Declaration of Human Rights:-
Article 13- Right to freedom of Movement.
Article 14-Right to seek and enjoy Asylum
Article 15-Right to nationality
The International Covenant on Civil and political rights 1966.
Article 12- Freedom to leave any country including person’s own.
Aricle 13- Prohibition of expulsion of aliens except by due process of law.
Convention on the rights of the Child 1989.
Article 2- the State must ensure the rights of child within its jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind.
Article 3- In all actions concerning children the best interest of the child shall be a primary consideration.
Article 24- Right to education
Article 37- Juvenile justice.
Constitutional Provisions.
Article 14- Right to equality.
Article 21- No one to be deprived of life and liberty except according to procedure established by law.
Article 22 (2)- protection against arrest and detention.
Article 25 (1) – freedom of conscience… all these provisions are applicable to Refugees.
Under the established principle of Rule of law in India, no person whether an alien or citizen shall be deprived of the life, liberty or property without the authority of law. As such if you have any grievances you can knock the door of the Court.
As mentioned above Model National Law on Refugees is supposed to provides for Commissioner for Refugees by the Government and also Refugee Committee.
In the District level there is Commissioner for Refugees who is the Administrative head of the District, whereas the Refugee committee is headed by sitting or retired judge of a High Court, so you can take your grievances before those authorities or before the Office of the UNHCR in Delhi at 14 Jor Bagh, New Delhi.
