U.S. Committee for Refugees World Refugee Survey 1998 - India

  India hosted more than 320,000 refugees at the end of 1997. They included 110,000 from China (Tibet), 100,000 from Sri Lanka, 40,000 from Bangladesh, 40,000 from Burma, 17,500 from Afghanistan, 15,000 from Bhutan, and 1,000 from other countries. An estimated 200,000 Indians were internally displaced. Some 13,000 refugees from Indian-controlled Kashmir were in Pakistan. Refugee Policy India's response to the refugee populations it hosted in 1997 was as varied as the refugee groups themselves. Because India has no legal framework for determining refugee status, it deals with refugees on an ad hoc basis, which has led to refugees being used as "pawns in regional geo-politics," said an October report on refugee protection in India by the nongovernmental South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre (SAHRDC). India has generally permitted refugees to enter. During 1997, for example, it granted entry to more than 2,000 Tibetans. But it also has, on occasion, prevented refugees from entering. In its 1997 human rights report, the U.S. Department of State said that "the insistence of some border authorities on the presentation of passport and visas by those claiming refugee status has occasionally resulted in individuals or groups being refused admittance." In recent years, Indian authorities have intercepted boatloads of Sri Lankan asylum seekers and returned them to Sri Lanka. India has also periodically pressured Bangladeshi Chakma and Sri Lankans to repatriate. India does not permit UNHCR access to most refugees. Of the more than 323,000 refugees in India, only some 18,500 receive UNHCR protection, and even they experience many difficulties. "The plight of the refugees,...whether they are looked after either by the UNHCR or the government of India, is abominable to say the least," said the SAHRDC report. India unofficially regards the Tibetans, Chakma, and Sri Lankans as refugees, and has assisted these groups; however, it considers the ethnic Chin from Burma to be economic migrants. Because Bhutanese refugees are subject to a bilateral agreement that permits citizens of Bhutan to live and work freely in India, the Indian authorities do not acknowledge Bhutanese refugees' presence or assist them. The Indian government keeps the international community at bay regarding refugees on its soil, discourages discussion of refugee issues, and bars access to some regions where refugees live. Nevertheless, in recent years, the human rights, legal, and academic communities in India (and indeed in South Asia as a whole) have taken greater interest in the situation for refugees in India. Refugees from Bangladesh Tens of thousands of Chakma and other ethnic-minority refugees from Bangladesh (collectively known as Jumma) fled to India, mostly since the mid-1980s. They fled abuses by Muslim settlers, and conflict between the Bangladeshi military and the Shanti Bahini, which since 1973 had fought for greater autonomy for the indigenous Chakma and other mostly Buddhist residents of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) area of predominantly Muslim Bangladesh. As 1997 began, some 53,000 Chakma refugees were living in India. On December 2, 1997, Bangladesh and the Shanti Bahini signed a peace agreement that ended the 25-year conflict, which had left tens of thousands dead. The agreement, the fruit of years of on-again, off-again talks, prepared the way for large-scale repatriation of the refugees. Some refugees repatriated in March 1997, in response to progress in the peace talks. Following the December 2 agreement, however, thousands more repatriated. By the end of December, some 13,500 Chakma had returned home. About 40,000 remained in India. For many years, the Indian government wanted the refugees to repatriate. Indian authorities, both at the national level and in the state of Tripura, where most of the refugees lived, kept camp conditions harsh to discourage the refugees from remaining in India. The Indian authorities did not permit UNHCR or international NGOs access to the Chakma refugee camps. They also pressured the refugees to leave. Several repatriations occurred over the years, including groups of 1,850 and 3,500 refugees in 1994, but the returnees often encountered poor conditions in the CHT area, and Bangladeshi authorities did not deliver promised aid, including helping returnees regain their land. (The Shanti Bahini formally surrendered on February 10, 1998. By late February 1998, all of the more than 40,000 Chakma refugees who remained in India had repatriated to Bangladesh.) Refugees from Tibet Some 85,000 Tibetan refugees fled to India after China annexed Tibet in 1959. India has permitted Tibetans to establish their own administration, based in the northern Indian city of Dharamsala, which in effect functions as a Tibetan government in exile. Estimates of the number of Tibetan refugees in India vary because many of the original refugees have died, many children have been born in the refugee settlements, and thousands more have arrived from Tibet, although they do not all remain in India. In 1997, the Tibetan administration in India estimated that more than 110,000 Tibetan refugees lived in India. Some 2,000 Tibetans arrived in India during the year, having fled over the Himalaya Mountains to Nepal, where UNHCR assisted them in their journey on to India. Many Tibetans continue to flee to India because of religious or political persecution, and intend to remain there. Others are on pilgrimages to meet the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhists' exiled spiritual leader, or are studying Tibetan language and culture. The Tibetan refugee leadership encourages most of those on pilgrimages to return to Tibet, both to counteract the overwhelming Chinese presence in Tibet and because the two dozen Tibetan refugee settlements in India cannot absorb so many people. The Indian government has been flexible in its approach to the Tibetans, who have good relations with their Indian hosts. Many Tibetans have achieved economic self-sufficiency, but some, including elderly persons, women-headed families, and recent arrivals, struggle. Refugees from Sri Lanka A 15-year conflict between Sri Lanka's Sinhalese, Buddhist majority and Tamil, Hindu minority, has led more than 100,000 Sri Lankan Tamils to flee to India. According to UNHCR, nearly 4,300 Sri Lankan refugees fled to India during 1997. In February, 165 refugees reportedly died when the boat carrying them to India overturned. Hundreds of thousands of other Tamils are displaced within Sri Lanka. Although an official repatriation program involving UNHCR was in place, no refugees repatriated through the program during the year. Some 66,500 Tamil refugees in India live in camps in Tamil Nadu State, according to UNHCR. Many others never moved into camps, or settled there but later left to live among the local population. Estimates of their number vary from 30,000 to 60,000, although 40,000 is the figure most often cited. USCR estimated the total Tamil refugee population in India at about 100,000. Some of the refugee camps in India were well maintained, but others were badly neglected. Shelter and sanitation facilities were inadequate. The Indian authorities gave camp residents cash grants and provided them some non-food items at subsidized rates. The refugees were allowed to work outside the camps, but restrictions on their movement made it difficult for them to keep jobs. India did not allow UNHCR or other international groups regular access to the camps. Most of the newly arrived refugees in 1996 and 1997 were from Jaffna or the Wanni region of northern Sri Lanka. They originally fled their homes following major military offensives that began in late 1995, displacing hundreds of thousands of people. Most of those who fled to India during 1997 did so because of the very poor conditions that displaced persons continued to experience in the Wanni. Refugees from Burma Up to 40,000 ethnic Chin Burmese refugees lived in India's northeastern Mizoram State. The Chin, who are largely Christian, are among the many ethnic minorities that have suffered discrimination under successive Burmese governments, and persecution by the present Burmese regime. Another 460 Burmese whom UNHCR recognized, and in some cases assisted, lived in Delhi. The group included both former students who fled Burma after the Burmese authorities crushed the pro-democracy movement in 1988, and ethnic Chin who have made the long and costly trek from Mizoram to Delhi to seek UNHCR protection. India does not permit UNHCR access to the Chin in Mizoram. UNHCR has said that it believes the Chin there might qualify as refugees. For many years, because India tightly controls access to its northeastern states, little information existed about the Chin. However, Indian and other South Asian human rights and refugee advocacy groups have increasingly focused on the Chin. According to SAHRDC, "Though the Chin have generally assimilated into Indian society, their living standards are still poor.... The Chin do not receive state assistance or international assistance because of their ambiguous status." Refugees from Bhutan Some 30,000 ethnic Nepalese refugees from Bhutan fled to India beginning in 1991. Most are located in West Bengal and Assam States. Under the terms of the Indo-Bhutanese friendship treaty of 1950, India allowed Bhutanese to live and work freely in India. Therefore, the Indian government did not assist the Bhutanese or require them to live in camps. However, because the Bhutanese in India fled Bhutan and remained outside their country for the same reasons as Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, USCR considered them to be refugees. In 1996 and 1997, Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal attempted a number of "peace marches" from the Nepal-India border to the India Bhutan border. The marchers, led by a group called Appeal Movement Coordination Council (AMCC), reportedly wanted to make their way to Thimpu, the Bhutanese capital, to ask Bhutan's king to permit the Bhutanese refugees in Nepal to repatriate. In April and July 1997, AMCC organized large marches in which thousands of refugees protested India's arrest of refugee leader Rongthong Dorji. India had charged Dorji with violating the Foreigners' Registration Act and threatened to deport him to Bhutan. However, at year's end, Dorji remained imprisoned in India. "Urban" Refugees UNHCR recognized 18,500 refugees in India, most of whom lived in New Delhi. A large majority, nearly 17,500, were from Afghanistan. There were smaller numbers from Burma (460), Iran (215), Somalia (205), Sudan (80), Iraq (45), and other countries. The refugees have no legal status under Indian law. India permitted them to remain, but required them to renew their visas yearly and did not permit them to work. Many of the Afghans, 60 percent of whom are Hindi speakers of Indian descent, found work unofficially. But others, particularly the African refugees, experienced great difficulties because of India's employment policy. UNHCR assisted only a minority of the refugees. Internal Displacement Violence associated with a conflict between Muslims and Hindus in the state of Kashmir, which India rules but Pakistan claims, has internally displaced an estimated 200,000 Kashmiris, mostly Hindus. A majority of the displaced lived in camps, primarily near Jammu and Delhi. According to SAHRDC, the Indian government provided the displaced Kashmiris an allowance of 1,500 rupees ($38) per month for families of four or more persons. Camp residents complained that government assistance did not adequately address their basic needs. Ethnic conflicts in northeastern India have also resulted in internal displacement, but because the Indian authorities keep the area tightly sealed, little is known about the number or condition of those displaced. According to SAHRDC, conflict between ethnic Nagas and Kukis alone has left more than 1,000 dead.