REPORT UNCHR DEC, 2018 - IAS Score€¦ · UNHCR 03 4. UNHCR IN 2018 04 5. Governance 05 6. History 06 7. Key Figures 07 ... 14. Few Facts 14. 4 Introduction Global appeal prepared

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ContentsIntroduction 011.

Terminology and Defi nitions 012.

UNHCR 033.

UNHCR IN 2018 044.

Governance 055.

History 066.

Key Figures 077.

Population of Concern and Priority Areas 088.

New approaches and expanding partnership 099.

Building Better Futures 1010.

India and UNHCR 1111.

Infl ux of refugees after Independence 1212.

The Rohingya refugees 1313.

Few Facts 1414.

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Introduction Global appeal prepared by United Nation’s High Commission on Refugee is a report which not only concerns the refugees but also provides information for governments, private donors, partners and other readers interested in the organization’s priorities and budgeted activities.

Terminology and Defi nitionsAsylum: The granting of protection, by a State, on its territory to individuals from another State, who are fl eeing persecution or serious danger. Asylum encompasses a variety of elements, including non-refoulement, permission to remain on the territory of the asylum country and humane standards of treatment.

Asylum-seeker: An individual who is seeking international protection. In countries with individualized procedures, an asylum-seeker is someone whose claim has not yet been fi nally decided on by the country in which the claim is submitted. Not every asylum-seeker will ultimately be recognized as a refugee, but every refugee was initially an asylum-seeker.

Refugee : A refugee is any person who, “owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his [or her] nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail him [or her] self of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his [or her] former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.” Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention or “who is outside his/her country of origin or habitual residence and is unable to return there because of serious and indiscriminate threats to life, physical integrity or freedom resulting from generalized violence or events seriously disturbing public order.”

Internally displaced person : An individual who has been forced or obliged to fl ee from their home or place of habitual residence, “in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed confl icts, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border” .

Returnee: A person who was of concern to UNHCR when outside his/her country of origin and who remains so, for a limited period (usually two years), after returning to the country of origin. The term also applies to internally displaced people who return to their previous place of residence.

Stateless person: Person who is not considered as a national, by any State under the operation of its law, including people whose nationality is not established.

Prima facie refugees: Individuals or a group of individuals who are recognized as refugees, by a State or UNHCR, on the basis of objective criteria related to the circumstances in their country of origin, justifying a presumption that they meet the criteria of the applicable refugee defi nition.

Resettlement: It is the transfer of refugees from the country in which they have sought asylum to another State that has agreed to admit them. The refugees will usually be granted asylum or some other form of long-term resident rights and, in many cases, will have the opportunity to become naturalized citizens. For this reason, resettlement is a durable solution as well as a tool for the protection of refugees. It is also a practical example of international burden and responsibility-sharing.

Voluntary repatriation: Return to the country of origin based on the refugees’ free and informed decision. Voluntary repatriation may be organized (when it takes place under the auspices of the concerned governments and/or UNHCR) or spontaneous (the refugees return by their own means with no involvement of UNHCR and governments).

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Multi-year, multi-partner: A multi-year approach that will be included in UNHCR planning to support inclusion and comprehensive solutions for people of concern and will engage a broader range of partners, including development actors to plan with a longer-term vision.

Grand Bargain: An agreement reached in the lead-up to the World Humanitarian Summit between the biggest donors and aid organizations across ten work streams, which aims to shrink the humanitarian funding gap and deliver more aid to the frontline. The initiative stemmed from the recommendations contained in the report of the UN Secretary-General’s High Level Panel on H u m a n i t a r i a n Financing, “Too important to fail: addressing the h u m a n i t a r i a n fi nancing gap”.

The New York D e c l a r a t i o n : This is now being applied in a range of specifi c situations, through the mobilization of existing and new partnerships with development a c t o r s , h u m a n i t a r i a n NGOs, the private sector and civil society under the lead of host governments. It contains four key elements aimed at providing more predictable and sustainable responses to large movements of refugees so as to:

Ease pressure on hosting countries.

Enhance refugee’s self-reliance.

Expand access to third-countries solutions.

Support conditions in countries of origin for return in safety and dignity for refugees.

The New York Declaration calls on UNHCR to develop and initiate the practical application of the CRRF in each situation involving large-scale movements of refugees, with a view to informing the global compact on refugees, to be adopted by the General Assembly in 2018.

UNHCR IN 2018

MissionThe High Commissioner for Refugees is mandated by the United Nations to lead and coordinate international action for the worldwide protection of refugees and the resolution of refugee problems. To date (December 2017), 148 States are parties to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and/or to its 1967 Protocol.

UNHCR’s primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. In its efforts to achieve

this objective, the Offi ce strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and fi nd safe refuge in another State, and to return home voluntarily. By assisting refugees to return to their own country or to settle permanently in another country, UNHCR also seeks lasting solutions to their plight.

U N H C R ’ s E x e c u t i v e Committee (101 member States as of October 2017) and the UN General

Assembly have authorized involvement with other groups. These include former refugees who have returned to their homeland; internally displaced people; and persons who are stateless or whose nationality is disputed. To date (October 2017), 89 States are parties to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and 70 to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

The Offi ce seeks to reduce situations of forced displacement by encouraging States and other institutions to create conditions which are conducive to the protection of human rights and the peaceful resolution of disputes. In all of its activities, it pays particular attention to the needs of children and seeks to promote the equal rights of women and

UNHCRThe UN Refugee Agency is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people.

The 1951 Refugee Convention is the key legal document that forms the basis of its work. It defi nes the term ‘refugee’ and outlines the rights of the displaced, as well as the legal obligations of States to protect them.The convention was adopted in 1951 but came into force on 22nd April, 1954.Its core principle is ‘Non-Refoulement’, which asserts that a refugee should not be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom. This is now con-sidered a rule of customary international law.

UNHCR serves as the ‘guardian’ of the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol. According to the legislation, States are expected to cooperate with it for ensuring that the rights of refugees are respected and protected. 1951 refugee con-vention is built on Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR), which recognizes the right of people seeking asylum in other countries because of perse-cution in their own countries.

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girls. The Offi ce carries out its work in collaboration with many partners, including governments, regional organizations, international and non-governmental organizations. It is committed to the principle of participation, believing that refugees and others who benefi t from the organization’s activities should be consulted over decisions which affect their lives.

UNHCR Global presence (2018 projection)

11,621 staff members* in 468 locations, 130 countries where UNHCR is present.

Governance

UNHCR is governed by the UN General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).Its mandate is defi ned by the 1950 UNHCR Statute. In 2003, the General Assembly extended the mandate “until the refugee problem is solved.”

The High Commissioner is responsible for the direction and control of UNHCR.The High Commissioner Reports annually to ECOSOC and the General Assembly on the work of UNHCR. Filippo Grandi is the 11th United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and will serve till 2022.

History

UNHCR was created on 14 December 1950, during the aftermath of the Second World War, to help millions of Europeans who had fl ed or lost their homes.It replaced United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (1943) and International Refugee Organization (1946) and assumed most of their

functions. UNHCR was awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 1954 and 1981 for its outstanding services.

Key Figures

Key Figures:

In 2018, the requirements for programmed activities stand at $6.929 billion. The percentage breakdown by Pillar is presented below.

Population of Concern and Priority Areas

There are now more than 67 million people of concern to UNHCR around the world—refugees, stateless persons, returnees, and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) affected by confl ict —a number which has doubled over the past two decades. The succession of new or worsening crises has caused an increase in displacement from about 1 in 160 people a decade ago to 1 in 113 today. Of those refugees under UNHCR’s mandate, 84 per cent are residing in low- or middle income countries, and a quarter of those are living in the world’s least developed countries.

Africa The region continues to accommodate the largest population of concern to UNHCR worldwide with nearly 20 million displaced people residing in sub-Saharan Africa at the end of 2016. Some 5.6 million refugees and asylum-seekers, more than 13 million IDPs and over 700,000 stateless persons are residing in countries across the region, most notably in Chad, the Democratic Republic of the

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Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Sudan and Uganda.

The Americas: The region is at the forefront of durable solutions, with more refugees resettled in the Americas than in any other region of the world. More than

80,000 refugees —80 per cent of all resettlement worldwide—were resettled there in 2016, mainly in Canada and the United States of America but increasingly in Argentina, Brazil and Chile. Most countries in the region provide inclusive public policies; opportunities for integration and naturalization; complementary pathways for admission, such as expanded family reunifi cation

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programmes or refugee access to temporary labour migration schemes; and apply innovative approaches to resettlement, such as humanitarian visa programmes.

Asia and the Pacifi c: The region hosts some 3.5 million refugees (mostly from Afghanistan and Myanmar), 2.7 million IDPs and 1.6 million stateless persons.

From emergencies requiring urgent humani- tarian assistance to situations where innova-tive longer-term solutions are required, the Asia and the Pacifi c region presents a complex set of situations requiring UNHCR’s presence. Among the former is Afghanistan, where vio-lence continues to create displacement and obstruct the chances of sustainable returns. Also among the former is the biggest and fastest growing refugee emergency the region has seen in decades—the fl ight from Myan-mar of hundreds of thousands of refugees into Bangladesh. With the existing camps and set-tlements overcrowded, and with limited basic infrastructure and services, the humanitarian needs are astounding.

Europe: Europe is likely to remain a destination for refugees fl eeing confl ict and persecution in 2018, from situations as far afi eld as Afghani-stan, Iraq, and the Syrian Arab Republic (Syria), as well as from crises within Europe, such as that in Ukraine.

From January to August 2017, European coun- tries received some 396,700 asylum applica-tions—down 56 per cent compared to the same period in 2016—with applicants origi-nating mainly from Syria (58,200), Afghanistan (27,800), Nigeria (26,200) and Iraq (25,600). Turkey remains host to the world’s largest ref-ugee population, with 3.4 million refugees and asylum-seekers, the vast majority of whom (3.15 million) originate from Syria.

The lack of durable solutions—including lim- ited integration prospects in many fi rst coun-tries of asylum and a limited number of legal pathways—leaves many with few choices but to attempt migration to Europe, and refugees and migrants are likely to continue to risk their lives to cross the Mediterranean Sea in search of safety.

Refugees and migrants generally enter Eu- rope along one of three routes. First two are through the Eastern and Western Mediter-ranean. The third, the central Mediterranean

route, from North Africa to Italy, is currently the most high-profi le and dangerous. During the fi rst three quarters of 2017, at least 2,600 refugees and migrants died or went missing in the Mediterranean, 94 per cent of whom were trying to cross from Libya to Italy.

Middle East and North America: The Middle East and North Africa region is fac- ing one of the most challenging periods in its recent history. Violence in the region is char-acterized by persistent inter- and intra-State armed confl ict, high unemployment rates and deepening poverty. Continued instability has resulted in mass displacement, increased protection needs, and sustained mixed move-ments, with people fl eeing in search of safety and better opportunities.

Syrians constitute the largest refugee popu- lation worldwide under UNHCR’s mandate. Neighbouring countries and host communities continue to generously accommodate more than 5 million Syrian refugees, overstretching basic services.

Providing assistance to both refugee and host communities, supporting improvements in social cohesion and peaceful co-existence, will remain crucial for UNHCR. With over ten mil-lion IDPs in the region, the Offi ce will also con-tinue to respond to ongoing and protracted displacement inside Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

Challenges faced by refugees:For many refugees, the search for safety and protection has become more dangerous. People fl eeing gang violence in northern Central America (the majority of whom are women and children) face appalling risks on their journeys in search of refuge. Along the central Mediterranean route to Europe, stretching from sub-Saharan Africa through Libya to Italy, refugees and migrants are exposed to life-threatening violence and exploi-tation, detention and torture.

Weaknesses in international cooperation (closed borders, restricting access to asylum and deter-ring entry) and failure in providing protection in neighboring host countries, and their safe return, allow crises to emerge and gather force, trigger-ing refugee fl ows, have also eroded protection for those forced to fl ee.

Some protracted crises are now decades old e.g. confl icts in Afghanistan and Somalia continue to uproot hundreds of thousands and others are re-cently emerged. In 2017, more than 600,000 peo-

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ple crossed from Myanmar to Bangladesh in the space of just a few short weeks, the most rapid outfl ow since the massive refugee emergencies of the 1990s. Forced displacement is still on rise in Yemen, South Sudan, Central African Republic, and Syria.

These historic levels of displacement have high- lighted the need to revisit some of the traditional approaches to the provision of protection and as-sistance as well as the search for solutions.

New Approaches and Expanding Partnership:

Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF)—States agreed to address and resolve refugee fl ows through a new model in New York Declaration on Refugees and Migrants 2016 that places the rights, interests and potential of refu-gees and of their hosts at the heart of a multi-di-mensional response, encompassing, but extend-ing beyond, humanitarian action.

CRRF focuses on more predictable support to host countries and communities, enhanced self-reliance for refugees, more resettlement places and other legal pathways to protection and so-lutions, and greater engagement in solving con-fl icts and addressing root causes; so that volun-tary repatriation becomes a real and sustainable option.

The CRRF is now being applied in twelve coun- tries and two situations, and will be progressively rolled out in all large-scale refugee situations.

Development action and fi nancing are central to the new Comprehensive Response model to en-hance policy dialogue, to expand service delivery, and boost economic opportunities for refugees and host communities which is also in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Expanding Partnership - UNHCR has contin-ued to participate in the deliberations on ways to strengthen humanitarian-development coop-eration within the United Nations Development Group (UNDG) and the Inter-Agency Stand-ing Committee (IASC).UNHCR works with close partnership of World Food Programme (WFP), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO),the UN Develop-ment Programme (UNDP), International labour organisation(ILO),International Organisation for Migration, the Offi ce for the Coordination of Hu-manitarian Affairs (OCHA), the UN High Commis-sioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

Other than UN agencies UNHCR also collabo- rates with national partners (six national part-ners-which, collectively, raise more than half of UNHCR’s income from the private sector:Australia for UNHCR, España con ACNUR (Spain), Japan for UNHCR, Sverigeför UNHCR (Sweden), UNO-Flüchtlingshilfe(Germany) and USA for UNHCR) global companies, and individual donors. Part-nership with private sector aspires to drive in-novation, operational effi ciency, strong advocacy with governments and the public, and increas-ingly seeks to move from corporate responsibility to corporate shared value, engaging entire com-panies.

Building Better Futures:UNHCR protects and assists refugees, and other people of concern, but the ultimate goal is for them to fi nd durable solutions that allow them to rebuild their lives in dignity, safety and peace. These solutions can only be secured when people of concern have a durable legal status which en-sures protection for their civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights without discrimination, including through access to national services and systems. Voluntary repatriation, local integration, and resettlement of refugees in a third country are at the core of realization of durable solutions. All three are regarded as durable because they promise an end to refugee’s suffering and their need for international protection and depend-ence on humanitarian assistance.

The 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Develop- ment Goals place emphasis on including margin-alized groups in all development plans, “to leave no-one behind”, and provides UNHCR a wider range of opportunities when seeking durable so-lutions.

In line with 2017-2021 Strategic Directions, UNH- CR is expanding its strategic partnership with the World Bank, as well as other international fi nan-cial institutions and development actors, to better include people of concern in national develop-ment frameworks and in the strategies, planning and fi nancing instruments of development pro-grammes. This will improve longer-term collective planning and response for refugees’ economic inclusion, whether at the onset of an emergency or in a protracted context. In 2017, UNHCR es-tablished new partnerships, for example with the “United World Colleges” and with “Talent Beyond Borders”, to expand education and labour oppor-tunities for refugees in third countries.

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India and UNHCR:Although India has not signed the 1951 Conven- tion on Refugees and nor it’s Protocol but UNHCR has been allowed to work in India since 1981. The head offi ce of UNHCR’s mission in India is located in Delhi, with a fi eld offi ce in Chennai. UNHCR has no formal status in India and it is usually permit-ted to deal only with nationals from countries not bordering India.

India does not have a legal framework and na- tional refugee status determination system. As a result, UNHCR processes claims for refugee status in India. The UNHCR carries out a Refugee Status Determination (RSD) procedure, which starts with registration as asylum seekers, mostly for arriv-als from Afghanistan and Myanmar. Following the registration, UNHCR will then conduct interviews with each individual asylum seeker accompanied by a qualifi ed interpreter. This process provides a reasoned decision on whether refugee status is granted or not, and gives the individual an op-portunity to appeal a decision if the claim is re-jected.

India grants asylum and provides direct assist- ance to some 200,000 refugees from neighbour-ing countries. Some 31,000 refugees and asy-lum-seekers of diverse origins are protected and assisted by the Offi ce in India. Besides, there are more than 1, 00,000 Tibetans and some 65,000 Sri Lankan refugees recognized and assisted by the Government of India.

Other International Obligation: Although India is not the party of 1951 Convention on Refugee but it has signed other International conventions such as 1984 Torture convention, International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 1969, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 1981. In addition to this, India is obliged to adhere to the customary international law’s principle of refoulement and Article 3 of tor-ture convention states that. “No state party shall expel, return (“refouler”) or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.

Domestic laws/ Provisions:The Government of India handles refugee matters administratively, according to internal domestic and bilateral political and humanitarian consider-ations. The Indian authorities generally grant re-newable temporary residence permits to UNHCR-

recognized refugees. Offi cial policy of the Indian government is that all refugees, whether those it protects or those under UNHCR mandate, are allowed temporary refuge only in India. Besides, India does not offer permanent resettlement to refugees granted temporary asylum elsewhere.

Relevant legislations that deals with refugee are- the Constitution of India, the Registration of For-eigners Act of 1939, the Foreigners Act of 1946,the Rehabilitation Finance Administration Act 1948 to cope with the massive migration of people from Pakistan, the Extradition Act of 1962,the Passport Act, 1920 and the Passport Act, 1967 and deci-sions of the Indian Courts.

Reasons behind not signing the 1951 Convention as well as 1967 Protocol:

Narrow defi nition of Refugee: India found defi -nition of “refugee” in the convention very nar-row. The Indian representative raised this concern at the 54th session of the Executive committee meeting of the United Nations High Commission-er for Refugees (UNHCR) in 2003 by stating that the defi nition fails to recognize “the fundamental actors which give rise to refugee movements”. He further said that “most of the refugee movements are directly related to widespread abject poverty and deprivation around the globe...’ particularly in the developing world such as most of South Asia” Thus, there are various categories of displaced people which the convention does not cover.

Threat to sovereignty: Article 35 of the conven-tion which vests the responsibility of supervising the refugee processing on UNHCR. India does not want its sovereignty to be threatened by any In-ternational community. In addition to this, Indian government along with the governments of other South Asian countries voiced that migration is a matter of bilateral and not multilateral relations and International agreements can restrict their freedom of action. India is also feared uncon-trolled infi ltration of terrorists, criminals and un-warranted elements.

Unfair treatment by UNHCR: According to My-ron Weiner (American political scientist and re-nowned scholar on India) borders in south Asian region are porous and countries do not have the political, administrative or military capacity to enforce any strict rules on the population entry. These cross border movements affect the political stability and internal security of the nation along with the change in the religious or linguistic com-position within the country. In 1971, for example, owing to the substantive presence of Bengalis in the North Eastern States of Tripura, Assam, Meg-

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halaya, state authorities were concerned that this Bangladeshi ‘infl ux’ would lead to indigenous peoples becoming minorities in their own land. In spite of all these problems faced by India, UN-HCR sees India as State where local integration of refugees is easily achievable. It shows that the UNHCR’s solution for refugees in India is their lo-cal integration instead of their repatriation, thus leading to a heavy burden on India. India which is still a developing country does not have enough resources to take care of refugees and it is highly unfair to see India as a place of permanent safety for refugees.

Liberal Constitution: The Constitution of India guarantees certain Fundamental Rights to refu-gees. Namely, right to equality (Article 14) and right to life and liberty (Article 21), right to pro-tection under arbitrary arrest (Article 22), right to protect in respect of conviction of offences (Arti-cle 20), freedom of religion (Article 25), right to approach Supreme Court for enforcement of Fun-damental Rights (Article 32), are as much avail-able to non-citizens, including refugees, as they are to citizens.

Article 51 and 253 of the Constitution lays down respect and obligation for international law and treaty and empowers Parliament to make any law for the whole or any part of the territory of India for implementing any treaty, agreement or convention with any other country or countries or any decision made at any international conference, association or other body.

Infl ux of refugees after Inde-pendence

The Refugees of Partition (1947) The partition displaced over 14 million people along religious line. Since these refugees were automatically the citizens of newly independent India, the question of a threat to national security due to their presence was out of the question. The national capital of Delhi saw a huge infl ux of refugees. The numbers were such that an entire city ‘Faridabad’ had to be built to rehabilitate refugees who were living in appalling conditions in various camps.

The Tibetan refugees (1959) Dalai Lama, along with more than 100,000 followers, fl ed Tibet and came to India seeking political asylum. India granted asylum to them on humanitarian grounds which is still an irritant between Indo-Sino relations.

The Bangladeshi refugees (1971) During Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971 millions of refugees migrated from the country to India, fl eeing the confl ict between the Pakistani army and Bangladeshi forces. This led to a sudden spike in population in states bordering Bangladesh, and it became increasingly diffi cult for the government of India to ensure food security. According to some estimates, more than 10 million Bangladeshi refugees escaped in 1971 and took shelter in India.

Illegal migration from Bangladesh is still a problem for India. The local communities and tribal groups have alleged that refugees from Bangladesh and the continuous fl ow of illegal immigrants have led to a change in the social demography of that area, thereby making the locals a minority in their own homeland. The confl ict is fi ercest in a number of north-eastern states.

The Sri Lankan Tamil refugees Another sizeable group of refugees in India comprises Sri Lankan Tamils who abandoned the island nation in the wake of active discriminatory policies by successive Sri Lankan governments, events like the Black July Riots of 1983, and the bloody Sri Lankan civil war. More than 1.34 lakh Sri Lankan Tamils crossed the Palk Strait to India between 1983 and 1987 during the fi rst in fl ow. In three more phases, many more refugees entered India. The war-torn Sri Lankans sought refuge in southern India with more than 60,000 refugees currently staying in 109 camps in Tamil Nadu alone.

The Afghan refugees While not one of the larger refugee groups in the country, a number of Afghans also took shelter in India after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Small groups of Afghan refugees kept coming to India in subsequent years. These refugees are mostly concentrated in and around Delhi, and have largely established spaces for themselves. Both the World Bank and UNHCR reports suggest that currently India has more than 200,000 Afghan refugees living in its territory.

The Chakma and Hejong refu- geesChakma and Hejong refugees who once lived in the Chittagong hill tracts (Bangladesh) have been living as refugees in India for more than fi ve decades, mostly in the North-East and West Bengal. According to the 2011 census, 47,471 Chakmas live in Arunachal Pradesh alone.

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The Rohingya refugees Over a million Rohingya refugees have fl ed violence in Myanmar in successive waves of displacement since the early 1990s.The Rohingya are a stateless Muslim minority in Myanmar. The latest exodus began on 25 August 2017, when violence broke out in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, driving more than 723,000 to seek refuge in Bangladesh. Most arrived in the fi rst three months of the crisis.

The offi ce of the UNHCR has issued identity cards to about 16,500 Rohingya in India.

Rohingya are a Muslim ethnic-minority group that has lived for centuries in the western coastal state of Rakhine, in Myanmar where they make up around a third of the population. They speak their own language, which isn’t recognized by the state.

There are regular clashes between the Rohingya and the country’s security forces, as well as other ethnic groups in Rakhine, which are predominantly Buddhist. Rohingya militant groups are often involved in the clashes. Rohingya Muslims are among the most persecuted people in the world, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fl ed over the border into Bangladesh, the UN says, as the military intensifi es its clampdown on the minority group. Former UN human-rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein described the actions as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

Why aren’t they recognized as Bur-mese?

The government in Myanmar refuses to recog- nize the Rohingya as citizens, claiming that they are Bangladeshi or Bengali. The government has argued that the Rohingya descend from farmers from what is now called Bangladesh. Many arrived in large numbers during British rule, from 1824 to 1948, when Myanmar was considered a province of British-administered India. The Rohingya were sent there as laborers, which Britain considered an internal migration.

When Myanmar gained independence in 1948, the Rohingya were able to apply for identity cards, which offered some rights, and some even served in Parliament. But after a military coup in 1962, the Rohingya lost this status and were considered foreigners. They were granted foreign identity cards.

In 1982, the Citizenship law allowed the Rohingya to apply for citizenship only if they could speak an offi cially recognized language and had proof that their family had lived in the country before independence. But most Rohingya were never

granted the paperwork to prove their roots, so they were effectively rendered stateless.

Attitude of neighbouring countries towards Rohingya

Indian approach towards the Rohingya crisis has been viewed as contradicting its traditional posi-tion on refugees. Now it is being guided by its economic and strategic interests in the region rather than humanitarian grounds.

Bangladesh does not consider the Rohingya as Bangladeshi but sometimes allows the Rohingya to live in camps on its border, but on other oc-casions, it simply sends them back to Myanmar. Those who stay live as illegal immigrants, which usually means a life of poverty, without the right to work or access to education. Amnesty Inter-national estimates around half a million undocu-mented Rohingya live in Bangladesh.

Other countries in Asia have been just as un- welcoming. In 2015, groups of Rohingya were stranded at sea in Southeast Asia, as Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia pushed them back and forth between each other, refusing to take them in. Indonesia even ordered its fi shermen to stop rescuing them.

Indonesians, however, have shown solidarity with the Rohingya and carrying out regular protests to support them.

Few Facts:UNHCR headquarters is in Geneva, Switzer- land.

Angelina Jolie is the special envoy of UNHCR who has been chosen for second term.

India is the largest refugee receiving Country in South Asia.

Except Afghanistan none of the SAARC mem- ber has signed 1951 Convention on Refugee as well as the protocol.

Actor John Abraham is the Goodwill ambas- sador for UNHCR in India.

UNHCR mission in India was awarded the In- dira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development in 2015.

Kutupalong settlement in Cox’s Bazar, Bang- ladesh is the largest and most densely popu-lated refugee settlement in the world which shelters more than 600,000 refugees.