Also: 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 1967 Protocol, Geneva Refugee Convention
Definition
The 1951 Refugee Convention, with its 1967 Protocol, is the main international treaty defining who is a refugee, the rights they hold and the obligations of states, especially the principle of non-refoulement. India is not a party to either, and handles refugees through general laws and policy decisions.
The Convention was drafted after the Second World War, when millions of people in Europe had been displaced. It defines a refugee as a person outside their country who has a well-founded fear of persecution because of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, and who cannot or will not return. Initially it covered only those displaced by events before 1951, mostly in Europe; the 1967 Protocol made it universal.
India has hosted large refugee populations: people displaced by Partition, Tibetans since 1959, East Pakistanis in 1971 (about 10 million at the peak), Sri Lankan Tamils from the 1980s, Afghans, Chakmas and Hajongs, and Rohingya from Myanmar. India has not joined the Convention, citing concerns that it was designed for European conditions, does not address mixed migration flows in South Asia, and would place obligations on a developing country with porous borders. It also argues that its record of hosting refugees shows that it does not need the treaty.
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