UNHCR’s Population of Concern: Where Does India Stand?

Abstract

A leading policy issue of the twenty-first century is escalation of global crisis of population of concern as a result of organized political violence specifically targeting civilian population. There are an estimated 68.5 million population of concern to UNHCR. These include refugees, persons in refugee-like situations, internally displaced persons and returnees, asylum-seekers and stateless persons. The present paper takes the stock of UNHCR’s population of concern in South Asian countries with specific reference to China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and juxtaposes with Indian subcontinent thereby endorsing India’s surreal picture when accommodating UNHCR’s population of concern in comparison with her counterparts. It further contested India’s own failure to take cognizance of her internally displaced people delineating policy paralysis owing to multifaceted reasons on socio-political and international fronts. Paper further laments comprehensive legislative framework in the context of International human rights laws, UN conventions, South Asian regions’ normative framework along with India’s statutory constitutional provisions and its ad hoc policy decisions while dealing with population of concern. The paper concludes with policy implications of multi-pronged strategies to protect the rights of this unique group of vulnerable population.

Appendix

See Table 18.3.

Table 18.3 UNHCR’s population of concern by country of origin in China and Indian sub-continent by year 2016