Sri Lankan Tamils fleeing economic meltdown in state-less soup

On Saturday night (July 2), Parameswari (70) from Mannar in Sri Lanka, who had fled her country early on June 27 on board an illegal ferry and reached the desolate Dhanushkodi coast in Ramnad district in an unconscious condition, died at the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai without responding to treatment. Parameswari and her 82-year-old husband Periannan Sivan who left their country to escape poverty and loss of livelihood were found lying motionless on a beach off Arichal Munai in Dhanushkodi by local fishermen who alerted local authorities. The elderly couple are among the 105-odd Sri Lankan Tamils including several women and children who have reached Dhanushkodi illegally to escape from the economic crisis that has engulfed the island nation early this year. Ironically, sources said that Parameswari and Periannan had undertaken the perilous journey to be with their son and his family who are allegedly at a refugee camp in Tiruchy.

A significant number of those who have arrived have lived in TN and returned to their homeland after the civil war ended in 2009 and wanted to come here to again eke out a living

While the term refugee has been loosely used to define these people who have arrived illegally in the country owing to them seeking refuge here, the technicality of their refugee status is quite tricky as these islanders do not qualify as refugees and are not entitled to the legal protection that refugees are usually offered. They are illegal migrants and are liable to be prosecuted for violating Indian immigration laws. Police officials here clarified that while they have booked criminal cases against some men and have even imprisoned a few, most of the islanders who reached TN coast have been lodged at the Mandapam camp along with other refugees from SL on a humanitarian basis as they await further instructions from the centre. As immigration and foreigner registration comes under the union government, state government can do little legally for those arriving her to escape the economic crisis in the neighbouring country.

Who Is A Refugee?

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) still goes by the 1951 Convention Related to the Status of Refugees and its Related 1967 Protocol in defining refugees and their legal status. The 1951 convention defines a refugee as a person who is outside his or her country of nationality or habitual residence, has a well-founded fear of being persecuted because of his or her race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, and is unable or unwilling to avail him or herself of the protection of that country, or to return there for fear of persecution. People who fulfil this definition are entitled to the rights and bound by the duties contained in the 1951 Convention.

The 1951 Convention details a number of rights refugees are entitled to and also highlights the obligations of refugees towards their host country. Accordingly, a refugee should not be returned to a country where or she faces serious threats to his or her life or freedom. This protection may not be claimed by refugees who are reasonably regarded as a danger to the security of the country, or have been convicted of serious crimes, or considered a danger to community. Some of the rights that a refugee is entitled include: i) The right not to be expelled except under certain strictly defined conditions ii) The right to housing iii) The right to access courts iv) right to education v) right to freedom of movement within the territory vi) right to work vii) the right to be issued identity and travel documents etc.

No Strong Legal Framework For Refugees In India

While close to 150 countries are signatories to these protocols on refugees, India isn’t a signatory and hence is not obliged to follow these protocols concerning refugees. Yet, India is among those countries in the world that has taken a huge influx of refugees from neighbouring countries on a humanitarian basis although there are no concrete laws yet in the country on who are refugees and what they are entitled to. Some of the reasons cited for not signing up for the UN Convention are that for a country with diverse borders as ours, accepting legal refugees would amount to a huge influx of people from neighbouring countries which might turn out to be a security concern in the long run. Besides, legal experts have claimed that the Indian Constitution guarantees several basic rights for both citizens and non-citizens in the country which is also applicable to refugees including the right to livelihood and right to employment etc.

India is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. Hence, not obliged to follow the UN protocol concerning refugees.

A UNHRC report on the status of refugees in India put out a few years ago claimed that while India is not party to 1951 Refugee Convention and does not have a national refugee protection framework, the country continues to grant asylum to a large number of refugees from neighbouring States and respects UNHCR's mandate for other nationals, mainly from Afghanistan and Myanmar. The UN report also claimed that in the absence of a legal and administrative framework, the UNHCR office based in New Delhi conducts refugee status determination (RSD) for asylum-seekers from non-neighbouring countries and Myanmar. UNHCR also has a presence in Chennai to support voluntary repatriation of SL refugees. The government of India's approach to the refugee issue results in different standards of protection and assistance among refugee groups. Tibetans and SL refugees are protected and assisted by the government, the report added.

In the absence of any concrete law dealing with refugees despite a huge number of foreigners seeking asylum in India, which runs into at least a few lakhs, legal experts often look at the Passport (Entry of India) Act, 1920, The Passport Act, 1967, The Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939, The Foreigners Act, 1946, and The Foreigners Order, 1948, with regard to the disputes arising out rights of refugees and asylum seekers. A Bill had also been presented in the Rajya Sabha on February 7, 2020 called the Refugee and Asylum Bill, 2019 and is still available for public scrutiny online. However, there is no further information on the Bill and why it hasn’t been ratified yet. The Citizenship Amendment Act 2019, passed in 2019 amid protests in several parts of the country, also doesn’t address the issue of several categories of refugees including Sri Lankan refugees in TN

Plight of SL Refugees In India

According to a report tabled by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs for the year 2020-21, a total of 58,843 Sri Lankan and 72,312 Tibetan refugees have been living staying in 108 refugee camps in Tamil Nadu and 54 in Odisha until January 1, 2021. Besides, around 34,135 refugees had been staying outside the camps, registered with the state authorities in Tamil Nadu. The report added that pending repatriation, certain essential relief facilities were provided to them on humanitarian grounds. These facilities include shelter in camps, cash doles, subsidised ration, clothing, utensils, medical care and educational assistance. The entire expenditure was incurred by the state government and subsequently reimbursed by the Centre to the state. The Ministry also stated that around 3,04,269 Sri Lankan refugees have entered India in various phases between July, 1983 and August 2012 and the centre’s approach has been to grant relief on humanitarian grounds with the ultimate objective to repatriate them back to Sri Lanka. However, as the civil war in the island nation had officially ended in the year 2009, the Indian government has stopped recognizing islanders fleeing their nation as refugees since 2012.

Under these circumstances, the latest batch of 105-odd SL Tamils who fled their country tiding over the treacherous waters of the Indian Ocean have literally landed in a fix. They are no longer recognized as SL refugees nor does India have a set plan for dealing with economic refugees or asylum seekers.

Following demands from minor political parties that sought refugee status and financial support for those arriving from SL due to the economic crisis, Chief Minister MK Stalin, in March 2022, urged PM Modi to provide refugee status to SL Tamils reaching TN shores to escape poverty and seek a decent livelihood. However, in the absence of any concrete decision taken by the centre, these refugees are likely to languish in camps and jails without any of the legal protection that refugees are entitled to, according to the UN Convention.

Chief Minister MK Stalin, in March 2022, urged PM Modi to provide refugee status to SL Tamils reaching TN shores to escape poverty and seek a decent livelihood.

While the UN Convention and Protocols for Protection of Refugees is just about 70 years old; even passports are less than a century old, and the concept of modern nation-states are just a few hundred years old. But,humans have existed on this planet forever and one of the primary motivations for migration since time immemorial has been the need to escape poverty and strive for a right to a decent life. In that context, a 71-year-old woman fleeing her country, barely 18-odd nautical miles away from ours, seeking food and a decent life doesn’t deserve to lie unconscious on a desolate beach and die a few days later. None, least of all a senior citizen, deserves such an end on this land irrespective of their nationality. It’s about time lawmakers make suitable amends to ensure such tragedies do not recur.