Refugee

Topic: Citizenship: Idea and Indian Law · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 6 "Citizenship"

Meaning

A refugee is a person who has been forced to leave their country by war, persecution (cruel treatment because of who you are or what you believe) or famine, and who cannot safely go back. Under international law the definition is narrower. The 1951 Refugee Convention covers only a person with a "well-founded fear of persecution" on one of five grounds.

This matters because no state is obliged to make a refugee a citizen. Refugees therefore often live in camps or as illegal migrants. They cannot legally work, send their children to school or own property. India has sheltered many refugee groups, but it has no refugee law and has signed none of the refugee treaties [5].

Explanation

Who counts as a refugee

• Broad meaning (NCERT): anyone forced out by war, persecution or famine who cannot safely return home.
• Legal meaning (1951 Convention): a person with a "well-founded fear of persecution" because of one of five grounds:
• race
• religion
• nationality
• membership of a particular social group

• political opinion

• What is left out: economic hardship is not a ground. A person who leaves only to find better work is not a refugee under the Convention.

• Crossing a border is key. People forced from their homes who stay inside their own country are counted as "displaced", not as refugees.

The scale of the problem

• At the end of 2024, 123.2 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced (made to leave home) [7].
• 73.5 million were displaced inside their own country [7].

• 42.7 million were refugees who had crossed a border [7].

• 73% of refugees live in low- and middle-income countries [7]. The poorer countries carry most of the load.

• In 2024, Sudan became the world's largest displacement crisis, with 14.3 million people displaced. This passed Syria's earlier record of 13.5 million [7].
• In 2024, 188,800 refugees were resettled in a new country, the highest number in 40 years [7].

International protection

Instrument	Year	What it does
1951 Refugee Convention	1951	Defines a refugee. Sets out refugees' rights and the duty of non-refoulement
1967 Protocol	1967	An add-on to the 1951 Convention that widens its reach
1954 Convention	1954	Basic protections for stateless people
1961 Convention	1961	Asks states to prevent and reduce statelessness

• Non-refoulement: a refugee must not be sent back to a place where their life or freedom is in danger. ("Refouler" is French for "to push back".)
• UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees):
• It is the UN agency that protects refugees and stateless people.
• The UN General Assembly set it up in 1950.
• It won the Nobel Peace Prize twice, in 1954 and 1981.
• It publishes the yearly Global Trends report on displacement [7].

Limits: why refugees remain outsiders

• Universal citizenship is a democratic ideal. It says that everyone who lives and works in a country should be able to become a full member of it.
• In practice, every state controls who can join:
• Each state makes its own citizenship rules.

• Some states build walls and fences to keep people out.

• The result: when no state accepts them, people become refugees or stateless. They may stay that way for generations.

In the Constitution and practice

• There is no national refugee law in India. India decides each group's case separately. In law, a refugee is simply a "foreigner".
• India has signed none of the treaties. It is not party to the 1951 Convention, the 1967 Protocol, or the 1954 and 1961 conventions [5].
• The law now in force: the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 (Act No. 13 of 2025) [2]
• It replaced four laws: the Passport (Entry into India) Act 1920, the Registration of Foreigners Act 1939, the Foreigners Act 1946, and the Immigration (Carriers' Liability) Act 2000 [2][3].
• The Lok Sabha passed it on 27 March 2025 and the Rajya Sabha on 2 April 2025 [3]. It came into force on 1 September 2025 [4].
• Section 7: the Centre may ban, regulate or restrict a foreigner's entry into India, exit from India, or stay in India [2].
• Section 16: if there is a question about whether a person is a foreigner, that person must prove they are not one [2].
• Section 29: the Centre may order a foreigner removed from India [2].
• Section 33: the Centre may exempt any person or group from the Act [2]. This is the legal route for treating groups such as Tibetans in a special way.
• Entering India without a valid passport or visa can bring up to 5 years' jail, a fine of up to ₹5 lakh, or both [3].

• The word "refugee" does not appear anywhere in the Act [2].

• Constitutional rights of refugees:

• Art. 14 (equality before the law) and Art. 21 (no one can lose life or personal liberty except by a procedure set by law) protect all persons, including refugees [5].
• Art. 19(1)(e) (the right to live and settle anywhere in India) is for citizens only [5].

• Some High Courts have read non-refoulement into Art. 21.

• How India treats each group:

• Tibetans: the Dalai Lama and his followers came in 1959. The Tibetan Rehabilitation Policy 2014 gives them welfare and other benefits.
• Sri Lankan Tamils: they fled the civil war, and many live in camps in Tamil Nadu.
• Chakmas and Hajongs: they came from the Chittagong Hill Tracts of what is now Bangladesh. In NHRC v. State of Arunachal Pradesh (1996), the Supreme Court held that Art. 21 protects non-citizens too. It ordered the state to protect them from threats of forced eviction.
• Rohingya (from Myanmar):
  • On 8 August 2017, the Home Ministry asked all states to have their police and intelligence agencies identify illegal migrants [5].
  • On 18 August 2017, the NHRC (National Human Rights Commission) sent the Home Ministry a notice about reports that it planned to deport Rohingya [6].

• Afghans and Myanmar nationals in Mizoram and Manipur (after the 2021 military coup in Myanmar) are newer groups. India has no single policy for them.

• Mohammad Salimullah v. Union of India (order of 8 April 2021): a bench of CJI S.A. Bobde, A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian [5].

• The petitioners' case: about 150–170 Rohingya were held in a sub-jail in Jammu. The petitioners said non-refoulement is part of Art. 21 [5].
• The Union's case: non-refoulement binds only countries that signed the Convention. The influx also threatens national security across porous borders (borders that are easy to cross unchecked) [5].
• What the Court held:
  • Arts. 14 and 21 protect all persons [5].
  • The right not to be deported is linked to Art. 19(1)(e), which belongs only to citizens [5].
  • It doubted whether Art. 51(c) could be used for a treaty India has not joined. (Art. 51(c) is a Directive Principle asking the state to respect international law and treaties.) [5]
• Result: no interim relief. The detainees could be deported, but only after following the procedure set for deportation [5].

Don't confuse with

• Stateless person: someone whom no state accepts as its citizen. A refugee usually still has a nationality but cannot safely go home. Statelessness is covered by the 1954 and 1961 conventions, not the 1951 Convention.
• Internally displaced person: someone forced from home who stays inside their own country (73.5 million at the end of 2024 [7]). A refugee has crossed a border.
• Economic migrant: someone who moves to find work or a better income. Economic hardship is not one of the five Convention grounds, so this person is not a refugee in law.
• Illegal migrant / foreigner (Indian law): Indian law makes no separate category for refugees. A refugee is treated as a foreigner under the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, and the word "refugee" does not appear in it [2].

Prelims Hooks

• The 1951 Convention has five grounds of persecution: race, religion, nationality, social group and political opinion. Economic hardship is not one of them.
• India has signed neither the 1951 Convention nor the 1967 Protocol. It has also not signed the 1954 or 1961 statelessness conventions [5].
• UNHCR was set up by the UN General Assembly in 1950. It won the Nobel Peace Prize twice (1954, 1981).
• NHRC v. State of Arunachal Pradesh (1996): Chakmas; Art. 21 protects non-citizens.
• Mohammad Salimullah (2021): Rohingya. Arts. 14 and 21 protect all persons, but the right not to be deported is linked to Art. 19(1)(e), which is for citizens only [5].
• The Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 replaced the Foreigners Act 1946 and three other laws. Under Section 16, a person must prove they are not a foreigner [2].

Mains Points

• The case for a national refugee law:
• India's case-by-case approach treats similar groups differently. Tibetans and Sri Lankan Tamils get help, while Rohingya face detention and deportation.
• A law would give refugees a clear status. It would guard against arbitrary action, as Art. 14 requires, and write the courts' Art. 21 rulings into law.

• The government's view against it: porous borders, security risks [5], population pressure in border states, and the wish to keep foreign-policy options open.

• Security vs humanity:

• Intelligence warnings explain the state's caution (Salimullah, 2021) [5].
• But sending people back to places where they face persecution goes against India's record of giving shelter and its commitments under the UDHR and ICCPR.

• A middle path: screening refugees, giving them temporary protection, and sharing the burden with other states through regional bodies.

• The gap in universal citizenship:

• Refugees and stateless people who live in India for generations have no legal identity. They cannot work, study or own property.
• This undercuts the democratic idea that those who live and work in a country should be able to belong to it.
• It also supports NCERT's view that rights still depend mainly on full national citizenship.

Related concepts

• Universal citizenship
• Statelessness
• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
• 1951 Refugee Convention
• Non-refoulement
• Global citizenship
• Global Citizenship Education

Read more

• Refugees, stateless people and global citizenship