THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 05 FEBRUARY 2019 (Wrong on the Rohingya (The Hindu))

Wrong on the Rohingya (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: International Relations
Prelims level: UNHCR
Mains level: India and neighbourhood relations

Context

•  The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) called for a report from India on the deportation of a group of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar in October 2018.
•  India’s repatriation of the refugees contravenes international principles on refugee law as well as domestic constitutional rights.

Global framework

•  Refugee law is a part of international human rights law.
•  In order to address the problem of mass inter-state influx of refugees, a Conference of Plenipotentiaries of the UN adopted the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1951.
•  This was followed by the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1967.
•  One of the most significant features of the Convention is the principle of non-refoulement.
•  The norm requires that “no contracting State shall expel or return a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.”
•  This idea of prohibition of expulsion lies at the heart of refugee protection in international law.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

•  Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that everyone has the right to seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
•  Moreover, Article 51 of the Constitution imposes an obligation on the state to endeavour to promote international peace and security.
•  Article 51(c) talks about promotion of respect for international law and treaty obligations.
•  Therefore, the Constitution conceives of incorporation of international law into the domestic realm.
•  Thus the argument that the nation has not violated international obligations during the deportation is a mistaken one.

Domestic obligations

•  The chapter on fundamental rights in the Constitution differentiates citizens from persons.
•  While all rights are available to citizens, persons including foreign citizens are entitled to the right to equality and the right to life, among others.
•  The Rohingya refugees, while under the jurisdiction of the national government, cannot be deprived of the right to life and personal liberty.
•  India lacks a specific legislation to address the problem of refugees, in spite of their increasing inflow.
•  The Foreigners Act, 1946, fails to address the peculiar problems faced by refugees as a class.

Way forward

•  It also gives unbridled power to the Central government to deport any foreign citizen.
•  Further, the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill of 2019 strikingly excludes Muslims from its purview and seeks to provide citizenship only to Hindu, Christian, Jain, Parsi, Sikh and Buddhist immigrants persecuted in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
•  The majority of the Rohingya are Muslims.
•  This limitation on the basis of religion fails to stand the test of equality under Article 14 of the Constitution and offends secularism, a basic feature of the Constitution.
•  The American philosopher Ronald Dworkin argues that if we claim international law to be law, we must understand it as part of the greater morality.
•  In such a conception, the deportation of refugees by India is not only unlawful but breaches a significant moral obligation.

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Prelims Questions:

Q1. Carbon footprint of a modern Indian family can be reduced by

1. Using LED-based electric lamps instead of incandescent lamps
2. Preferring public transport rather than private transport
3. Buying imported non-vegetarian food rather than vegetarian food
4. Choosing to travel more often by flight rather than train

Select the correct answer using the codes below.

a) 2 and 3 only
b) 1 and 2 only
c) 1, 2 and 4 only
d) 3 and 4 only

Answer: B

Mains Questions:
Q.1) What are the steps that India needed to deport the refugees like rohingya?