refugee housing in india

REFUGEE HOUSING

HOUSING FOR SPECIAL AREAS AND GROUPS

ROHIT KUMAR, H/473, IV SEM - 2014 DEPT. OF HOUSING.

REFUGEE UNHCR• UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSION FOR REFUGEES : – A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or

her country because of persecution, war, or violence. – A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for

reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.

– Most likely, they cannot return home or are afraid to do so.

• ASYLUM SEEKER:– When people flee their own country and seek sanctuary in

another country, they apply for asylum – the right to be recognized as a refugee and receive legal protection and material assistance.

PROTOCOL RELATING TO THE STATUS OF REFUGEES 1967

• The 1951 Refugee Convention, Geneva was limited to protecting mainly European refugees in the aftermath of World War II, but another document, the 1967 Protocol, expanded the scope of the Convention as the problem of displacement spread around the world.

• The Convention clearly spells out who a refugee is and the kind of legal protection, other assistance and social rights he or she should receive from the countries who have signed the document.

• The Convention also defines a refugee’s obligations to host governments and certain categories or people, such as war criminals, who do not qualify for refugee status.

PROTOCOL RELATING TO THE STATUS OF REFUGEES 1967

• The Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees (also known as the New York Protocol) entered into force on 4 October 1967 is the primary International Refugee Law.

• 146 countries are parties to the Protocol.

REFUGEES IN INDIA • India has seen large influx of refugee populations throughout

history.• India does not have a specific refugee legislation but it adopts

an ad hoc approach to different refugee influxes, mainly by political and administrative decisions.

• The legal status of refugees in India is governed mainly by the Foreigners Act 1946 and the Citizenship Act 1955.

• These Acts do not distinguish refugees fleeing persecution from other foreigners; they apply to all non-citizens equally.

• Under the Acts it is a criminal offence to be without valid travel or residence documents. These provisions render refugees liable to deportation and detention

HRLN Report, 2007

REFUGEES IN INDIA

UNHCR 2013, HRLN Report, 2007 *refugee status by UNHCR

GROUP ORIGIN YEAR SINCE

REASON POPULATION (at max)

PRESENT LOCATION

PARSIS SANJAN (TURKMENISTAN)

16TH , 17TH CENTURY AD

•INVASION•RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION•SOCIO-ECONOMIC

- GUJARAT

PAKISTAN HINDUS, SIKHS, MUSLIMS

PAKISTAN AND EAST BENGAL

1947 •PARTITION OF INDIA 10 MILLION DELHI, PUNJAB

TIBETAN TIBET 1959 •1952 INVASION OF TIBET BY CHINA•PERSECUTIONS

0.15 MILLION HIMACHAL PRADESH, LADAKH, MP, ORISSA, WEST BENGAL

BANGLADESHI BANGLADESH 1971 •BANGLADESH LIBERATION WAR•GENOCIDE BY PAKISTAN ARMY

10 MILLION WEST BENGAL, ASSAM, MEGHALAYA, TRIPURA

AFGHAN * AFGHANISTAN 1979 •1979 SOVIET INVASION 60,000 THOUSAND

DELHI

SRI LANKAN TAMILS

SRI LANKA 1983 •CIVIL WAR WITH LTTE 0.17 MILLION TAMIL NADU, KERAKA, KARNATAKA

ROHIINGYA* RAKHINE PROVINCE, MYANMAR

DELHI, J & K, WEST BENGAL

1947 PARTITION• Post Partition, nearly five lakh

people poured into the city from western Punjab, Sindh and the Northwest Frontier.

• New Delhi then did not have the infrastructure to support migration of this magnitude.

• The refugees moved into camps, gurudwaras, temples, schools and military barracks. The less fortunate settled on pavements as well as parks. Camping sites in Delhi

The Hindu

1947 PARTITION

Camping sites in Delhi

1947 PARTITION• Delhi received the largest number of refugees for a single city – the

population of Delhi grew rapidly in 1947 from under 1 million (917,939) to a little less than 2 million (1,744,072) during the period 1941–1951.

• The refugees were housed in various historical and military locations such as the Purana Qila, Red Fort, and military barracks in Kingsway (around the present Delhi University).

• The camp sites were later converted into permanent housing through extensive building projects undertaken by the Government of India from 1948 onwards.

• A number of housing colonies in Delhi came up around this period like Lajpat Nagar, Rajinder Nagar, Nizamuddin East, Punjabi Bagh, Rehgar Pura, Jungpura and Kingsway Camp.

REFUGEES IN INDIA

http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/page?page=49e4876d6

• UNHCR currently assists over 24,000 urban refugees and asylum-seekers in New Delhi originating from non-neighbouring countries and Myanmar.

• The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is based in New Delhi.

• Once recognized, Afghan, Burmese, Palestinian and Somali refugees receive protection from the UNHCR.

• Many refugees receive a small monthly subsistence allowance and all have access to the services provided by the UNHCR’s implementing partners in Delhi: the YMCA, Don Bosco and the Socio-Legal Centre (SLIC).

HOUSING SECURITY CASE STUDY: DELHI• India does not have any legislations for Housing the Refugees.

UNHCR with YMCA provides accomodation for a period.• As per survey by UNHCR, More than half (51%) of Indian

respondents owned their dwelling, but no refugees did. • Almost all the refugees rented, with the exception of a few who

lived in dwellings without paying rent. • Myanmarese, Somali and Afghan refugees all reported varying

degrees of housing insecurity due to restricted access to accommodation, discrimination by landlords, and evictions.

• Refugees were much more likely than Indians to share their dwellings: almost half (42%) of Somalis and 13% of Myanmarese refugees said they shared their dwelling with non-family members.

UNHCR, Urban Profiling of Refugee Population in Delhi, 2012

HOUSING SECURITY CASE STUDY: DELHI• According to information shared in the focus groups, rent for one

room was about 3,000 Rupees in West Delhi, where most Myanmarese people live.

• The average rent for Afghans in the Afghan residential areas was 10,000 Rupees for two rooms.


HOUSING SECURITY CASE STUDY: DELHI• EVICTIONS were faced in very different degrees by the refugee

populations. • 80% of Myanmarese households and 62% of Somali households

had experienced evictions. • Reported reasons for evictions were mostly related to inability to

pay the rent, the presence of their children, visitors, or big families, and in general discrimination by the landlord.

• In comparison, less than 5% of Indians and Afghans reported having been evicted from their homes.

• One focus group said refugees who got rejected by UNHCR kept it secret, fearing that if the landlord heard of it, he would raise the rent, and they would be forced to pay more, since finding a new apartment with no valid identity documents is very difficult.


HOUSING SECURITY• CONCLUSIONS: Refugees from Myanmar and Somalia appeared to

be more vulnerable when it came to housing than Afghans or Indians.

• They had less living space, with most households occupying only one room and were more likely to share toilets and kitchens with non-family members.

• By contrast, the vast majority of Afghans did not share any facilities. • Refugee households from Somalia and Myanmar also had higher

rates of evictions when compared to Afghan households.


INDIA : NOT A SIGNATORY• India’s reasoning for not signing the Refugee Convention is the

fear of indefinite legal responsibility for the vast numbers of persons seeking shelter.

• The Indian government does not believe it successfully can handle the requirements of the Refugee Convention, and such new pressures would damage the country’s economic and social balance.

• The Indian government as viewing the Refugee Convention as burdensome on the host country, while the international community is inactive.

• In addition, the Indian government argues its current refugee policy is in line with international norms.

http://www.wcl.american.edu/hrbrief/v7i1/india.htm

FOREIGN PERSPECTIVE• DISCRIMINATORY: India bases its treatment of various refugee

groups on political grounds, resulting in an unstable and ever-changing domestic policy.

• India grants privileges to certain refugee groups based on bilateral and multilateral political relations with other states, as well as domestic political opinion.

• The World Refugee Survey 2007, which rates refugee protection in countries on four categories of rights -- physical protection, freedom from illegal detention, freedom of movement and the right to earn a livelihood -- has rated India 'D' in three categories, signifying 'a level of treatment marginally above the rest' and 'C' with regard to freedom from illegal detention, signifying that refugees have reasonable access to the Indian judiciary (SAHRDC, July 11, 2007).

http://www.wcl.american.edu/hrbrief/v7i1/india.htm, HRLN Report 2007

http://www.wcl.american.edu/hrbrief/v7i1/india.htm

CONCEPT

Concept Housing for Refugees by IKEA to UNHCR

refugee housing in india

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