refugee

Under Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Refugee Convention, read with the 1967 Protocol, a refugee is a person outside his country of nationality (or habitual residence, if stateless) who, owing to a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is unable or unwilling to return. The core protection is non-refoulement: he must not be sent back to a place where his life or freedom is threatened.

India is not a party to the 1951 Convention or the 1967 Protocol and has no general refugee statute. Refugees are governed by the general law on foreigners and by executive policy. The courts have held that Articles 14 and 21 protect non-citizens too, as in NHRC v. State of Arunachal Pradesh (Chakma refugees). An economic migrant or an internally displaced person is not a refugee in the Convention sense.

Example

Since the claimant left only to find better-paid work, he was a migrant and not a refugee under Article 1A(2).

In Indian law

• Article 1A(2), Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 1951 and its 1967 Protocol (India not a party)
• National Human Rights Commission v. State of Arunachal Pradesh, 1996 INSC 38: Article 21 protects Chakma refugees

See also

non-refoulement · asylum · statelessness · nationality

Read more in the study notes

• The Indian Succession Act and domicile (Family Law II - Mohammedan Law)
• Origin and development of human rights (Human Rights Law and Practice)
• NHRC: functions, powers, procedure and effectiveness (Human Rights Law and Practice)
• Rights of the child: the CRC, UNICEF and Indian law (Human Rights Law and Practice)
• Rights of tribals, minorities and racial groups (Human Rights Law and Practice)
• The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 (Law of Intellectual Property Rights, Human Rights and Environment)