International refugee law and the Indian state

Abstract

Refugees are often considered as a contentious figure in the international context. Despite many international protection laws for refugees and conventions, refugees are still a vulnerable subject of physical and political violence in the host country. India has a long history of accepting refugees, but in the last few decades, the issues of refugees from Bangladesh and Myanmar have become a global concern. The recent debate on the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) adds another feature in the protection of refugees. Since the international law of refugee protection is a source of multiple universal and regional conventions, but still, India lacks the domestic and legal framework for the protection of refugees. Therefore, this chapter aims to understand the contestation between international refugee laws and various laws and conventions of the Indian State related to the refugees. Further, this chapter tries to understand the issues and challenges of ‘legality and illegality’ for refugees and forced migrants. In addition to that, this chapter also captures the recent debate on the CAB and NRC and politics of citizenship.