The State of being Stateless:
A Case
Study on Chakmas in Arunachal Pradesh
1. Article 1 of the
1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons defines that a
‘stateless person’ is someone who is not recognized as a national by any
state under the operation of its law. They therefore have no nationality or
citizenship and are unprotected by national legislation and left in the arc
of vulnerability. Whether or not a person is stateless can be determined on
the basis of an assessment of relevant nationality laws and how these laws
are implemented by the state. Since nationality is generally acquired on the
basis of an existing, factual link between the individual and the state –
some kind of connection either with the territory (place of birth or
residence) or with a national (descent, adoption or marriage) – it is
important to look at the nationality legislation and relevant practice of
states with which an individual enjoys a relevant factual link, to see if
nationality is indeed attributed to the individual under any state’s law. If
not, then he or she is stateless.
2. Against this backdrop the present study would like to
enquire the situation of Chakmas in Arunachal Pradesh, who
were encouraged by the Government of India to take shelter in the desolate
land of NEFA (North East Frontier Agency, now Arunachal Pradesh), India when
they were uprooted from Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh (erstwhile East
Pakistan) due to the building of Kaptai Dam in 1964. Perhaps this idea was
being floated in view of the potential Chinese threat following the
Sino-Indian war of 1962. Under the Indira-Mujib Agreement of 1972, it was
decided that India and not Bangladesh would be responsible for all migrants
who entered India before 25 March 1971 and therefore the Chakmas, who came
to India before 25 March 1971 would be considered for the grant of Indian
citizenship. However, the Government of India neither gave them citizenship
nor refugee status. As a result the Chakmas are regarded as stateless and
are systematically deprived of other fundamental rights. In and around
August 1994 the situation in the entire North-eastern India underwent a
drastic transformation following the ultimatum issued by the All Arunachal
Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU), aimed at the eviction of ‘foreigners’ like
the Chakmas from Arunachal Pradesh. The state administration remained
virtually a silent spectator as the situation worsened for these displaced
people. Since the 1990s due to constant interventions of the NGOs, the
National Human Rights Commission and the Supreme Court of India only a
handful minority out of 65,000 Chakmas living in Arunachal Pradesh have been
given citizenship by the Government of India.
3. With these facts under consideration the proposed study
would like to assess the present situation of
Chakmas in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. The possible consequences of
statelessness are profound and touch on all aspects of life. It may not be
possible for them to work legally, to purchase property or to open a bank
account. Stateless people may be easy prey for exploitation as cheap labour.
They are often not permitted to attend school or university, may be
prohibited from getting married with a persons from other communities and
may not be able to register births and deaths. Stateless people can neither
vote nor access the national justice system. Keeping these in mind our study
would intend to gather information on these aforesaid communities to
understand the magnitude of statelessness.
4. It is to be mentioned in this context that apart from
the Chakras of Arunachal Pradesh there are Chakmas living in Tripura,
Mizoram and also in Arunachal Pradesh, who are not documented by any
statistical records. Our study would also attempt to assess the presence of
these undocumented Chakmas by highlighting the legal ambiguities.
5. For the sake of study we would follow survey method to
have a broad mapping of statelessness. The study will review the existing
work on the question, and would also intend review the existing legislative
and administrative measures with regard to the stateless people. The study
will have the following goals:
·
Review of
existing literature and making the baseline information up to date;
·
Assessment
of the scale of the problem (numbers, geographical spread, etc.);
·
Establishing
the profile of the population affected (demographic composition);
·
Determining
the causes and obstacles to solutions to statelessness (gaps in legislation,
administrative practice, etc.);
·
Bringing to
light the protection issues involved;
·
Identifying
all stakeholders in the solution of the issue; and
·
Suggestions
to improve the situation.
6. The study will begin in August 2010. The first draft of
the report will be completed by November and will be placed in a half-day
workshop on statelessness, proposed to be held in December 2010 for
discussion. Following the workshop, it will be revised on the basis of
suggestions. The workshop will bring together scholars and human rights
activists – particularly some from Arunachal, Tripura, and Mizoram. Also the
workshop will discuss the broad Indian / South Asian situation on
statelessness, and the need for further focused study and analysis. Since we
plan to hold the workshop as part of the 15 day course (1-15 December) in
Kolkata on forced migration, the participants will also be involved.
For Executive Summary of the
Click Here
Events
Special half-day workshop on Statelessness in South Asia held
on 11 December 2010.
Statelessness is the
quality of being, in some way, without a state. In fact it means without a
nationality, or at least without the protection that nationality should
offer. Nationality is the legal bond between a state and an individual. It
is a bond of membership that is acquired or lost according to rules set by
the state. Once held, nationality – membership – brings with it both rights
and responsibilities for the state and for the individual. As the world has
been divided into state systems not to be a member of any one of them is a
serious concern. While membership of a state is the norm statelessness
continues to be widespread and has not escaped the interest of the
international community. Within the realm of public international law, rules
have evolved in response to the problem of statelessness. A definition has
also emerged describing a stateless person as a person who is not considered
as a national by any state under the operation of its law (generally equated
with the term de jure statelessness). This definition can be found
explicitly in Article 1 of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of
Stateless Persons, one of the two major international instruments to deal
specifically with the issue of statelessness. Keeping these facts under
consideration this workshop intended to focus on the issues related to
statelessness in South Asia. This special workshop was the part of our
Eighth Annual Winter Course on Forced Migration.
Participants
Sabyasachi Basu
Ray Chaudhury,
Faculty of Political Science, Rabindra Bharati University and Member of
Calcutta Research Group, Kolkata
Nasreen Chowdhory,
Faculty, Asian University of Women, Chittagong,
Bangladesh and Member of Calcutta Research Group, Kolkata
Roberto Mignone,
Deputy Chief of Mission, UNHCR, New Delhi
Samir Kumar Das, Faculty
of Political Science, University of Calcutta and Member of Calcutta Research
Group, Kolkata
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directory please visit our Resource Centre segment. All documents, news
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