1. Institutions, governments, inter-governmental organisations and people engaged in protection of human rights and humanitarian protection of the victims of forced migration are aware today that the situations they confront is not demarcated by clear typologies of forced migration. The situation is not only characterised by massive migration flows, but mixed flows. Refugees, asylum seekers, illegal immigrants, internally displaced population groups, and other victims of violence, want, deprivation, hunger, homelessness, displacement, and other forms of persecution and discrimination have now become parts of massive and mixed flows in face of which the old forms and principles of protection are often proving inadequate.
2 These early signs of transgression of boundaries in the map of forced migration have led governments and humanitarian agencies to adopt newer strategies to face massive displacements and unrest. The need to improve the humanitarian strategy is most visible in the international context where boundary transgressions appear as more pronounced. One can refer to in this context the recent move by the Office of the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) in the form of a “Ten Point Plan of Action for Refugee Protection and Mixed Migration”. The action plan towards protection of refugees in situations of mixed migration includes issues of cooperation among key partners, data collection and analysis, building protection-sensitive entry systems, reception arrangements, mechanisms for profiling and referral, differentiated processes and procedures, addressing secondary movements, return arrangements for non-refugees and alternative migration options, and finally an appropriate information strategy.
3. Similarly, the ICRC (The International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent) in its Thirtieth International Conference has pointed out that the humanitarian assistance: e.g., providing food, shelter, clothing, health care, first aid, psychosocial support, etc. has to be increased and improved, that protection activities have to go deeper, and advocacy work has to be stronger. The ICRC followed this up with articulating its concern on escalating violence in the cities, once again where hordes of migrants converge. The concern has been of other humanitarian institutions too.
4 In this context of massive and mixed flows of forced migration, CRG proposed a conference (in Kolkata) to hold a focused dialogue on the relevant experiences of South Asia in order to reflect on the following concerns emanating from the UNHCR’s proposed 10 point Action Plan:
- What is the nature of the pronounced population flows in South Asia today?
- What are the consequences of mixed and massive flows in terms of erstwhile policies for the protection of the victims of forced migration?
- What are the protection strategies that are today adopted, and what are the best practices in this regard?
- How to ensure greater civil society participation in the protection of the victims of the abuses of human rights?
- What can be the architecture of such an appropriate new structure of protection that may require the participation of several agencies?
- What is the impact of resource crisis, environmental disorders and disasters, and climate changes on the patterns of migration?
- Finally, what impact can we envisage of such a dialogue on state, inter-governmental, and non-governmental protection strategies?
5 The conference was proposed as a special part of the Sixth Winter Course on Forced Migration. It was a two-day programme (14-15 December 2008). Some of the faculty persons in the course, plus some 20 more experts (including UNHCR functionaries) were invited to the dialogue, which had altogether about 42 participants. The dialogue will go a long way towards making the course visible and more relevant in the context mentioned above. It will help the Course develop into a first rate training programme for protection related activities in Asia. At the same time, and this is more important, the dialogue will help refocus the various protection strategies and needs in South Asia in the context of the new situation. South Asia, we have to recall in this context, has witnessed massive population exodus, transfer of population groups, creation of statelessness, all kinds of forced migration, massive cyclone and Tsunami disasters, but at the same time unprecedented measures of relief, rehabilitation, refugee protection, and informal help to victims of various forms of displacement. And yet all these happen without a strong legal framework either to refuse or to offer protection. The South Asian experiences, in short, are worth close observation so that appropriate lessons are drawn.