The overwhelming presence of women among the refugee populations is not an accident of history. It is a way by which states have made women political non-subjects.  By making women permanent refugee, living a savage life in camps, it is easy to homogenise them, ignore their identity, individuality and subjectivity.  By reducing refugee women to the status of mere victims in our own narratives we accept the homogenisation of women and their depoliticisation.  We legitimise a space where states can make certain groups of people political non-subjects.  In this module we intend to discuss the causes of such depoliticisation that often results in displacements.  We will also discuss the situation of displaced women in South Asia and consider policy alternatives that might help in their rehabilitation and care. 

Term Paper 

Module C (International, regional, and the national regimes of protection, sovereignty and the principle of responsibility  Core faculty: K.M. Parivelan 

It is said that the "Convention mandated protection for those whose civil and political rights are violated, without protecting persons whose socio-economic rights are at risk", Discuss the relevance and implications in the context of 'paradigm shift' in post-cold war era.
OR
Examine the lacunae in the 1951 Refugee Convention and how it could be addressed and gaps filled from other International Law provisions.

OR
Compare and contrast the relevance of International Human Rights Law with that of International Humanitarian Law in the context of refugee protection.
OR
Critically analyse the role and responsibility of UNHCR vis-a vis its mandate of refugee protection in practice.
OR
Are UNHCR's durable solutions (eg. Resettlement, Local integration and Voluntary Repatriation, etc.) really durable to contemporary refugee problems, illustrate with your own case studies/ examples.
OR
Given the huge complexity in South Asian region and all the States being non-signatory to the 1951 convention or the 1967 protocol, do they require to develop their own legal regime for refugees or IDPs?

Module Note  

Module C deals with the international and national legal regimes of protection of the victims of forced displacement and their rights.
Refugee Law is a relatively new branch of International Law. The first major step towards developing an international regime of protection was the 1951 Convention that was later modified by the 1967 Protocol. From then on the 1951 convention has formed the core of all Human Rights Law and Humanitarian Law for the protection of refugees. The 1951 Convention defines a refugee as a person:
Owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his