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debate about security translate into rigid laws
of protection that do not recognize the special needs of refugee and
internally displaced women.
Protracted Situations of Displacement:
What is Happening to Bhutanese Refugees in Nepal and Sri Lankan Refugees
in India? (3 December 2007)
Ranabir Samaddar, moderator for the session, began by raising
several points for discussion: (1) Why do you think the respective
situations in Nepal and India are protracted?
What has made them so? In
both cases UN agencies are involved, and each has gained the attention
of the international community. (2) What happens in a particularly
protracted situation that may not happen in a short-term situation?
(frustration, hopelessness, unkept promises, etc.)
Gladstone Xaviers works with Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu. He
defined protracted displacement as displacement that continues for more
than five years. He reported that after substantial refugee repatriation
and return to Sri Lanka between 1989 and 2001, there has been a mass
influx of refugees to India since 2005.
Number exceeds 80,000. Sri
Lankan refugees living in camps live in 10x10 dwellings meant for 5-6
persons.They receive substantial assistance from India, including money
for rice, kerosene, sugar and other basic necessities.
At the same time, camp dwellings have not been repaired since
1990, and often, sarees are the only thing that separates one unit from
another. Maintaining livelihood is a major issue.
Employers often do not want to hire refugees; when they do,
refugees provide cheap labor in large groups, such as digging cable
lines, painting and laying roads. According to Xaviers, education is the only thing Sri Lankan
refugees can take back to their country of origin. All children have access to schools, with quota systems to
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participation. In addition,
refugees receive training in the following areas: empowerment, gender
sensitivity, communication skills, and leadership. Such measures notwithstanding, Sri Lankan refugees consider
Sri Lanka home and long to return.
Radha Adikari, Hari Adhikari, Som Nirula and
Jagat Acharya focused on a range of challenges faced by refugees in
Nepal. They discussed how
human rights activists in Bhutan were imprisoned and tortured and
underscored the importance of human rights education and citizen rights
in the refugee camps. The
camps operate like rural villages; there is no electricity or telephone
lines. Schooling is
provided only until class 10, after that, refugees have to secure their
own education. Hospitals
are located on the periphery of the camps.
The 40,000 refugees living outside the camps are not entitled to
UNHCR services. They have
no identity cards, cannot enroll in refugee courses, and must rely on
relatives for support. Security
remains a major concern. Australia,
Canada, Denmark and the U.S. have offered resettlement for refugees.
Yet no timetables are in place.
One panelist asked if resettlement came up because of a lack of
alternatives? For those
Bhutanese who want to return to Bhutan, they should be able to do so
with dignity.
Need for A Fresh Look At The 1951
Convention and The Relevance of Post-Colonial Experiences (5 December
2007)
Carol Batchelor stated that 1951 Convention has to be looked into from
different angles/perspectives considering the present scenario. She
argued that boundaries are manmade and cited the example of USSR where
one country was divided using 15 boundaries. This process changes the
lives of the people. They are displaced and thus one needs to look
beyond the legal
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