Lok Sabha Debates
Regarding Problems Afflicting Refugees. on 14 December, 2021
Seventeenth Loksabha > Title: Regarding problems afflicting refugees.
SHRI ASADUDDIN OWAISI (HYDERABAD): The ‘Lost at Home’ Report of the United Nations (May 2020) states that India has 5 million refugees largely due to natural disasters and environmental damage as opposed to conflicts or violence.
Together, India, China and Philippines account for 69% of global disaster related displacements. Various international reports acknowledge that the indigenous communities, women, and children are the most vulnerable due to climate change driven displacement. The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Act, The Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013, the Disaster Management Act and the Foreigners Act of 1946 are inadequate for Internally Displaced Persons. The United Nations is beginning to acknowledge the climate change refugee crisis and will include climate change asylum seekers within the definition of the term ‘refugee’ in the 1951 Refugee Convention.
• The rights of climate change refugees and internally displaced persons is required in India through a dedicated legislation, particularly those borne out of environmental disasters.
• This legislation should be in consonance with the principle of ‘non-refoulement’ envisaged in the 1951 Refugee Convention and other customary laws pertaining to refugees.
• The issue of compensation, rehabilitation, and resettlement of such refugees (including internally displaced persons) needs to be consolidated within a framework.