NHRC represented at "Judicial Symposium on Refugee Protection"
Shri Virendra Dayal, Member of the Commission presented a paper at Judicial Symposium on Refugee Protection held in New Delhi on 13-14 November 1999. The Symposium was co-hosted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Association of Refugee Law Judges and the Supreme Court Bar Association. Shri Ram Jethmalani, Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Government of India gave the introductory address. Amongst the other dignitaries who graced the symposium were former Chief Justices of India Justice Shri P. N. Bhagawati and Justice Ranganath Misra, Judges and former Judges and senior advocates of the Supreme Court, Officers of UNHCR, Senior Judges of the Supreme Court of Nepal and Bangladesh.
Shri Dayal’s paper dealt with the role of International Human Rights Mechanisms and National Constitutions in protecting Refugee Rights. He elaborated on the status of refugees in India and the available means to protect them and commented in detail on the Constitutional provisions, the role of the courts and that of the National Human Rights Commission in this sphere.
He concluded that there is an evident link between the observance of human rights and peace, within and between nations. Conversely, there is a tragic chain that links the violations of rights with absence of peace, within and between nations. "And there is also such a link between the violation of rights and the exodus of refugees."
"In the half century that has elapsed since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the violence done to rights has resulted in tens of millions of refugees in the world and countless lives lost. In an age of terrorism, the right to seek and enjoy asylum has itself, for serious reasons, more than ever before come under scrutiny. In such a time it becomes all the more necessary to ensure that our country, which has been grievously hurt by acts of terrorism, is able to deal with that vexed and dangerous question firmly, in a manner that conforms fully with its constitution, laws and treaty obligations in respect of human rights. "
Shri Dayal suggested that we must fill the "gaps" that exist in our armoury to defend the rights of refugees in our country by drafting and adopting a comprehensive national law on refugees and by becoming party to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol on that subject. In the meantime, however, we must not under estimate the weapons that we have. We must learn to use more fully and systematically the vast array of possibilities that already exist by virtue of our Constitution, our Courts, the NHRC and State Human Rights Commissions, and the International Instruments and Mechanisms that we, ourselves, have helped to define and create.
Shri Dayal’s paper dealt with the role of International Human Rights Mechanisms and National Constitutions in protecting Refugee Rights. He elaborated on the status of refugees in India and the available means to protect them and commented in detail on the Constitutional provisions, the role of the courts and that of the National Human Rights Commission in this sphere.
He concluded that there is an evident link between the observance of human rights and peace, within and between nations. Conversely, there is a tragic chain that links the violations of rights with absence of peace, within and between nations. "And there is also such a link between the violation of rights and the exodus of refugees."
"In the half century that has elapsed since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the violence done to rights has resulted in tens of millions of refugees in the world and countless lives lost. In an age of terrorism, the right to seek and enjoy asylum has itself, for serious reasons, more than ever before come under scrutiny. In such a time it becomes all the more necessary to ensure that our country, which has been grievously hurt by acts of terrorism, is able to deal with that vexed and dangerous question firmly, in a manner that conforms fully with its constitution, laws and treaty obligations in respect of human rights. "
Shri Dayal suggested that we must fill the "gaps" that exist in our armoury to defend the rights of refugees in our country by drafting and adopting a comprehensive national law on refugees and by becoming party to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol on that subject. In the meantime, however, we must not under estimate the weapons that we have. We must learn to use more fully and systematically the vast array of possibilities that already exist by virtue of our Constitution, our Courts, the NHRC and State Human Rights Commissions, and the International Instruments and Mechanisms that we, ourselves, have helped to define and create.