Perverse intent : The CAA suffers from narrow definition of persecution and arbitrariness
- Offering citizenship to migrants who have fled their countries of origin because of persecution and have stayed a sufficient time in their adopted country, is a humane endeavour by any nation-state and should be generally welcomed.
Key highlights
- But by limiting this measure only to migrants from an arbitrary group of neighbouring nations and to narrow the definition only to “religious persecution”
- And to further constrict this to not include Muslims, atheists, and agnostics among others
- Would suggest that the reasoning to provide this citizenship has less to do with humanitarianism and more to do with a warped and perverse understanding of Indian citizenship.
- By its very intent, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, whose rules were notified by the Ministry of Home Affairs last month
- Over four years since the Act was passed in Parliament, goes against the ethos of the Indian Constitution.
- It is fairly evident that persecution can be due to other reasons as well, such as linguistic discrimination in the case of Sri Lanka in recent years and erstwhile East Pakistan from which Bangladesh was born.
- Besides, as the case of the Rohingya from Myanmar shows, Muslims have also faced the severest form of discrimination in recent years
- With thousands killed, more than a million of them rendered stateless and lakhs fleeing to other countries including India.
- Even in Muslim-majority countries and those professing Islam as the state religion, such as Pakistan, minority Islamic sects such as the Ahmadiyyas have been subject to oppression and persecution.
UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
- The UN Convention on Refugees is an international convention that pertains to refugee protection worldwide. It was adopted in 1951 and entered into force in 1954.
- There has been one amendment to the convention in the form of the 1967 Protocol.
- While India is not party to the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees
- They have provisions that require signatories to provide refugee status to those who are subjects of different forms of persecution beyond just due to their religion.