CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH BIHAR

PROJECT-TOPIC

“Human Right of Internally Displaced person”

Submitted To Course Instructor Submitted By Student

SITARAM
Mrs. Poonam kumari.
B.Sc.LLB.(H)
Assistant Professor,
10th Semester
School Of Law And Governance
Enrollment No. CUB1313115019
Subject- Human Right and
Practice.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

During the course of writing this project, I have received the help, encouragement and assistance
from my teacher, colleagues, friends, library staff and other. I am thankful to all of them.

I am very thankful to my Human Right and Practice teacher, Mrs. Poonam kumari for
encouragement and support that he provided during the preparation of the project.

I am deeply indebted to the works of eminent legal experts and law scholars and other scholars of
repute, whose valuable work has been highly useful in writing this project.

By Sitaram.

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LITRATURE REVIEW

There exists a large body of literature that provides insight into historical evolution of company of
meetings and its manner of functioning.

BOOKS REFFERED

1) BOOK. Human Right, 13th edition, By. H. O. AGARWAL. CLP, Allahabad.

2) BOOK; Implementation of Basic Human Right. Dr. Manoj Kumar Sinha, Lexis Nexis .

3) Book; Human Right. 17th edition (2015). BY Dr. Avtar Singh, Eastern Book Company.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The method used is doctrinal and descriptive. And data collection is done in this regard and this is
based merely on the descriptive sources.

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RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

This module will elaborate on the right of internally displaced persons. Earlier phase of
international laws (before Kampala Convention, 2009) related to IDPs premised on the notion that
IDPs need not and cannot be granted a special legal status comparable to refugee status. This
notion laid to develop international legal standards on need based approach and restricted the
emergence of hard laws to ensure IDPs basic rights.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Based on this hypothesis the following research questions have been formulated:

 Meaning of IDP, who it different from refuge?

 Is there any shift/progress to delineate the legal status of internally displaced persons?

LAW JOURNALS & WEBSITES REFFERED

1) www.yourarticlelibrary.com
2) Www law IDP.com

3) http://en.wikipedia.org
4) https://www.fmreview.org

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CHAPTER- HEADS

PAGE NO.

 ACKNOWLEDGMENT………………………………………………………………………………………… 02
 LITRATURE REVIEW…………………………………………………………………………….………………03
 BOOKS REFFERED……………………………………………………………………………..…………………03
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY………………………………………………………..…….………………..03
 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS……………………………………………………………….….………………….04
 RESEARCH QUESTIONS……………………………………………….……………………………………..04
 LAW JOURNALS & WEBSITES REFFERED…………………………………….……………………….04
 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………………………06-07
CHAPTER 1: What challenges do internally displaced persons face …………………..………08-09

CHAPTER 2: In India, there are four broad categories of displacement ……….…….……….09-15

CHAPTER 3: Many IDPs are uncounted ……………………………………..……………………..………..15-16

CHAPTER 4: What is the difference between an internally displaced person

and a refugee ……………………………………………………………………………………..……………………...16-17

CHAPTER 5: State responsibility is paramount. Measures must be taken to ……………….17-18

 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………………..……………….19-19

 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………….……………………………………………………………………………………20-20

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Introduction:-

According to the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, internally

displaced persons (also known as "idps") are "persons or groups of persons who
have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual
residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed
conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural
or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally
recognized border."

Internally displaced persons are “persons or groups of persons who have been
forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence,
in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict,
situations of generalised violence, violations of human rights or natural or
human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognised
State border.”1 In India there is no set definition of IDP, however National
Human Right Commission has tried to recognise IDP’s definition10 but that is
not conclusive. But it is clear that there is no fixed definition for the Internally
Displaced National Rehabitation and Resettlement Bill 2007 define displaced
person. Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2007 under section 3(b) provides:

• a family whose primary place of residence or other property or source of

livelihood is adversely affected by the acquisition of land for a project or
involuntary displacement due to any other reason;

• any tenure holder, tenant, lessee or owner of other property, who on account of
acquisition of land (including plot in the abadi or other property) in the affected
area or otherwise, has been involuntarily displaced from such land or other
property;
1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internallydisplacedperson

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• any agricultural or non-agricultural laborer, landless person (not having
homestead land, agricultural land, or either homestead or b agricultural land),
rural artisan, small trader or self-employed person.

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CHAPTER-01

Challenges for internally displaced persons :-

People forced to flee or leave their homes - particularly in situations of armed

conflict - are generally subject to heightened vulnerability in a number of areas.
Displaced persons suffer significantly higher rates of mortality than the general
population. They also remain at high risk of physical attack, sexual assault and
abduction, and frequently are deprived of adequate shelter, food and health
services.

The overwhelming majority of internally displaced persons are women and

children who are especially at risk of abuse of their basic rights. More often
than refugees, the internally displaced tend to remain close to or become
trapped in zones of conflict, caught in the cross-fire and at risk of being used as
pawns, targets or human shields by the belligerents2.

What are the causes for Internal displacement in India:-

Although India has been prone to violence it has generated few refugees.
However, war, conflict, human rights abuses and forced relocation have created
a high level of internal displacement. Estimating the number of IDPs in India is
problematic. Regular monitoring is not possible in such a huge country which
lacks a central authority responsible for coordinating data from central and state
governments. The nature, frequency and extent of the causes of internal
displacement in India are so varying that it would be a herculean task to monitor
and record them. Political sensitivities at state level prevent release of data on
the exact nature and extent of displacement.

There is thus huge variation in estimates of the numbers of IDPs in India. The
latest World Refugee Survey put the total number of IDPs in India as 507,000;

2
BOOK. Human Right, 13th edition, By. H. O. AGARWAL. CLP, Allahabad.

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the Indian Social Institute in Delhi places it at 21.3 million (mainly
development-induced displacement); and the Global DIP Project places it at 3.9
million (conflict-induced internal displacement).

The majority of cases in which people have been forced to flee their homes are
the consequence of government pursuit of political goals and development
objectives. Development-induced displacement has overwhelmingly dominated
the IDP scenario in India. Alongside development-induced displacement new
causal factors are fast emerging. Unlike the global scenario in the cold war days
where population displacements were most frequently caused by armed
conflicts fuelled by big power rivalry, in South Asia the so-called post-cold war
‘destructured conflicts’ or ‘low intensity wars’ have generated displacement for
a long time.

CHAPTER -02

In India, there are four broad categories of displacement3:-

I Political causes, including secessionist movements

i) Since independence, north-east India has witnessed two major armed conflicts
– the Naga movement primarily led by the National Socialist Council of
Nagaland, and the Assam movement led by the All Assam Students Union and
now largely taken over by the extremist United Liberation Front of Assam. The
violence and retaliatory responses from the government and other forces
opposed to the secessionists continue to generate a steady flow of displaced
people.

ii) In Kashmir’s ‘war’ between state forces and militants, the killing of
Kashmiri Pandits by fundamentalist secessionist groups, the widespread
anarchy created by political instability and the continuous violation of

3
https://www.fmreview.org/

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fundamental human rights by both the state and militant groups, have led to
large scale displacement, mainly of Kashmiri Pandits (estimated at 250,000), to
Jammu and cities like Delhi. Despite the election and restoration of a popular
government in 1996, those displaced have not been able to return due to the
continuing reality of sporadic massacres in Kashmir. Although conditions are
miserable, the displaced find that camps offer better employment opportunities,
education and security. [see following article in this issue pp??]

II Identity-based autonomy movements

Identity-based autonomy movements, such as in Bodoland, Punjab, Gorkhaland

and Ladakh, have also led to violence and displacement. This has happened in
Punjab and more recently in the Bodo Autonomous Council area of western
Assam. 'Cleansing' of non-Bodo communities by the Bodos, through plunder,
arson, massacre and persecution, has forced a large number of non-Bodos to
flee. They now live in camps.

III Localized violence

Internal displacement has also arisen from caste disputes (as in Bihar and Uttar
Pradesh), religious fundamentalism (as in urban riots in Bombay, Coimbatore,
Bhagalpur and Aligarh) and aggressive denial of residency and employment
rights to non-indigenous groups by supporters of the ‘son-of-the soil policy’ (as
in Meghalaya by the Khasi students and in Arunachal Pradesh against the
Chakmas).

IV Environmental and development-induced displacement

In order to achieve rapid economic growth, India has invested in industrial

projects, dams, roads, mines, power plants and new cities which have been
made possible only through massive acquisition of land and subsequent
displacement of people. According to the figures provided by the Indian Social

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Institute, the 21.3 million development-induced IDPs include those displaced by
dams (16.4 million), mines (2.55 million), industrial development (1.25 million)
and wild life sanctuaries and national parks (0.6 million).

Development projects

Development projects, particularly dams, have always generated serious

controversy in India as they have tended to be a major source of displacement-
related conflicts. Estimates of national resettlement forced by development
projects shows that during 1950-90 the number of people affected were 18.5
million.(2) According to the Central Water Commission, over 3,300 dams have
been built since independence and some 1,000 more are under construction.
Another study of 54 large dams done by the Indian Institute of Public
Administration concluded that the average number of people displaced by a
large dam is 44,182.

Over 21,000 families were uprooted and ousted when the Pong Dam was
constructed nearly 25 years ago and they have still not received the benefit of
any proper rehabilitation measures. The World Bank's ‘Project Completion
Report’ for the controversial Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada (likely to
displace 0.2 million people(3)) has cast a shadow over the project's future.
India's unimpressive track record in operations and maintenance, says the
report, is responsible for the uncertainty. India has borrowed US$151.5 million
from the World Bank to build the dam. In 1993 the Bank cancelled plans to lend
more due to the Indian government's failure to meet even such basic conditions
as identification of the displaced and preparation of resettlement plans.

The fact that development projects are usually located in remote villages, hills
and forests means that those displaced tend to be the indigenous people who
have been the traditional agents of conservation. Here displacement has meant a
loss of livelihood, habitat and assets, social disruption and disorder and

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severance from an eco-system which had sustained them. Most critically, these
displacements threaten the poor and the weak with even greater
impoverishment. It is only those cases of 'involuntary resettlement' which come
to the attention of social and environmental activists, and are thus highlighted,
that lead to some measure of state intervention. In most cases total displacement
with loss of home and livelihood has resulted.

Rehabilitation - primarily the process of reconstruction of the livelihood of

displaced persons - has never been a guiding principle of the 1894 Land
Acquisition Act (still in use) which instead emphasises cash compensation for
loss. The government has taken the firm stand that rehabilitation would not be a
prime consideration when acquiring land for ‘public purpose’ (the definition of
which has not been made public). The government has even sought to take away
the right of appeal by those whose land stands to be confiscated by making the
Supreme Court the only appellate forum.

Globalization has been another threat to indigenous communities as private

conglomerates (including foreign multinationals) encroach upon rural lands,
hitherto the domain of tribal and other indigenous communities, to build the
government’s desired industrial infrastructure. The proposed amendments to the
1894 Act, if carried out, are likely to generate new waves of displacement as the
Act will then make it even easier for private interests to acquire land.

Natural disaster-induced displacement

There has been massive and recurrent displacement due to floods, cyclones and
landslides. A report by the Centre for Science and Environment (1991) states
that India is the most flood-affected country in the world after Bangladesh and
that over 30 million people are displaced annually. Flood-affected areas shot up
from an average of 6.4 million hectares a year in the 1950s to 9 million hectares
in the 1980s. Government flood control measures mainly consist of dams and

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embankments. Over 400 km embankments have been built annually since 1954
and 256 large dams with an average height of 15 metres and above had been
constructed by 1986; 154 more were under construction. Yet all these have
failed to control floods and indeed dams are now cited as an important cause of
floods while embankments have disrupted the natural drainage system in the
flood plains.4

‘Natural’ disaster-led displacement is never recorded after the initial dose of

relief and rehabilitation assistance. One of the most serious aspects of the
displacement belonging to this category has been the fact that the displacement
has been silent but acute and frequent.

Institutional responses

India has no national policy and legal institutional framework to deal with either
refugees or IDPs. India has not ratified the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol
and does not permit UNHCR access to most refugee groups. In the absence of a
permanent institutional structure to oversee refugee issues, the granting of
refugee status has been at the discretion of the political authorities. Due to a
similar absence of a national policy on resettlement and rehabilitation of IDPs,
there has been only piecemeal and ad hoc initiatives at project and state level.
Even the latest Draft National Policy for Rehabilitation of Persons: Displaced as
a Consequence of Acquisition of Land proposed by the Ministry of Rural
Development does not deal with any other type of displacement except that
arising from land acquisition. This draft also totally disregards the plight and
interests of IDPs of other categories, including those fleeing human rights
violations, physical violence and communal and other sources of tension.

Crucially, government accountability for the consequences of state-imposed

displacement has been virtually absent. While the states have aggressively

4
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clamoured for more benefits from development projects, they have consistently
haggled over their share of rehabilitation costs and totally disregarded the plight
of those displaced. The Draft National Policy for Rehabilitation is a multi-
dimensional response to displacement with full rehabilitation covering i) the
entire community (landless labourers, landholders, houseless, householders and
even the unemployed and the forest dwellers), ii) their sociocultural cost of
displacement and iii) economic dimensions such as upgrading of skill levels and
the accumulation of physical assets as well as social capital. The Draft,
however, is still under consideration in Parliament.

There is no international agency to deal with such types of displacement.

UNHCR’s mandate in this regard has been both ad hoc and unsystematic. Only
recently has UNHCR redefined its mandate to allow for the inclusion of IDPs in
certain situations; when such people are present in or going back to the same
areas as returning refugees; when they are living alongside a refugee population
and have similar needs for protection and assistance; where the same factors
have given rise to both internal and external population movements and where
there are good reasons for addressing those problems by means of a single
humanitarian operation; where there is a potential for cross-border movement
and where the provision of assistance to the internally displaced may enable
them to remain in safety in their own country.5

Future scenario

There seems to be no immediate solution to IDP issues in India. Among other

reasons this could be attributed to i) the intricacies and complexities involved in
the situations under which they are forced to leave their homes, ii) the low
priority given by both the central and the state governments to IDP/refugee
issues and the withdrawal syndrome shown by civil society and other interest
and pressure groups and iii) the absence of clear-cut policy and national legal
5
https://www.fmreview.org/

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instruments and institutions to deal with both pre- and post displacement
situations. Unless the Indian government seriously considers various measures
to deal with the causes, displacement may increase and become even more
complex.

CHAPTER- 03

Many IDPs are uncounted6:-

From the late 1980s, ethnic conflict and counter-insurgency operations to

oppose movements for greater autonomy or secession generated hundreds of
thousands of IDPs in India. The affected areas have primarily been in the
country’s north-eastern areas of Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh
and Mizoram, and in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir. In the past few
years, violence has surged due to Maoist insurgent groups in the eastern states,
especially Chhattisgarh, which has forced tens of thousands to flee.

The most common figure for the total number of internally displaced in India is
600,000. This figure comprises:7

• at least 250,000 people displaced from Kashmir (government fig-ure)

• 45,000 people who are still dis-placed along the Indian side of the Line of
Control between India and Pakistan and cannot return despite the ceasefire

• 230,000 displaced in Assam due to the conflict between Santhals and Bodos
during the 1990s

• 31,000 Reang displaced from Mizoram to Tripura

• 45,000 displaced in the state of Chhattisgarh due to insurgency

6
India: large numbers of IDPs are unassisted and in need of protection,3 May 2007 by
internally displacement monitoring center
7
India: large numbers of IDPs are unassisted and in need of protection,3 May 2007 by
internally displacement monitoring center

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 These groups reside in camps and are therefore relatively easy to identify, but
they constitute only part of the picture. The number of 600,000 does not include
thousands of displaced in t8he KarbiAnglong area of Assam and in Manipur
where fighting between ethnic groups and counter-insurgency operations have
displaced whole villages during the past few years. Many are displaced
temporarily and are able to return after some weeks or months in displacement
while an undetermined number are still dis-placed and receive no assistance. In
Tripura, as many as 100,000-300,000 people of Bengali origin are estimated to
have been displaced for the same reasons during the past decade, but no
information exists about the return or continued dis-placement of this group
(AHRC, January 2007, “Tripura”). In the state of Chhattisgarh, it is assumed
that thousands have escaped the conflict between the authorities and Maoist
groups by crossing over to neighbouring states, and they too are not part of the
statistics. Nor does the figure take in the flight of migrant workers, as for
example in Assam in January 2007 when Biharis were forced to leave in a
matter of days due to threats and kill-ings by local insurgents. The current es-
timate should therefore be seen as representing the camp population only and
not those internally displaced who largely live unassisted with friends or
relatives, or blend with other slum resi-dents on the outskirts of the urban areas.
It is therefore fair to assume that the total number of displaced is far higher than
the figure of 600,000, although it is not possible to give a global estimate.

CHAPTER- 04

What is the difference between an internally displaced person and a

refugee:-

According to the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees, a "refugee" is a

person who, "owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of

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 race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political
opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable, or owing to such
fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not
having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual
residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is
unwilling to return to it." Subsequent international instruments (such as the
Cartagena Declaration on Refugees and the Convention Governing the Specific
Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa) have expanded this definition for some
states to persons fleeing the general effects of armed conflict and/or natural
disaster.

A crucial requirement to be considered a "refugee" is crossing an international

border. Persons forcibly displaced from their homes who cannot or choose not
to cross a border, therefore, are not considered refugees, even if they share
many of the same circumstances and challenges as those who do. Unlike
refugees, these internally displaced persons do not have a special status in
international law with rights specific to their situation. The term "internally
displaced person" is merely descriptive.

CHAPTER-05
State responsibility is paramount. Measures must be taken to 9:-

 reduce the level of violence against non-combatants, irrespective of the

nature of the conflict
 deal with potential and ongoing ethnic conflicts
 minimize non-ethnic civil conflicts
 avoid repressive measures and ensure that measures and international action
are preventive rather than ameliorative
 consider development projects in the larger perspective of sustainable
development and human needs
 ensure rapid resettlement and rehabilitation of displaced people
 implement national laws and policies to deal with the multi-dimensional
character of IDP groups

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Kampala Convention, 2009:-

Whilst the international humanitarian response to the problem of forced

displacement is undergoing a reform, there have been remarkable regional
developments with far-reaching implications for the protection of IDPs.10
Importantly, the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of
Internally Displaced Persons in Africa is the first ever treaty binding legal
instrument dealing with IDPs covers all causes and stages of internal
displacement. In addition to regional efforts, law and policies on IDPs have also
been adopted in various states viz., Angola, Burundi, Liberia, Sierra Leone and
Uganda. Briefly, first, conceptual shift underpinning numerous developments
including that of the articulation of the Guiding Principles, doctrines of
independence and non-interference have slowly given way to those of
‘sovereign responsibility’ as foundational postulates for Africa’s new regional
framework. Second, similar to the Guiding Principles, the Kampala Convention
effectively articulates responsibility for protection within three phases:
Obligations of State Parties relating to Protection from Internal Displacement,
to Protection and Assistance During Internal Displacement, and to Sustainable
Return, Local Integration or Relocation. Thus, modest progress to develop
rights based approach to the rights of IDPs at the international and national level
are emerging where the normative and institutional dimensions of the protection
and assistance to IDPs have increasingly been refined.

10
Allenhone Mulugeta Abebe, “Legal and Institutional Dimensions of Protecting and Assisting Internally
Displaced Persons in Africa”, Journal of Refugee Studies (2009).

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Conclusion:-

As a crucial element of sovereignty, it is the Governments of the states where

internally displaced persons are found that have the primary responsibility for
their assistance and protection. The international community's role is
complementary.

At the international level, no single agency or organization has been designated

as the global lead on protection and assistance of internally displaced persons.
Rather, all are called upon to cooperate with each other to help address these
needs pursuant to the "collaborative approach".

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

 BOOK. Human Right, 13th edition, By. H. O. AGARWAL. CLP,

Allahabad.
 BOOK; Implementation of Basic Human Right. Dr. Manoj Kumar Sinha,
Lexis Nexis .
 Book; Human Right. 17th edition (2015). BY Dr. Avtar Singh, Eastern
Book Company
 www.yourarticlelibrary.com
 Www law IDP.com
 http://en.wikipedia.org
 https://www.fmreview.org
 http://www.cercind.gov.in
 http://www.cercind.gov.in

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