Rohingya Refugees in Nepal: Going beyond the Discourse on Integration

Abstract

Refugee is a person who flee from their own country due to the well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality or political opinions. Customary laws and treaty obligations which are practiced by states play an important role in managing these refugee influxes and regulating repatriations. In the case of Nepal, due to persecutions done by the Burmese government against the Rohingyas since early 1784, they have been moved into Nepal by crossing the borders. Even though 1948 Union Citizenship Act which was introduced after the Burma’s independence from the UK provided citizenship for limited number of Rohingyas who could prove that they had resided in Burma before 1823, subsequent legal principles came to function along with the 1982 immigration law led to deprive their right to obtain the citizenship. As a non-signatory to the 1951 Refugee convention and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, the absence of recognition for Rohingyas within Nepal has become an impediment to ensure their survival. However, though the Refugee Status Determination (RSD) process of the United Nations (UN) have granted temporary shelters for them in the areas like Kathmandu and Kapan, the claims of these urban refugees has been neglected by the host community mainly because of the xenophobic perceptions. Along with this understanding, this paper concludes that the repatriation and re-integration within their home country is the only long term solution which help them to enjoy their entitlements. But the perpetual challenge then remains is identifying lapses of the existing coordination between both countries in strengthening, welcoming their returns and granting basic rights. In this context, qualitative research method is employed in this research to suggest appropriate mechanisms to tackle these so called challenges.