Abstract
Statelessness is the quality of being, in some way, without a state. It most commonly affects refugees although not all refugees are stateless, and not all stateless men, women and children may be able to qualify as refugees. Article 1 (1) of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons defines stateless persons as those who are not recognised as nationals by any state under the operation of its law. Later, in 1961, Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness was adopted to deal exclusively with the issue of statelessness. These two legal instruments explain statelessness mainly in two ways, namely de jure and de facto. However, a great fallacy of international law of statelessness is that a stateless person is defined by his/her lack. Yet to claim any legal correctives or rights, the stateless person has to cite definite attributes. Against this backdrop, the chapter intends to analyse an ordeal of statelessness in South Asia where the states are characterised as ‘kin states’ representing social and ethnic continuities across the borders. The cases of Chakmas–Hajongs and Rohingyas are evaluated in this chapter in search for a fresh understanding of statelessness in South Asia.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
Chakmas were settled in the three districts of Lohit, Tirap and Subansiri in NEFA.
- 2.
The plots of land varying from 5 to 10 acres per family (including 3 to 5 acres of cultivable land), depending upon the size of the family, were allotted to them under a centrally sponsored rehabilitation scheme of India.
- 3.
According to the 1991 Census, the total number of the evacuees in Arunachal Pradesh from the CHT increased further to around 65,000, whereas the total population of the state was 858,392. Due to the absence of a census survey since then, the aforesaid figure is quoted in all accounts of the issue.
References
Ahmed, A. N. S. (2003). Human rights and the Chakma problem. In B. Hazarika (Ed.), Human Rights in India: Socio-Political and Legal Dimensions. Jorhat: JB. College Human Rights Study Cell.
Arendt, H. (1958). The human condition. University of Chicago Press.
Banerjee, P., & Basu Ray Chaudhury, A. (2011). Women in Indian Borderlands. New Delhi: Sage.
Banerjee, P., Basu Ray Chaudhury, A., & Ghosh, A. (2015). The grid: The stateless and the citizens. In P. Banerjee, A. Basu Ray Chaudhury & A. Ghosh (Ed.), The state of being stateless: An account of South Asia. New Delhi: Orient Black Swan.
Banerjee, S. (2019). The Rohingya Crisis: A Health Situation Analysis of Refugee Camps in Bangladesh. ORF Special Report No. 91, Observer Research Foundation.
Banerjee, S. (2020). From Cox’s Bazar to Bhasan Char: An Assessment of Bangladesh’s Relocation Plan for Rohingya Refugees. Issue Brief No 357, Observer Research Foundation.
Basavapatna, S. (2018). Where do #i belong? The stateless Rohingya in India. In S. Basu Ray Chaudhury & R. Samaddar (Ed.), The Rohingya in South Asia: People Without a State. New York: Routledge.
Basu Ray Chaudhury, S., & Samaddar, R. (2018a). Introduction. In S. Basu Ray Chaudhury & R. Samaddar (Ed.), The Rohingya in South Asia: People Without a State. New York: Routledge.
Basu Ray Chaudhury, S., & Samaddar, R. (2018b). Epilogue: the regional dimensions. In S. Basu Ray Chaudhury & R. Samaddar (Ed.), The Rohingya in South Asia: People Without a State. New York: Routledge.
Basu Ray Chaudhury, S. (2003). Uprooted twice: Refugees from chittagong hill tracts. In R. Samaddar (Ed.), Refugees and the State: Practices of Asylum and Care in India (pp. 249–80). New Delhi; Sage Publication.
Benhabib, S. (2004). The Rights of Others: Aliens. Cambridge University Press.
Bhaumik, S. (1997). Strategic Pawn: Indian Policy in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. In S. Bhaumick, M. Guhathakurta, & S. B. R. Chaudhury (Eds.), Living on the Edge: Essays on the Chittagong Hill Tracts (pp. 127–138). South Asia Forum for Human Rights.
Bhaumik, S. (2013a). The East Bengali Muslims in Assam and Rohingyas of Myanmar: Comparative perspectives of migration, exclusion and statelessness. Refugee Watch, 41, 30–46.
Bhaumik, S. (2013b, March 22). No country for Rohingyas. India Today. https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/neighbours/story/20130401-rohingya-muslims-rakhine-myanmar-bordering-bangladesh-762873-1999-11-30.
Bhutalia, U. (2003). The Nowhere People. In J. Bagchi, & S. Dasgupta (Ed.), The Trauma and the Triumph: Gender and Partition in Eastern India, Calcutta: Stree.
Chakraborty, M. (2018). Rohingya in Bangladesh and India and the media planet. In S. Basu Ray Chaudhury & R. Samaddar (Ed.), The Rohingya in South Asia: People Without a State. New York: Routledge.
Choudhury, R. (1994, September 29). Arunachal Chakmas Struggle for their Rights. The Statesman.
Das, S. K., & Basu Ray Chaudhury, A. (2015). The stateless Chakmas in Arunachal Pradesh. In P. Banerjee, A. Basu Ray Chaudhury & A. Ghosh (Ed.), The state of being stateless: An account of South Asia, New Delhi: Orient BlackSwan.
Ghosh, P. S. (2016) Migrants, Refugees and Stateless in South Asia, New Delhi: Sage.
Goodwin-Gill, G. S. (1989). International Law and Human Rights: Trends Concerning International Migrants and Refugees. The International Migration Review, 23(3).
Kuhn, R. S. (2005). Community or Connections? A Social Networks Approach to Chain Migration. Population Program. Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Colorado. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Community-or-Connections-A-Social-Networks-Approach-Kuhn/ee22e9fe77dbd643de14ae11611ed344fe1eb7b3.
Maclaughlin, J., Phillimore, P., & Richardson, D. (2011). Contesting Recognition: Culture, Identity and Citizenship, UK: Palgrave Macmillam.
Majumder, S, (2018). The jailed Rohingya in West Bengal. In S. Basu Ray Chaudhury & R. Samaddar (Ed.), The Rohingya in South Asia: People Without a State. New York: Routledge.
Okhonmina, S. (2010). States without borders: Westphalia Territoriality Under Threat. Journal of Social Sciences, 24(3), 177–182.
Samaddar, R. (1999). The Marginal Nation: Transborder Migration From Bangladesh to West Bengal. Sage Publications.
Samaddar, R. (2008). On governing unruly population flows. Refugee Watch, 32. http://www.mcrg.ac.in/rw%20files/RW32/1.Ranabir_Unruly.pdf.
Sarker, S. P. (2018). Reducing Statelessnress: A new call for India. In S. Basu Ray Chaudhury & R. Samaddar (Ed.), The Rohingya in South Asia: People Without a State. New York: Routledge.
Sengupta, S. (2002). Migration and Ethnic Issues in North East India: An Analysis of the Arunachal Pradesh Situation. In G. Phukon (Ed.), Ethnicity and Polity in South Asia (pp. 258–266). South Asian Publishers.
Singh, B. (2017, September 18). Khandu voices people's concern to refugees. Economic Time. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/pema-khandu-expressed-concerned-on-the-issue-of-granting-citizenship-to-chakma-and-hajong/articleshow/60734475.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst.
Singh, D. K. (2010). Statelessness in South Asia: The Chakmas between Bangladesh and India. Sage Publications.
Talukdar, A.B. (2008, August 29). Human Rights: State of Denial. Frontline.
The 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Person. https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/wp-content/uploads/1954-Convention-relating-to-the-Status-of-Stateless-Persons_ENG.pdf.
Velath, M. P., & Chopra, K. (2018). The stateless people: The Rohingya in Hyderabab. In S. Basu Ray Chaudhury & R. Samaddar (Ed.), The Rohingya in South Asia: People Without a State. New York: Routledge.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Chaudhury, A.B.R., Ghosh, A.K. (2022). Ordeal of Statelessness in South Asia. In: Mukhopadhyay, U. (eds) Internal Migration Within South Asia. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6144-0_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6144-0_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-16-6143-3
Online ISBN: 978-981-16-6144-0
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)