As India cracks down on refugees, it is betraying its long commitment to international solidarity

The Indian media has seen the refugee issue only as a source of occasional human interest stories, describing the plight of refugees and their struggles for survival. It is only recently that refugees have featured in the headlines in India when they became a political issue in the violence in Manipur. Then came the horrific story of a group of Rohingyas taken by the Indian authorities and thrown into the sea. This time the story made the front pages.

However, the arrests and detentions of the Rohingyas cannot be seen in isolation from the issue of refugee protection in India. It has to be seen in the context of national and international political developments – namely the rise of religious right political movement that has weaponised immigration and refugee issues for furthering their political agenda.

It is in this context we must see the latest arrests of the African refugees living in Malviya Nagar in Delhi. For the past week or more the police, often in plain clothes, have been picking up refugees from Sudan, Yemen, Somalia and, after taking their biometrics, sending them to infamous detention facility in Haryana called Lampur Seva Sadan.

The police have been picking up the men, leaving the women and children on their own, refugees say. Most of the women do not work, which leaves them very vulnerable.

Yousif Haroun, a refugee from Sudan who has an identity card from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, has sent several desperate emails to the UNHCR informing them of the recent arrests from Malviya Nagar. But they have offered no other advice than to tell him to lie low and change his mobile number.

Haroun has taken the advice and has been staying in different hospitals. But the police has barged into his home, where his wife with two very small children are living. These raids have left them traumatised. One child is barely two years old and the other is a baby of six months.

A young Yemeni refugee man said he was taken and beaten by the police. He asked them why he was beaten, they said he had come illegally to India. The police do not respect the identity cards issued by the UNHCR. The Yemeni man told the police that they should think of the Indians who are living in Africa because if news of these arrests goes to Africa there would be a reaction against Indians there.

The refugees from Africa say they face racialism on daily basis, One woman from Somalia said when they buy vegetables, they sell for higher prices and they find it difficult to rent accommodation. Many refugees had found ways of getting false Aadhaar cards, which allowed them to send their children to school, to access banking services, receive money from their relatives abroad through Western Union and get licences for two- wheelers.

However, refugees are now unable to get Aadhar cards. Under the new Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, hospitals and schools are obliged to report if anyone foreigner without a valid visa comes to their institution.

The police have also been visiting Vikaspuri and settlements around the area in Delhi where there is a concentration of refugees from Myanmar. They have barged into churches and threatened the refugees but so far not arrested any.

Some refugees in Delhi , such as Cynthia, a single mother with three children, had got sponsorships to the US. But their hopes of a a stable future were dashed when the US President Donald Trump stopped all refugee sponsorship programmes.

Yousif Haroun has applied to Australia for a humanitarian visa and has a receipt. But now he wonders what will happen if the police arrest him and detain him. What will happen to his young family?

What struck me about Haroun is his calm dignity and the way he spoke without anger and hatred. It reminded me of another Sudanese family who were sitting outside the UNHCR office protesting. I was there also protesting on World Refugee Day in June. As I handed over a memo to the UNHCR, I shouted at the police, saying I was ashamed of the way Indians were treating refugees. I heard a calm voice behind me say, “But we do not hate India. That is why we came here for protection.”

Yes, the African refugees came to India because of our reputation built over the years through the Non-Aligned Movement and in the days when international solidarity and friendship were the cornerstones of our foreign policy.

The National Human Rights Commission, which has been entrusted with the task of drafting a law to protect refugees in India, has not done its job. The UNHCR offers no succour to the refugees, not even offering basic financial assistance or food for children as it used to. Indian civil society is not concerned.

Haroun and other refugees who came to India in the hope of receiving a warm welcome will leave either with bitter memories of the racial and communal prejudice they faced as African Muslims. They live with unbearable stress and anxiety levels.

There is an alternative to these arrests and pushbacks of refugees: a law that protects refugees and at the same time has a way of documenting them. Giving them an opportunity to access education, health services and to find ways so they can contribute to our country. These refugees can become bridges of friendship and solidarity.

If we continue these arrests, detentions and deportations we will definitely create a situation when there will be a build-up of anti-India feelings and resentment and the Indian diaspora will and is already facing the consequences.

Nandita Haksar is a lawyer and author. Her most recent book, co-authored with Soe Myint, is Military Rule in Burma (1988-2024): Story of Mizzima Media: Born in Exile, Banned in Myanmar.