Rising refugee crisis amid collapse of global moral order

New Indian Express

16-06-2025

With the rise of populist nationalism and majoritarianism, the displaced are facing an unprecedented pushback around the world. Last week, the Lancet pointed out that one in every eight people in the world is on the move today, driven by economic, political, demographic, environmental and socio-cultural forces. However, even as migration—including movement propelled by climate emergencies—is emerging as one of the biggest concerns in the 21st century, the rights and lives of refugees are coming under inhumane pressure.
In this context, it is a solemn moment to remember that, stung by the partition's humongous refugee crisis, India has not ratified either the 1951 Refugee Convention, which serves as the principal legal document defining refugee status, or the 1967 Protocol that removed geographic and time-based limitations on the status. These treaties flowed from 1948's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the high-minded document that underlined the newly-formed UN's purpose. Today, with its resolutions observed more in breach, the warnings of its secretary-general ignored and the funding of its agencies gutted, the UN system is becoming increasingly comatose. The Lancet pointed out that the World Health Organization's Health and Migration Programme faces an uncertain future barely five years after being set up; the health journal warned of the devastating consequences of its closure for millions of refugees around the world.