24.05.2004 - Source: US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants

Annual report on conditions affecting refugees and asylum seekers in 2003 ("World Refugee Survey 2004") [#22816],  [ID 6875]

"At the end of 2003, some 317,000 refugees were living in India, including some 100,000 Tibetans, an estimated 50,000 refugees from Myanmar, some 15,000Lhotsampa--ethnic Nepalese refugees from Bhutan, and some 11,500 mandate refugees, mostly Afghans (10,300) assisted by UNHCR, and some 400 claims pending before UNHCR. In addition, almost 100,000 Sri Lankan refugees remained in India with some 20,000 living unrecognized by the government outside of camps, some 20,000 registered with the police outside the camps and almost 60,000 government-recognized refugees in camps. Thousands of Nepalese also fled to India during the year, and up to 40,000 Afghans were living in India unassisted by UNHCR. According to the Dalai Lama’s office, some 3,500 Tibetans arrived in India in 2003. The Indian authorities permitted Tibetan refugees to enter, but the government has not granted legal temporary residence to most Tibetans who arrived in recent years. [...]

Some 1,100 Sri Lankans and over 190 Afghans repatriated in 2003."

Document(s): Open document

25.02.2004 - Source: US Department of State

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2003 ("Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2003") [#19765],  [ID 6876]

"The law does not provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status to persons who meet the definition of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. The Government has not formulated a policy regarding refugees, asylees, or first asylum. The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had no formal status, but the Government permitted the UNHCR to assist certain groups of refugees (notably Afghans, Iranians, Somalis, Burmese, and Sudanese). Unlike in previous years, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees did not visit the country. [...]

The Government also provides temporary protection to certain individuals who do not qualify as asylees or refugees. [...]

The UNHCR reported that 11,642 Afghans, 857 Burmese, and approximately 350 others were receiving assistance from the UNHCR in the country as of August 2001. [...] Although the Government formally did not recognize these persons as refugees, it did not deport them. Instead, they received renewable residence permits, or their status was ignored. Increasingly during the year, some of these groups--Afghans, Iraqis, and Iranians in particular--were not granted renewal of their residence permits by the authorities on the grounds that they were not in possession of valid national passports. Due to financial and other reasons, many refugees were unable or unwilling to obtain or renew their national passports and therefore were unable to regularize their status in the country."

Document(s): Open document