[Reader-list] First Post

Ayesha Sen Choudhury ayeshasc at gmail.com
Sat Jan 28 18:33:17 IST 2006


Hi!



Greetings to all!



I'm Ayesha and this is my introductory post. Before I introduce myself and
my research topic, I'd like apologise for this huge delay in posting caused
due to certain unavoidable circumstances arising out of my work schedules.
Hope I'm forgiven by the coordinators at Sarai this once! I'll try to keep
to the allotted dates henceforth.



I'll start with a slight clarification… While I was born and brought up in
Kolkata, I'm currently a resident of Delhi and will thus conduct the
research in this very city (for those who might wonder why I chose to
conduct my research in Delhi, while being based in Kolkata). I am a lawyer
by profession, with a BSL.LLB degree from ILS Law College, Pune under the
Pune University. My special interests lie in human rights and humanitarian
law and am at present working with a paralegal NGO where my profile requires
me to provide legal assistance to women and conduct researches relating to
legal reforms addressing gender related issues.



The topic I will be working on is titled "*Locating Sexuality through the
Eyes of Afghan and Burmese Refugee Women in Delhi*". The main objective of
this study is to collect narratives of Afghan and Burmese refugee women
trying to negotiate feminine spaces in conditions of displacement and
migration and hostile environments. This study will be exploratory in nature
and will seek to draw understandings of renegotiated spaces from these
women, e.g. how they define violence, pain, pleasure, humiliation, and
empowerment. I intend to use photography as a complementary method of
depicting their lives and livelihood.



Since my research topic is based on certain observations and presumptions
arising out of present legal scenario in India, I'll try and map out a brief
background of legal mechanisms afforded to refugees here.



India seems to be one of those countries where lack of specific refugee or
asylum oriented legal mechanism escalates human rights abuse of refugees and
asylum seekers. One would need to look beyond India's successful façade of
"refugee friendly' country to the real life problems of asylum seekers here
in order to understand the high level of political and bureaucratic
maneuvering by the government. By not being a signatory to the Refugee
Convention, India has successfully warded off all international interference
into it's handling of asylum seekers. On the other hand it dooms the asylum
seekers within its borders to flagrant violation of their basic human rights
with impunity. The Foreigners Act of 1946 is the only legislation that deals
with all non-citizens within the Indian borders, making no differentiation
between tourists, economic migrants, and asylum seekers or refugees. This
legislation is the core of all refugee related problems in India. Being
archaic in nature it bestows unlimited powers on the government to identify,
arrest and prosecute any foreigner they "suspect" to have violated any laws
within the territory, making them vulnerable to attacks of political
discretion.



The UNHCR popularly believed to be an effective forum for refugee redressal
is also often rendered toothless due to political maneuverings and sanctions
on its existence in India by the government. I believe that the only way the
situation can be bettered is to campaign for a separate asylum law that will
recognize the conditions under which a refugee is forced to seek refuge in
India effectively differentiating them from tourists or other forms of
migrants. This research is a small step in pursuance of this goal.



Delhi hosts a large community of both these groups of nationals for certain
political reasons. In the past these have been two of the few recognized
groups of people who were allowed entry into India due to the erstwhile
government's political agendas and interests. These two groups of nationals
had migrated to Delhi from the border areas in the hope of seeking refugee
status with the UNHCR, since it is the only international body within Indian
borders that has the powers to grant them identification cards and
rehabilitation aid as refugees. In current times with the fall of Taliban
and a change in India's stand with the Burmese junta, this population has
been indirectly pressurized to leave the country and return to their
countries of origin. In exact terms it would mean a withdrawal of protection
from the Indian state forces. Thus the Burmese and Afghan Refugees thus live
daily lives, fearing arrest, deportation and torture by state parties as
well as abuse of their basic rights by non-state actors, with no forum to
address their grievances to.



My present engagement with gender specific issues of violence and abuse has
inspired me to focus more specifically on the problems of women as refugees…
the rationale behind it being that while men and women may share similar
circumstances of persecution forcing them into flee borders and seek refuge,
women probably face a larger risk of persecution solely on the basis of
their gender and sexual orientation. Infact a woman may still be at risk of
gender based violence and persecution even in a state of aylum e.g. a woman
who flees a country for fear of honour killing, may still be at a risk of
being sexually abused in the country of refuge by state or non state actors.
Refugee situations may throw a whole array of challenges for a woman to
negotiate with… a whole new set of events to grapple with, while probably
fulfilling various roles of a mother, a daughter and a wife to name some. In
such situations some refugee women have found themselves in a more empowered
role e.g. the Sri Lankan refugee women while others find themselves
disempowered and victimized.  Women refugees form almost 80% of the total
refugee population in the world and yet there has been no conclusive or
effective solution to the variety of problems faced by them. I feel that no
legislation for asylum seekers could be effective without first addressing
the needs and problems of refugee women or considering their efforts of
creating and negotiating "safe' spaces in situations of exodus and change.



Refugee women in India face an enhanced risk of violence solely due to the
fact that the government does not recognize "refugees" formally. Thus they
are denied any redressal system to approach in cases of gender related
violence. There also remains the fear of being deported if identified by the
authorities to be an unwanted group of asylum seekers. In my opinion this
leaves them with restricted spaces of freedom both sexually and politically.
It will thus be my endeavour to identify the needs and requirements of these
women through the study. I would also attempt to look into the issue of how
the politics of aid provided to them has also contributed largely to the
kinds of feminine spaces they have been forcefully restricted to, e.g. UNHCR
in it's policy of providing vocational training to refugees, restricts the
choice of training for these women to only that of a beautician. Or how the
withdrawal of state protection to them has restricted their physical
movement, freedom of expressing their sexuality, and freedom of speech.


This study is intended to produce an analysis of needs and requirements
specific to women refugees in order to provide for a sensitive method of
redressal in future times.

I'm looking forward to suggestions and comments from this hugely versatile
group of researchers I on the list. Here's wishing everyone fruitful and
exciting months to come.

Regards

Ayesha
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