The Rohingya, a Muslim minority group from Myanmar, have suffered decades of persecution and violence in their home country. This has led to their mass exodus—primarily to Bangladesh, and in smaller numbers to India, Malaysia, Thailand, and other parts of South and Southeast Asia. According to a 2017 estimate by the Indian government, there are approximately 40,000 Rohingya refugees in India alone. Their condition in the country remains precarious, marked as it is by complex legal challenges, significant mental health concerns, economic difficulties, and uncertain prospects for their future.
The Rohingya people residing in India are persecuted, detained, and often deported because of their tenuous legal status. According to a UNHCR report, as of November 2022, there are 312 Rohingya refugees in immigration detention holds, 263 in holding centres in Jammu, and 22 in a welfare centre in Delhi. Activists have asserted that between 2017 and 2022, at least 16 Rohingya refugees have been deported to Myanmar. Persecution and deportation, coupled with the xenophobic narrative being propagated against them, has led to Rohingyas facing extremely poor socio-economic conditions, limited livelihood opportunities, human rights violations, lack of access to social entitlements such as food and education, and poor physical and mental health services, among other issues.
Some community members are working with lawyers, human rights activists, and nonprofits in an attempt address these challenges. However, it isn’t an easy task. We spoke with organisations and individuals on the ground to understand their challenges, highlight successful initiatives, and suggest further interventions.
Detention, deportation, and a tenuous legal identity
Since India is not a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention and lacks a standardised legal framework for refugees, it handles them on an ad hoc basis. Not only do Rohingyas not have formal refugee status, but they are also often referred to as ‘illegal immigrants’ by the administration. Unlike other refugee groups, such as Sri Lankans and Tibetans, who receive some form of identification directly from the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Rohingya are under UNHCR protection. The UNHCR cards help them access basic public healthcare and offer some protection against detention, but their legal validity is uncertain. In 2023, at a court hearing for a case of a Rohingya person’s detention, the Indian government stated that India does not recognise the UNHCR refugee card and, therefore, Rohingyas do not have the right to reside in the country.
It is difficult to find lawyers who can take up rights violation cases concerning the Rohingya community.
However, legal experts point out that any human rights violations meted out to the Rohingyas is against the right to life, which is enshrined in the Indian Constitution. Colin Gonsalves, senior advocate at the Supreme Court, says, “Refugees, including the Rohingyas, are completely protected from deportation according to Article 21 of the Constitution of India, which guarantees the fundamental right to life. This article is applicable not only to citizens but to anyone within the territory of India. If we deport a refugee such as a Rohingya person who will likely face harm upon return, their right to life is violated. The state must protect all persons within its territory, and deporting refugees into danger is impermissible.”
But the community’s struggles continue unabated. Syeda,* a educator and counsellor from the Rohingya community, says, “Sometimes, I receive distress calls from people being held in detention centres in various Indian states. There are people who have been in the centres for many years; this includes those who were detained when they went to visit their relatives in these centres. I don’t know where to direct them and if there is anyone who could fight their cases.”
It is difficult to find lawyers who can take up rights violation cases concerning the Rohingya community. Fazal Abdali, a refugee rights lawyer, tells us, “As there is no law in India that provides a legal framework to guarantee rights and entitlements to those seeking refuge, lawyers need to interpret the Constitution, other laws, precedents, and the rights in order to protect refugees.” This adds an extra layer of complication for lawyers representing the community.
Media reports have frequently pointed out how the detention centres holding Rohingya refugees lack basic necessities such as clean toilets and sunlight. In 2023, the Delhi High Court directed the relevant government authorities to inspect the centres and ensure proper amenities. While officially the situation hasn’t changed much, nonprofits working on the ground have found ways to navigate it.
Akash,* who works with a human rights nonprofit, tells us how in some cases they are able to receive support from local administrative bodies. He says, “We hold legal clinics and have been able to work with inmates in the detention centres. We have also managed to provide them with essential items such as winter clothing. This has been possible because of support from local-level officials. So, CSOs [civil society organisations] working with refugees collaborate with local authorities, service providers, health services, the education department, and local legal aid. There are spaces within the government architecture where we can work to secure relief for refugees.”
The ‘illegal immigrant’ status of the Rohingyas means that even those who aren’t in detention struggle for a proper living in the shanties where they have been settled by the government. Additionally, they lack the knowledge of the laws of the land that can allow them to fight for their rights.
Legal clinics and workshops have helped the community understand their rights and duties, as well as how to negotiate with local authorities including the panchayat and the police. Fazal tells us about a fact-finding mission conducted in 2013 in Mewat, Haryana, where they found Rohingya refugees living in dire conditions. “They drank water from wells infested with frogs and had no sanitation facilities, which forced them to relieve themselves in dug-up pits covered with mud. In response to these inhumane conditions, we approached the Supreme Court.” Over the next decade, Fazal and his team conducted workshops, sensitisation programmes, and training sessions to educate the Rohingyas on accessing the justice system, especially concerning basic amenities, detentions, and deportation threats. “Starting from Mewat, this effort gradually expanded to Jammu, Hyderabad, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and other parts of India, focusing on their legal rights and understanding Indian law. Over 10 years, we held approximately 2,300 training sessions with Rohingyas across India.”
Rights, entitlements, and dignity
Colin says, “Healthcare, education, housing, and food all fall under the right to life [in the Constitution].” But the Rohingyas continue to struggle for all of these. The lack of legal recognition limits the Rohingya people’s access to formal employment, education, healthcare, and other basic services. This is where CSOs, community workers, and activists have played an important role.
A member of a CSO that works with the Rohingyas in India highlighted a major issue: the refugees lack bank accounts and Aadhaar cards. This exclusion prevents them from accessing social entitlements such as subsidised ration, pensions, and education. For example, though it is not mandated by law, government schools often require an Aadhaar card for students to gain admission or to receive uniforms, textbooks, and other government-provided resources.
Fatima,* another member of the Rohingya community, explains the educational challenges faced by the Rohingya children. “When I first came to India in 2014, I found it difficult to enrol in school to finish my education. Then, a trust in Hyderabad reached out and told us to move there, saying that they would take care of my education as well as my siblings’. Nowadays, with the help of some nonprofits, we can get a school degree from the National Institute of Open Schooling. But an identity card such as Aadhaar is still a requirement for higher studies or college education.”
Fatima also mentions that talented youths who excel in the Indian school system can apply for study-abroad scholarships through programmes such as the UNHCR-Duolingo University Access Program. Her sister managed to go to Canada to study through one such scholarship, but this opportunity is only available to the few students who fulfil the criteria (such as age and educational qualifications) and can navigate the application process.
The community are not equipped with the skills required to work in a place like Delhi.
Some young people from the community, including Fatima, have found ways to intervene and make education more accessible. “I focus on teaching foundational literacy to children and women. The first challenge after coming to India is that we don’t know the local language. I begin by explaining everything from scratch, starting with the alphabet, and my students then move on to learning how to write words such as their own names and their family members’ names. I also teach everyone how to write important numbers such as phone numbers, bus numbers, and hospital numbers. Eventually, I have them memorise their camp addresses—for example, “Camp Number 12”—to ensure that they can identify their location.”
Access to housing and livelihoods remain challenging too. Noor Begum* lives in a settlement in Delhi where many family members share temporary, one-room shanties. She says, “Sometimes we don’t get electricity for days on end, which is unbearable in the summer months. The water tanker comes every day, but we never know when, and we can only manage to carry a limited amount of water for our families’ daily use.”
Raziya,* a Rohingya refugee in another settlement that we visited, tells us that the community is not equipped with the skills required to work in a place like Delhi. “Back in Myanmar, the men worked in agriculture. They grew various vegetables as well as grains such as wheat, mostly for the family’s consumption. Women did domestic work; we did not go to school or learn to read.”
In metropolitan Delhi, their farming skills aren’t of much use and they have hardly any place to grow anything. Without the legal right to work, most rely on informal employment. Common jobs include daily wage labour in construction, rag picking, rickshaw pulling, and street hawking. These jobs are precarious and do not provide enough income to sustain a family, forcing many into severe poverty. Since their access to financial services is almost non-existent, the Rohingya are prevented from owning property, starting businesses, or saving securely, which could potentially improve their economic status.
The intersection of gender and mental health
Their past traumatic experiences of genocide and forced migration and ongoing stressors due to their displacement means that Rohingyas living in India suffer from significant mental health issues. Many have experienced severe violence and loss, including the death of family members and the destruction of their homes. Living in precarious conditions without the promise of permanence exacerbates existing traumas. Shreyas Jayakumar is associated with The Azadi Project, which works with women and girls from the community. She explains, “Despite efforts towards capacity building, many individuals struggle to find employment. This leads to frustration and despair, particularly given the cramped living conditions and their inability to return home.”
Patriarchal norms within the community multiply the challenges faced by the women.
Recently, the organisation started a centre in Delhi that provides holistic psychosocial support to Rohingya refugee women and girls, as well as other women who live in and around the informal settlement where the centre is located. At first, they had to establish trust with the community to confront barriers created by conflict, trauma, and the stigma surrounding mental health. The Azadi Project found that apart from individual therapy sessions, which they organise in some cases, group therapy is particularly effective because it allows women in the settlement to share experiences with each other. These sessions incorporate tools such as art and singing, and activities such as holding hands and acknowledging each other’s pain. This made space for healing and connection between the host (Indian) and the refugee community. The sessions enabled Rohingya women to start addressing concerns such as sleep disturbances, uncertainties about the future, longing for home, and grieving the loss of loved ones.
Patriarchal norms within the community multiply the challenges faced by the women. Apart from the covert and overt violence from outside, Rohingya women are often also subjected to domestic abuse. Syeda says, “The women say that they have to listen to their husband, or else he has the right to be violent. If they speak out, they are often threatened with divorce. Their movement, too, is limited; until recently, they weren’t even allowed to go to the hospital for childbirth.”
But there’s been a gradual shift. Once the nonprofits that we spoke with succeeded in establishing trust with the community, they started conducting gender awareness workshops and sessions where they emphasised women’s right to safety and healthcare access, and education for their children. Having individuals from the community working with them is always an advantage. Syeda says, “I use my own example as a young woman who is now going out, and earning money and helping my family. We counsel couples as well. Slowly, we have seen a change.”
What is the way forward?
The lives of the Rohingya in India are fraught with challenges that stem from their ambiguous legal status, compounded by economic vulnerabilities and significant mental health concerns. Support from the nonprofits, CSOs, and the Indian community remains critical in advocating for better conditions for them.
Here are some ways in which the various stakeholders can intervene:
1. Ensuring social inclusion
Nonprofits that work with host communities could start initiatives to encourage social connections and bonds with the Rohingya communities. The Azadi Project has started doing this by engaging the women and children of both the host and Rohingya communities in various programmes and dialogues.
In general, nonprofits should conduct training and awareness programmes to educate all the communities they work with to sensitise them about xenophobia, Islamophobia, displacement, and refugee experiences.
2. Providing legal awareness and help
CSOs that work with refugees could collaborate with local administration and legal aid clinics, providers of healthcare and other services, and relevant government departments such as education. Making these connections could establish an ecosystem that supports the communities in times of great distress, for example, during deportation or detention.
Nonprofits can conduct awareness campaigns to educate the Rohingyas about their legal rights and available legal support.
Nonprofits and activists who work with or adjacent to the Rohingyas should prioritise providing immediate legal assistance to detainees. Colin tells us, “If an organisation receives a distress call from a Rohingya, the first step should be to contact a lawyer and seek legal advice and intervention. Doing this early could streamline a detainee’s release, especially if they have already served the maximum sentence [of three years] for illegal entry in the country.”
These nonprofits can conduct awareness campaigns to educate the Rohingyas about their legal rights and available legal support. This can include workshops, distribution of informational pamphlets, or setting up legal aid desks in areas with significant Rohingya population. This would empower them to advocate for themselves and understand the system.
3. Facilitating economic sustainability
Nonprofits should connect the Rohingyas with education and livelihoods initiatives such as those run by the UNHCR. Sara from The Azadi Project elaborates, “Take the example of a family that is already running a shop. There are UNHCR programmes that could provide them with the financial support required to expand their business, ensuring economic stability and self-reliance.”
The rights and entitlements available to the Rohingyas living in India are limited, and nonprofits should actively help the community in accessing them. This includes facilitating their enrolment in schools, helping them obtain dignified employment, and wherever possible, higher education programmes and scholarships. The social sector should also invest in skill-building initiatives tailored to the needs of the community, such as vocational training, language classes, and other programmes that can help them find livelihood opportunities.
Many human rights advocates have pointed out that the true test of a democracy is how it ensures the political and social sovereignty of its refugee population. The same principle applies to the CSOs whose job it is to serve people regardless of citizenship status, and especially those who are underserved, invisibilised, and disenfranchised like the Rohingyas. These organisations and individuals must also continue to demand a comprehensive national policy for the refugees that aligns with international standards.
*Names changed to maintain confidentiality.
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Know more
- Understand the factors that led to the Rohingya refugee crisis.
- Learn why India needs to design policies that include climate refugees.
- Watch this video to understand the challenges that Rohingya women face in India.
Do more
- For any assistance in ensuring the rights and liberties of refugee groups, contact UNHCR at 011-43530444 or the Socio Legal Information Centre at 011-24374501.