“The International E-Conference” was organized by Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism (GRFDT),Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA), and Center for Research on North America (CISAN) from November 2 to 5, 2020. A session was held centering forced migration issue on November 3, 2020, chaired by Prof. Fernando Villegas.
Women are the Major Victims of Communal Conflicts
Dr. Nisha, a research scholar at Centre for Women Studies, AMU presented her research paper titled, “Impact of forced migration on the socio-economic conditions of women victims of the communal riot: a study of Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh”. Dr. Nisha citing the examples of communal riots that occurred in 1969 in Ahmedabad, 1984 in Delhi, Gujarat in 2002, 2008 in Kandhamal, and 2013 in Muzaffarnagar, tries to explain that communal riots in India have led to the displacement of people on a huge scale. Based on her observation, the people who are affected the most are the poor and powerless indigenous groups. The women become the most vulnerable part of it. Women migrants suffer disproportionately from the economic, social, and cultural aspects of communal violence. They are the epitome of marginalization and the disenfranchisement of the dislocated.
Dr. Nisha has highlighted that the conflict had led to the loss of their source of livelihood. Their social-economic status collapsed overnight as they left their hometowns without taking their belongings. As per the study, 90% of women stated that not getting safe shelter to stay has been their major problem. The forced migration created a void of security and stability. Along with elderly women, the young girls have also suffered as their education was deeply disturbed. The lack of security resulted in sexual abuse, exploitation, and early marriages. The pregnant women were at the receiving end as they have to deliver in unhygienic and overcrowded camps.
Dr. Nisha concluded by referring to failures of administration and governance. She said, “Government has not made visible efforts to support the revival of dignified livelihoods of the victims, to prevent large scale migration and pauperization of victim families”.
Ethnicity is Born Out of Secluded Group
Dr. Sudeep Basu, Centre for studies in social management in Central University of Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India. Dr. Basu through his paper “Governing forced movements and the making of the ethnic” introduced a term ‘potential displaced person’ that is a technical situation where the person is almost facing displaced like situation. They are not able to migrate to another country, it is a certain kind of immobility that they encounter.
Dr. Basu said, “We have to take into account movements that took root in the global north. When attention shifted to the global south we find that there has been a large scale population displacement as results of the decolonization of the erstwhile colonies”.
He further added, “Documenting illegible people became a challenge, that who should be provided formal membership and who should not. Another problem was how institutions could deal with the problems of clandestine migration. The problem is of how disciplines who are involved in looking at forced migrations treat the entire problem of migration as anathema to the main subject”.
Dr. Basu emphasized how forced movement created a category of people as one but at the same time formed the category of stateless, detainees, and undocumented migrants within the nationalist citizenship regime. The subcategory of undocumented migrants opens itself to appropriation and re-appropriation by political ideologies. He explained how the subcategory later becomes ethnic and fall prey to tightened border regulations of the country.
Forced Migration from the perspective of Indian origin Tamils in Sri Lanka
Prof. Navaneeta Deori, a faculty at Tata Institute of Social Science, constructs the broader narrative of age-old ethnic violence in Sri Lanka. She presented a paper titled, “Overcoming a life of despair: a narrative of the struggles of Indian origin Tamils in Sri Lanka”. Prof. Deori highlights socio-economic and political conditions of the Indian origin Tamils in Sri Lanka since its independence. The plantation community has been a major victim in terms of socio-economic facilities. The endemic plantation environment does not stimulate academic as well as economic achievements. They suffer from problems such as unemployment, identity formation, and lack of educational facilities.
Further, she added, “the denial of the right to citizenship resulted in political, economic deprivation and also, social discrimination and this was the beginning of their prolonged multiple struggle for their survival on the plantation. A majority of them remained an ethnic minority without political recognition”.
Secluding Communities Cannot Achieve Sustainable Development Goals
Ms. Deedhiti Datta, working at Panchmura Mahavidyalaya, West Bengal, India talks about the role of government in promoting peace and building accountable inclusive institutions at all levels. Ms. Datta in her paper titled “Politics of exception vs. Sustainable development goal number sixteen” focuses on the enforcement of the new laws and amendments by the government. According to her, the state is also an institution and to a large extent, the state shares the responsibility of providing a better home for its citizen and providing a peaceful society.
Ms. Datta referring to Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) issue explains the paranoia of instantly losing citizenship in India. 19 lakhs of people were announced as illegal migrants in the updated list of NRC. The NRC and CAA have also been said to target a particular community. This has led to the forced deportation of people.
“India is itself a signatory of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Sustainable development is only possible when there is an all-round development. If a section of society is secluded on the basis of a certain ideology or the communal doctrine, then SDGs is a faraway dream”, adds Ms. Datta.
Gender-based violence is a key element of gender inequality
Ms. Sukla Saha addressed displaced female’s peril considering COVID-19 situation. Ms. Sukla Saha, an LLM student at the University of North Bengal, India presented a paper on “Gender-based violence against displaced girls and women amidst COVID-19 outbreak: legal issues and implications ”. Ms. Saha said that 1 in 3 women worldwide has experienced either physical and sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime, this has increased hugely in the pandemic period.
Gender-based violence is one of the key elements of gender inequality. Disproportionately gender-based violence results in negative health outcomes.
Ms. Saha also pointed out the state and humanitarian organizations should introduce reprisal programs. The services for survivors are often not readily available. There is as usual little funding for such programs during a humanitarian crisis. Another argument she made was that the displaced woman is unable to exercise the legal recourse system due to lack of documents, this has aggravated due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Psychological effects on women migrant workers
Ms. Nur ismiramadhani, a student at Hasanuddin University of Makassar, Indonesia presented a paper on “Psychological impact of the experience of the vulnerability of Indonesian retired women migrant workers”. Ms. Ramadhani stated that Indonesian retired women migrant workers usually work in Malaysia. Most of these women are victims of injustice, gender inequality, and violence. These women face physical, psychological trauma, they suffer from problems such as debt bondage, threats, extortion, manipulation of documents, and confiscation of documents.
“The strict migration policies in the destination country and the lack of commitment of the government from both the countries leave the group of workers vulnerable. Despite unfavorable working conditions women chose to work due to economic factors, till the time they think of breaking the loop, they are already trapped under the debt bondage”, adds Ms. Ramadhani.
Faith based Humanitarian initiatives
Mr. Hadje C. Sadje, working at the foundation academy of Amsterdam focuses on the lives of refugees through his paper titled, “Refugee—the human face of God: the role of Christian peacemaker team Europe in the promotion of the human dignity of refugees”. Mr. Hadje C. Sadje emphasized the work done by Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT). CPT is a faith-based humanitarian organization; it is committed to accompanying and serving the refugees and migrants. It involves in reconciliation with the sea program.
Snehal Mutha is a Pune based journalist doing her little and loves to read books, finds her peace in food. Her areas of interest are gender studies, international migration and social issues. She wants to be a pantomath who loves to explore and travel the world. She loves to express herself in the form of creative writing and digital art. Twitter: https://twitter.com/SnehalMutha?s=08