REFUGEES AND EXILE: CHANGING ORDER FROM REFUGEE PROTECTION LAWS TO

REFUGEE DISPELLING APPROACH.

In the last century, we have seen the rapid development of concepts like nation states along with the
emergence of national identities. Furthermore, due to the constant turmoil and warfare we have seen in the
last few decades, there has been a huge displacement of large groups of people from one place to
another. Although there are a lot of reasons for these migrations, but the primary reasons for the same
have been foreign invasions, internal strife, and natural phenomena like droughts and other catastrophes.
Initially, in the post World War 2 period, with the rise of neoliberalism in the west coupled with the
decimation of the European fascist forces, we saw the relaxation of refugee laws along with the ease of
migration from one place to another, this resulted in the creation of multicultural societies all over the
continents of Europe, North America and Australia. This was possibly helped by the fact that most of the
people migrating were skilled migrants, who brought human resource capital into the countries they
migrated into, which further incentivized the host countries into allowing them in.

Now, in the recent decades, particularly after the 9/11 attacks, there has been a gradual erosion of these
policies, which has been fuelled by the media creating suspicions about the proverbial ‘other’.
The bogeyman of ‘Islamic terror’ has also helped create widespread anti refugee sentiment, as we can see
with the recent examples of Rohingyas being refused entry into multiple countries due to the same fears.
Moreover, all over Europe, there has been a revival of nationalistic sentiments, which has also affected the
attitudes towards refugees from the third world countries, and in many countries, particularly in Eastern
Europe, we have also seen anti refugee laws being legislated.

The objective of the paper will be to analyse the changing approach towards refugees and its reflection in
national legislations, the causes leading to it, its effects on the refugees, and possible solutions to the
same.

Keywords: Nationalism, Neoliberalism, Terror, Refugees.