PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW PROJECT PAPER

THE NATIONAL REGISTRY OF CITIZENS: THE REFORMS OF

CRISIS

Submitted To

Amma kannu

Associate Professor of Law

Submitted By

Ajay Sharma STR

BC0170006

Tamil Nadu National Law University Tiruchirappalli

SEPTEMBER 2019
 The National Registry of Citizens: The Reforms of Crisis

Contents

1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………3

2. ’Migration Crisis’ - The Definitive Approach………………………………………..4

3. The Birth of a New community with No Identity……………………………………6

4. NRC - The link between Municipal Laws and International Laws………………..8

5. The Judicial Parody of the Supreme Court and NRC…………………………..…13

6. Regional and Collective Approach Towards a Better Legal

Structure…………….15

7. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………17

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 The National Registry of Citizens: The Reforms of Crisis

Introduction:
The Indian Sub-Continent and Refugee Crisis have always been the dispelled sisters whose
fates never meets destiny. The example to this are the crisis of the Srilankan refugees, Jharkand
Tribes and Rohingya Muslims to name a few. In my concerned opinion the recent Assam NRC
issue is categorized into a refugee crisis but I beg to differ as it revolves around the concept of
statelessness and nationality. In my opinion I would say this issue have raised to such serious levels
due to the failure of the government to understand various international laws before policy making
and its lethargic attitude towards minorities and women who’s status yet not clear is proof to the
same. This issue needs serious actions because as per UNHRC the estimate of stateless people
across the globe is around 10 million but if the final draft is as per the draft nearly 4 million people
would go stateless.

The issue has great impact on international law as it does not only related to municipal laws like
citizenship but also areas of international concerns like nationality, migration. Thus to find the
common ground and thereby create laws is what is expected. The constitution defines who is the
citizen of India under article 51 and Indian Citizens Act2, The concept of nationality is dealt with by
Article 14 of United Nations Declaration of Human Rights 3, The laws relating to statelessness are
governed by the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961
Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, the problem is evident from this itself as none of the
three legislations have authority over the other two and thats the problem this paper will try
addressing.

Research Objective:

• To bring out the legal impact and ill-will it would cause to the citizens of Assam and moreover I
would like to bring out the legal lacuna on the principle of nationality and citizenship that was
created by the NRC.

• The available literature available on this issue has greatly discussed only about the past and
movement of the people with a great number of them considering them as illegal immigrants
whereas I would like to give a new perspective in my case study that they are undocumented
immigrants which would be in consonance with the UN Declaration of Human Rights, 1948.

1 Article 5 of Indian Constitution, 1950

2 Citizenship Act, 1955, (1955), http://indiacode.nic.in/handle/123456789/1522 (last
visited May 3, 2019).
3 Article 14 of United Nations Declaration of Human Rights

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Research Question:

There exists dilemma of the overlapping of municipal and international law and this is apparent
in the present crisis. This dilemma has to resolved as to which one of them is superior to the
other and this is schematic of this paper.

The result of this exercise would result in around 40 lakh stateless people and this creates a new
crisis of people of statelessness. The paper would try to look into the readiness of the
government with regard to this and also would look into the situation of deportation with
insights from international treaty.

1. ‘Migration Crisis’ - The Definitive Approach

The term Migration Crisis or Migrant protection Crisis involve that character of the government that
recognises the right of foreigners under the territory for protection and the confusion that trails such
function of the state to decide on the claim of such migrants. It is unfortunate that such confusion
also involves ‘disastrous humanitarian’ treatment inter alia the various ignoble and malicious
treatment to such migrants dis-loaded by the state upon such forlorn group of people.

The core of this crisis lies not with the lack of proper laws both municipally and internationally to
curb such crisis but is squarely in the interplay of several variables. The juncture of law, culture and
norms of the host and fleeing state is the launch pad for the crisis. It is well known that nation
states have various obligations both nationally and internationally yet the problem rises when they
fail to establish their obligations. The Annexure problem to this remaining a crisis is that states start
making irrational assumptions about the migrants and fear about a unrealistic fallacy of a shoddy
future this creates an approach that tries to procedurally dominate the migrants through complex
paper work and documentation leading them to either choke searching for evidence or dry high
waiting for the mercy of the state.4

Thus, the notion of ‘migrant crisis’ as used in this paper is much wider than the generalized issues
of confusion and uncertainty – which are, in any case, incontrovertible. It encompasses the
consistent misunderstanding of the migrant’s cultural and personal idiosyncrasies, which often
directly impact on their attitude and response to the process that aims at transposing them from host

4 Jaswant Singh, Assam’s Crisis of Citizenship: An Examination of Political Errors,

24 Asian Survey 1056–1068 (1984), https://www.jstor.org/stable/2644219 (last
visited May 3, 2019).

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 The National Registry of Citizens: The Reforms of Crisis

state to their origin States. These idiosyncrasies are many and, as will be seen later, range from the
personal to the cultural, from the social to the political. 5 But regardless of the varied dynamics of
these factors, an acute understanding of them will go a long way in enhancing how regional systems
deal with migrants in particular which, in turn, should substantially address the various deficits in
the migration protection process.

2. The Birth of a New community with No Identity

The fate of stateless people have not received the required importance for nearly 90 percent of the
stateless people are deemed to be minorities of that region 6. Though various action plans and
initiative from global organisations have been unleashed to curb this issue the fact as of 2018
remains the same. The Special Rapporteur for minorities issues has in his report 7 to the UN have
stated the reasons for the enormous outburst of stateless people in the South Eastern Asia and those
are:

a. Changes in legislation resulting in denial or deprivation of previously held citizenship. This is

the most common cause of statelessness for millions of minorities, including the Rohingya in
Myanmar and the Kurds in Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic, and most other cases of large-
scale statelessness affecting specific minority groups;

b. State succession, secession or changing borders where individuals held citizenship in a

previously existing State. The authorities, in some cases, do not extend to some individuals, in
particular those who belong to a distinct ethnic minority, citizenship of the new country or with
a change of borders that includes new populations. This is the case for some of the larger
stateless populations, such as the Russian minority in Estonia and Latvia and (previously) the
Biharis of Bangladesh. In addition, the break-up of Czechoslovakia left thousands of Roma with
a citizenship status disputed by both successor States;

c. Requirements for documentary evidence establishing citizenship may give rise to the existence
of nomadic minorities or indigenous populations, in part because of their lifestyles or their
isolated locations (often near borders), who may operate largely outside the reach of the State
authorities and therefore have no documentation to support their citizenship claims. Among

5 Roy, Anupama (2010): Mapping Citizenship in India, Delhi: Oxford University

Press.
6 Special Rappateur on Minority Issues, OHCHR-Communication-Assam-India-
13.12.18-.pdf (2018), https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?
url=https://cjp.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/OHCHR-Communication-
Assam-India-13.12.18-.pdf (last visited May 3, 2019).
7 Report of the Special Rapporteur on minority issues; Statelessness: a minority
issue., A/75/203

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 The National Registry of Citizens: The Reforms of Crisis

these are some of the Roma in Europe, the seafaring Moken of Myanmar and Thailand and the
Tuaregs of northern Africa;

d. Arbitrary, onerous and other requirements can at times be imposed on populations from a
particular region (and thus disproportionally affect particular minorities), religion, ethnicity or
language, creating de facto obstacles for certain minorities when it comes to proving,
maintaining or obtaining citizenship. The Lhotshampa of Bhutan and some Kurds in the Syrian
Arab Republic were subjected to such types of requirements;

e. Conflicts and refugee movements can often lead to individuals fleeing their State of origin and
either losing or being unable to prove their previous citizenship and being unable to acquire
new citizenship in their country of refuge. These populations, many of whom are minorities,
may face barriers to the issuance of birth and other civil registration documents. Palestinians
and Syrians, for example, fit into this category;

f. The historical denial of citizenship is a final pattern that occurs when a particular segment of a
State’s population has always been excluded from citizenship. For example, the Bidun were not
granted citizenship in Kuwait upon the country’s independence, nor were, initially, the so-called
“estate” or “plantation” Tamils in Sri Lanka;8

g. Stripping of citizenship ostensibly involves reasons of national security or to combat terrorist

threats. Specific individuals are targeted by the State authorities through judicial or
administrative processes. In some situations, there may be a discriminatory or arbitrary
dimension to such exceptional processes, affecting in particular members of certain minorities.

h. Stripping of citizenship ostensibly involves reasons of national security or to combat terrorist

threats. Specific individuals are targeted by the State authorities through judicial or
administrative processes. In some situations, there may be a discriminatory or arbitrary
dimension to such exceptional processes, affecting in particular members of certain minorities.

3. NRC - The link between Municipal Laws and International Laws

8 Numbering some 300,000 in 2003, this Sri Lankan minority was largely stateless.
Legislation and other measures have led to one of the few cases of mass
statelessness, along with the Biharis in Bangladesh, being resolved. The legislation
passed in October 2003 granted to all stateless persons of Indian origin who had
lived in Sri Lanka since 30 October 1964, and their descendants, Sri Lankan
citizenship upon request. Another successful move to stamp out statelessness
among minorities occurred when steps, including the introduction of a new
citizenship law and mobile teams for remote regions to issue citizenship
certificates, were taken by the authorities in Nepal from 2006 to address the
statelessness of more than 2 million people among the Madhesi, Dalit and Janajati
minorities.

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 The National Registry of Citizens: The Reforms of Crisis

The Assam crisis is hyperlinked to international laws though it basically touches municipal law.
The procedural incapacity of the workers of NRC to understand the basic principles of international
law has created not only chaos but a pathetic procedure that is flawed in each every inter-state laws
and obligations the country has. This can be evident from the enactment that amended the Indian
Citizenship Act, 19719 that included Section 6A into the legislation. With regard to citizenship the
international law has no direct mandate over it and the state can execute its complete sovereignty.
The aspect that turns international observers into this issue is the discrimination based on ethnicity,
gender and religion.

Article 1, of Conventions on Certain Questions Relating to the Conflict of National Laws, 1930
which derive its source from customs and traditions state that

“It is for each State to determine under its own law who are its nationals. This law shall be
recognised by other States in so far as it is consistent with international conventions, international
custom, and the principles of law generally recognised with regard to nationality. ”10

The issue with respect to the mandates or prerequisites is not the subject matter of international law
but in the opinion great scholars the issue that is to be looked into is that they comply with the
minimum standards set out by the various conventions the state is party to which also include
human rights obligations set out by the same.

In the Inter- American Court of Human Rights the court held that;

“the manners in which States regulate matters bearing on nationality

cannot today be deemed within their sole jurisdiction; those powers of
the State are also circumscribed by their obligations to ensure the full
protection of human rights”. 11

From the above mentions international laws it would be concluded that the Staes power to issue
nationality or citizens is not unlimited but has what would be called reasonable restrictions. This
reasonable restriction is subjected human rights violations and also different treatment to minorities.
Statelessness deals with four aspects of human rights that are of utmost importance as it has various
9 Section 6A, Citizenship Act, 1955, (1955),
http://indiacode.nic.in/handle/123456789/1522 (last visited May 3, 2019).
10 CONVENTION ON CERTAIN QUESTIONS RELATING TO THE CONFLICT
OF
NATIONALITY LAWS THE HAGUE - 12 APRIL 1930.,
11 Inter-American Court of Human Rights, advisory opinion OC-4/84 of 19 January
1984,
para. 32.

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legal outreach in the tenure of international law. There are four main intersecting human rights
standards that are clearly of utmost importance in relation to statelessness:

(a) Right to nationality;

(b) Obligation to prevent statelessness;

(c) Prohibition of discrimination;

(d) Arbitrary denial or deprivation of citizenship.

These four standards, which are likely to have a significant impact on the legislation, policies or
practices that result in millions of persons belonging to minorities being stateless. In more recent
years, especially in relation to individuals from another ethnic, religious or linguistic background
who are denied or deprived of citizenship, it is the right to equality without discrimination that has
come increasingly to the fore as one of the strongest human rights provisions that may successfully
be invoked.12 For example, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights found 13 that
nationality had been denied to particular ethnic groups on the basis of their actual or perceived
ethnic origin, their religion and/or their patronym and that the citizenship legislation and practice in
place had led to discriminatory policies against persons belonging to ethnic minorities, with the
result being statelessness for hundreds of thousands of individuals in Côte d’Ivoire.

As listed earlier herein, similar legislation and practices appear to be at the root of the denial or
deprivation of citizenship of Palestinian, Rohingya, Assam Russian, Roma, Bidun, Haitian,
Lhotshampa and other minorities, of whom there are millions.14

The connection of international law can not be best said than the by the words of the United Nations
special rapporteur through his letter to the external affairs ministry stating that there are alleged
violation of certain international laws in the region of Assam against the migrant minority residing
there. He quote;
12 Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Case of Expelled Dominicans and
Haitians v.
Dominican Republic, judgment of 28 August 2014, and African Commission on Human
and Peoples’ Rights, Open Society Justice Initiative v. Côte d’Ivoire, decision 318/06 of
28 February 2015.
13 African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Open Society Justice
Initiative v.
Côte d’Ivoire.
14 Sobhan, Rehman (2018): “Borders without Boundaries: Reimagining Asia,” Centre
for Policy Dialogue, Bangladesh, January, http://neconferencetu.in/pdf/18-12-
17/Boundaries-withoutborders-7-JANUARY-2018.pdf

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“we would like to express serious concern that members of the Bengali Muslim minority in Assam
have experienced discrimination in access to and enjoyment of citizenship status on the basis of
their ethnic and religious minority status. We are particularily concerned that this discrimination is
predicted to escalate as a result of the NRC. The way this update has been conducted potentially
affects a great number of Muslims and persons of Bengali descent who may be wrongfully excluded
from the updated NRC”

Though the words of the letter clearly state them as allegations against the state based on the reports
of observers and international organisations working in the area, it stands testament to various
concerns raised in this paper. The acts of the sovereign of India have crossed various lines in a huge
number of conventions and inter-state laws. The NRC was a semi-boiled administrative cook up
that needs to be sorted as it was quickly done to establish dominance over the political scenario of
the region.15 This has created ruffles and vibrations into various laws of the state and above which
include the following.

(i) Under Article 1(1) of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination (ICERD) which defines defines racial discrimination as “any distinction,
exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin
which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or
exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political,
economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life” 16. The Committee on the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination has frequently reiterated that discrimination based on religious
grounds is covered by ICERD in cases where it intersects with other forms of discrimination
prohibited under article 1(1).

(ii) Article 2 (1) of ICERD17 obliges States Parties to prohibit and eliminate any act or practice of
racial discrimination against persons and/or groups. To this end, States must ensure that public
authorities and institutions on the national and local level act in compliance with this obligation.

15 Kimura, Makiko (2008): “Conflict and Displacement: A Case Study of Election

Violence in 1983” Blisters on their Feet: Tales of Internally Displaced Persons in
India’s Northeast, Samir Kumar Das (ed), New Delhi: Sage Publication, pp 150–
63.
16 Article 1(1) of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial
Discrimination
17 Article 2(1) of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination

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 The National Registry of Citizens: The Reforms of Crisis

(iii) Under article 6, States Parties must not only ensure the effective protection against racial
discrimination of everyone within their jurisdiction, but also provide access to remedies and
adequate reparation to victims of racial discrimination. 18

(iv) The right to nationality is enshrined in various international legal instruments ratified by India.
The right to nationality entails the right of each individual to acquire, change and retain a
nationality. Article 5 (d) (iii) of ICERD is particularly relevant as it explicitly obliges States
parties to guarantee the right of everyone to equality before the law, including in the enjoyment
of the right to nationality, without discrimination on any prohibited grounds. In this connection,
the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has reiterated that the deprivation of
citizenship on the basis of race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin violates States
parties’ obligations to ensure non-discriminatory enjoyment of the right to nationality.

(v) According to Article 5(c) of ICERD requires States to ensure non-discrimination and equality
before the law in the enjoyment of political rights. This includes the right to participate in
elections, to take part in Government and public affairs, and to have equal access to public
services but this is infringed if those excluded from the NRC are striped of the franchise and
right to represent enshrined under the Indian constitution.

(vi) Under UN General Assembly’s Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and
of Discrimination based on Religion and Belief of 1981, its articles 2(1), 3 and 4(1), which
notably states "All States shall take effective measures to prevent and eliminate discrimination
on the grounds of religion or belief in the recognition, exercise and enjoyment of human rights
and fundamental freedoms in all fields of civil, economic, political, social and cultural life.”
The right of people to be seen equal before the law derives its authority from this declaration
and this if as held during the proceedings of the Foreigner’s Tribunal is mutilated.

(vii) The international standards regarding the protection of the rights of persons belonging to
minorities, in particular to 19, ratified by India on 10 April 1979, and the United Nations 1992
Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic
Minorities (Declaration on Minorities), which refers to the obligation of States to protect the
existence and the identity of minorities within their territories and to adopt measures to that end
(article 1), as well as to adopt the required measures to ensure that persons belonging to
minorities can exercise their human rights without discrimination (article 4). Article 220 further

18 Article 6 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of

Racial Discrimination
19 Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
20 Article 2 of United Nations 1992 Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging

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 The National Registry of Citizens: The Reforms of Crisis

establishes that persons belonging to minorities have the right to enjoy their own culture, to
profess and practice their own religion, and to use their own language, in private and in public,
freely, without any interference or any form of discrimination and provides for the effective
participation of minorities in cultural, religious, social, economic and public life, as well as in
decision-making processes on matters affecting them. Article 4.1 establishes that “States will
take measures where required, to ensure that persons belonging to minorities may exercise fully
and effectively all their human rights and fundamental freedoms without any discrimination and
in full equality before the law”. This is an important law noteworthy to be. Revised while
dealing with discrimination to minorities.

4. The Judicial Parody of the Supreme Court and NRC

The issue caught great momentum only after the supreme court stressed the importance of NRC in
the case of  Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha v Union of India. Ever since them the activities regarding
NRC got rapid progress. though this was at least seen to be progressive to lacked (what was debated
for so long) the international principles ratified by India. The court in my concerned opinion in the
judgement had a more sentimental and sympathetic approach rather than a rationale approach. This
judicially monitored documentation of citizenship though hailed to be fair and square it lacks what
is know to be procedural flaws and errors.

Since all the judicial works are now shifted to Delhi there arises a problem of judicial review as
these members could not afford to even bare with the fee of documentation whereas traveling to
Delhi to appeal for the claim is yet another peak that could never be reached. Since all these
procedures are done under the advise and supervision of the judiciary they by default claim to be
judicially sanctioned executive actions. This again makes the system lose an important aspect of
judicial review at every stage of the documentation and entry of citizens into the register.

The approach of the court or what the court is asked to believe is considering the ‘migrant crisis’ as
an ‘external aggresion’ and has bantered the government for not protecting the citizens in Assam
from external aggression as per the mandates of the constitution. This approach in my view is erred
by lack of facts as this is not ‘external aggression’ in any ways as it mere flocks of migrants who
have been settled in this region for nearly 3 generations and such ‘external aggression’ only
constitute to 20 percent of the workforce of Assam are also major contributors to the GDP of

to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (Declaration on

Minorities)

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 The National Registry of Citizens: The Reforms of Crisis

Assam. Calling them to ‘external aggressors’ even decades after they have made a permanent
settlement in India is baseless and devoid of facts.21

Though the bench lacks expertise in international laws have they neither asked for an expert opinion
nor appointed an amicus curae as the situation demands. This basically disables the bench to have a
comprehensive approach towards the issue which touched on issues of international laws.

5. Regional and Collective Approach Towards a Better Legal Structure

Whilst countries within the Southeast Asian region have considerable experience with providing
shelter to refugees, there is a persistent reluctance in some States to recognize their status. 22 As Vitit
Muntarbhorn has explained in relation to Thailand, refugees are seen as a political embarrassment,
and as a threat to State sovereignty and national security. 23This perception portrays refugees as a
political problem and leads to the characterization of them as a threat to ‘border’ security within
ASEAN.24

It is also the characteristic response of a region that lacks coherent migration policies. As one
commentator on the region, Ronald Skeldon, has said, there is a fear of the ‘outsider’ and the desire
to control borders in the region: There is the perpetual fear of the outsider and the fear that
foreigners will create trouble within the borders of the state and, if present in sufficient numbers,
lead to changing identities of the nation itself.25

As Caballero-Anthony has explained, within the region migration is ‘elevated by the state above the
course of normal politics’ and is viewed through a ‘security lens’. 26 For example, migrant workers

21 On the NRC, Even the Supreme Court is Helpless, The Wire,

https://thewire.in/law/nrc-supreme-court-crisis (last visited May 3, 2019).
22 GS Goodwin-Gill, ‘The Politics of Refugee Protection’ (2008) 27(1) Refugee
Survey Quarterly 8.
23 R Skeldon, ‘Trafficking: A Perspective from Asia’ (2000–01) 38(3) International
Migration 7, 21.
24 M Caballero-Anthony, ‘Reflections on managing migration in South East Asia:
mitigating the unintended consequences of securitisation’ in MG Curley and W
Siu-lun, Security and Migration in Asia: The Dynamics of Securitisation
(Routledge, 2008) 165.
25 Bangkok Declaration on Irregular Migration, International Symposium on
Migration, Bangkok, Thailand, 21–23 April 1999, available at
http://www.iom.int/jahia/
webdav/site/myjahiasite/shared/shared/mainsite/policy_and_research/rcp/APC/BA
NG KOK_DECLARATION.pdf (accessed 25 Apr 2019) (‘1999 Bangkok
Declaration’).
26 Asia Pacific Consultations on Refugees, Displaced Persons and Migrants (1 March
2019), available at http://www.apcprocess.net/.

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 The National Registry of Citizens: The Reforms of Crisis

are seen as a ‘menace to society’ to ‘societal identity and security’.27 Malaysia’s current
immigration laws and policies associate breach of its laws with criminality 28 and put the onus on
immigrants to ensure that their status is ‘regular’. In Malaysia refugees who have been recognized
as such by the UNHCR are at risk of being sanctioned under the legislation. 29 Thus within the
region, refugees have long been associated with threats to national sovereignty and identity, and
with border or ‘traditional’ security rather than as victims of human rights abuse (although as
discussed below, the 1993 Bangkok Declaration30 recognized their rights). Predominantly, they are
seen as ‘irregular migrants’.

By the end of the 1990s, despite the persistent presence of refugees, another problem of ‘irregular
migration’ became an important and visible issue in the Southeast Asian region. This arose from the
related issues of human trafficking and irregular labour migrants. Although at this time there were
large numbers of refugees in camps on the Thai-Myanmar border, who were fleeing from human
rights abuses in Myanmar, and there was increasing displacement caused by development and
conflict in the region which particularly affected ethnic groups,31

the most visible irregular migration issue was that of labour migrants. However, little attention was
paid at this time to either category of irregular migrant, namely refugee or labour migrant. Rather
the attention was focused upon the problem of human trafficking, which was linked to a security
paradigm.32

This security discourse was apparent in the 1999 Bangkok Declaration on Irregular Migration33
which arose from a 1996 Regional Seminar on Irregular Migration and Migrant Trafficking in East
and South Asia (the ‘Manila Process’).34 The 1999 Bangkok Declaration refers to this and to
27 Jaswant Singh, Assam’s Crisis of Citizenship: An Examination of Political Errors,
24 Asian Survey 1056–1068 (1984), https://www.jstor.org/stable/2644219 (last
visited May 3, 2019).
28 Special Rappateur on Minority Issues, OHCHR-Communication-Assam-India-
13.12.18-.pdf (2018), https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?
url=https://cjp.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/OHCHR-Communication-
Assam-India-13.12.18-.pdf (last visited May 3, 2019).
29 The Crisis of Citizenship in Assam, The India Forum (2019),
https://www.theindiaforum.in/article/crisis-citizenship-assam (last visited May 3,
2019).
30 M Caballero-Anthony, ‘Bridging Development Gaps in Southeast Asia: Towards
an ASEAN Community’ (2006) 11 UNISCI Discussion Papers 37–48.
31 Baruah, Sanjib (2009): “The Partition’s long shadow: the ambiguities of
citizenship in Assam, India,” Citizenship Studies,  Vol 13, No 6, pp 593–606.
32 A Crisis in Assam: Citizen Interrupted, CJP (2018), https://cjp.org.in/a-crisis-in-
assam-citizen-interrupted/ (last visited Apr 5, 2019).
33 An Analysis of the NRC controversy in Assam: Migration and Citizenship in India,
OHRH (2018), http://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/an-analysis-of-the-nrc-controversy-in-
assam-migration-and-citizenship-in-india/ (last visited May 3, 2019).
34 Jaswant Singh, Assam’s Crisis of Citizenship: An Examination of Political Errors,
24 Asian Survey 1056–1068 (1984), https://www.jstor.org/stable/2644219 (last

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 The National Registry of Citizens: The Reforms of Crisis

another process,35 namely the Inter-governmental Asia-Pacific Consultations on Refugees,

Displaced Persons and Migrants (APC).36

It is now necessary to explain the development of the concept of an ASEAN Community and the
ASEAN concept of security, to determine whether refugees fit into the picture. We will see that
there is an emerging convergence between ‘human security’ concerns and development, which
encompasses some human rights. However, within this framework the rights of refugees are still
conceived in ambiguous terms.37

6. Conclusion:

Ever since the draft of NRC was released in 2015 the tensions on this regions are high, this though
might look indifferent to other refugee crisis's faced by India is indeed more different. The basis on
which this amendment is made is in grave violation of the anti-discriminatory policy of our country
and various conventions and treaties that we are part of. Though Foreigners Tribunal setup was
unable to realise the task given to them, due to high pressure from the work load they are bound to
make mistakes and such mistakes might change the course of a person from being a citizen of India
to a stateless and homeless nomad. When the system is bound to make mistakes we have to have a
appeal mechanism to recheck but instead there is no such safeguards and has left them high and dry.

The discrimination based on religion to grant citizenship is a policy decision of the state based on
its interpretation of the situations and backgrounds. This policy decision of the government has no
legal backing and it is causing grave violence of international laws and treaties. Though the
government has come up the plan to identify the alleged ‘illegal migrants’ it has no concrete plan to
handle the stateless people that arise out of it. The failure of the state to do so has increased doubt
among the international community on the capacity of India to handle such a task. Since most of the
4 million people have been in the electoral rolls for more than two decades there arises another
serious allegation of arbitrary denial of citizenship this is against the Un Charter on the Declaration

visited May 3, 2019).

35 Alexseev, Mikhail A (2006): Immigration Phobia and the Security Dilemma:
Russia, Europe and the United States, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
36 Special Rappateur on Minority Issues, OHCHR-Communication-Assam-India-
13.12.18-.pdf (2018), https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?
url=https://cjp.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/OHCHR-Communication-
Assam-India-13.12.18-.pdf (last visited May 3, 2019).
37 Saba Sharma, “India’s plan to tweak its citizenship law will fundamentally alter
the country”, India Quartz, 9 July 2018. Available at https://qz.com/1321289/why-
tweaking-indias-citizenship-law-is-a-bad-idea/.

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 The National Registry of Citizens: The Reforms of Crisis

of Human Rights and such move by a democratic state like India has raised eyes brows in the
international observers.

In my concessionary remarks I would like to suggest certain changes in municipal law and
international laws that would re-annexe the lost path.

• The recommended amendment to the Citizenship Act must be struck down stating it to be
violative of the honoured principles of the constitution and International Human Rights law and
the policy of the government should remove such intentions of further pursuing it.

• The state should stop discriminatory rules against the minorities of that region and change their
policy from being exclusionary to inclusionary. This would include adding wife and children of
recognised citizens to be also updated into the list.

• There needs to be further clarification of what constitutes discriminatory denial or deprivation of

citizenship. The UNHCR should call upon the international community, Member States,
international organizations and other interested parties to assist in the development of further
practical guidelines, including their production in the official languages of the United Nations and
their dissemination through social and other media so as to ensure as wide access as possible.

• The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and other international,
regional and national interested parties should consider, as part of the Global Action Plan to End
Statelessness, organizing a dedicated international forum in on how to implement actions, on
resolving existing major situations of statelessness, specifically in relation to the major situations
of statelessness, which all involve minorities around the world

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 The National Registry of Citizens: The Reforms of Crisis

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