A brief report of the incident that took place in Sanischare Camp in Nepal from 22 February 2007

BRDSCC

The question that we shall like the readers to ask and reflect after they have read this piece: Who are responsible for this spread of hatred? Can the situation persist like this? Will the Committee Report’s findings help in quelling the hatred brewing amongst the locals for the refugees? There is perhaps a need for building trust between the two communities. Exactly how shall that be done is again open to debate.

It has been reported that there was a hot discussion going on between two groups of the forest user committee near the northern side of the camp. One local woman came there with a basket load of firewood, which was immediately seized by the committee members and taken away amidst severe protest and use of abusive language by the woman. That time Thakur Sing Thapa (Magar) a Bhutanese refugee came to witness the scene who was caught hold by the committee and assaulted. He was taken towards the forest and on the mound a fire was lit and he was repeatedly thrust and brought out of the fire. This was seen by a group of refugee youths and they demanded that he be released. But they came up against them and a quarrel ensued which broke to a fighting. More people came in bicycles with sharp weapons and fighting continued. Meanwhile a police force was summoned and they started throwing tear gas at the refugees and most of them were only silently looking at the incident. Then while most of the people were nauseated, some local youths of Pathri penetrated into the crowd right inside the camp, cut the thigh of Gopal Khadka and then sliced his throat with a sharp weapon. He died on the spot. The locals used spear and sharp weapons and wounded many of the camp people who were unarmed and many mostly onlookers. The names of some of the wounded are as follows:
1. Name: Guna Raj Karki. 20-M
Add: Beldangi-2, D3/24
Presently studying at NHA School
Case: Deep cut with open injury (Lt) elbow joint.
2. Name: San Man Bhattarai. 17-M
Add: Sanischare camp, H4/08
Case: Deep cut injury (Rt.forearm)
3. Name: Aita Singh Magar. 15-M
Add: Sanischare camp, G6/45
Case: Deep cut injury and rib injury backside (Lt)
4. Name: Jit Bdr. Chauhan. 16-M
Add: Sanischare camp, G4/43
Case: Deep stab wound with rib injury back side (Rt) side
5. Name: Harka Bdr. Magar. 35-M
Add: Sanischare camp, G1/34
Case: Multiple Head injury with severe bleeding
6. Name: Thakur Singh Magar. 26-M
Add: Sanischare camp, J3/15
Case: Multiple Head injury with Haematoma
The above mentioned cases are referred immediately to AMDA Hospital, Damak on date 22/2/07
Incident of the second day i.e. on 23rd of February 2007 compiled below.
On 23rd morning, a group of locals from Jirikhimti side entered the camp with sharp weapons and torches to kindle the huts of the refugees in Sector J and K from road side and the refugee youths defended and did not allow them to enter the camp. Pelting of stones continued throughout the day. The police reached the scene towards the late afternoon and there was a confrontation with the locals of the Pathari bazaar. One youth from that side caught hold of a gun of a constable and fired at the refugees by which two old refugees were wounded. After that, the locals of Pathari set fire to the two huts of sector K2. Hut no 19 and 21 which were completely burnt and hut nos 20, 34 and 04 were partially burnt and damaged. Since then curfew was imposed in the camp area.
A team of five people including camp secretary went to Belbari at 5.30 p.m. for a discussion and solution of the problem. The discussion had to be fixed for the next day at 11.00 a.m. as the Sanischare local representatives were not present. The next day the meeting started at 3.00 p.m. and the CDO, deputy CDO, SP of Morang, and UNHCR Security Officer were present. The presence of National political party leaders and the camp secretaries of other six camps were denied by t he local agitators. The following points were put forward by the members present:
Shifting of the camp to another place.
Verification of the loss and compensation.
Verification of the death, compensation and action on the culprit.
Treatment of the injured and compensation for the disable.
The CDO proposed to make a committee comprising of nine representatives to start the work of fact-finding and the committee should submit the report within 15 days. He also said that the Govt. would provide necessary treatment of the wounded in Koshi Hospital and Dharan BPKHS. For the first point he said that he would forward the proposal to the Government. The representatives for the investigating committee are as follows:
Two representatives from the camp.
Two representatives from Pathari bazaar.
Two representatives from Sanischare Forest user group.
One representative from the Govt.
One representative from the Human Rights.
One representative from the UNHCR.
The names of the members of the committee were to be given to the CDO the next day but the committee could not be formed as fresh agitation against the local administration started next day morning from Pathari Bazaar. Since then the situation with regards to camp operation is getting more difficult.
The people who were shot during the police intervention are:
1. Name: Dilli ram Dungana 68-M
Add: Sanischare Camp B2/25
Case: injury at right buttock Pearsed bullet.
He is transferred to Ghopa Hospital at Dharan.
2. Name: Karna Bahadur Poudyel 48-M
Add: Sanischare camp, K-1 # 50
Case: Pierced bullet injury (Lt.) arm
(These above two cases were directly referred to Koshi Zonal Hospital at Biratnagar on February 23, '07 with the help of the security force).
3. Name: Mr. Jeeten Budathoki 20-M
Add: Sanischare Camp: H-1 # 15
Case: Conjunctival Haemorrhage (lt. Eye) with cellulites.
This was referred to AMDA hospital in Damak.
4. Name: Gopal Khadka 23/M
Add: Sanischare camp, F1/01
Case: Deep cut injury Nape/ Rt. thigh with severe internal bleeding (brought dead at 9.40 p.m.)
First aid management were provided to the following people in the camp:
1) Name: Lachu man Subedi 18/M
Add: Sanischare camp, J3/35
Case: Skull injury.
2) Name: Nikhita Kafley 3/F
Add: Sanischare camp, D2/46
Case: tear gas poisoning
3) Name: Mousam Rai. 5 ½/ M
Add: Sanischare camp, D2/44
Case: tear gas poisoning
4) Name: Sunil Rai 3/M
Add: Sanischare camp, D1/35
Case: tear gas poisoning
The ambulance movement to the camp was there in the early hours of 23rd Feb. But the movement to the camps was not allowed by the locals in the afternoon and on subsequent days. A delivery case was managed to be brought to the hospital only after three days. The dead body of Gopal Khadka who was killed on 22nd evening could not be removed from the morgue in Mangalbare till 25th evening as the near and dear ones could not be brought out of the camp because the locals had a clash with the police. Several requests to UNHCR and Govt. of Nepal and particularly police authority to provide conveyance for the family of the deceased was futile. The UNHCR and the agency concerned were ready to support and were constantly monitoring the situation. The leaders took a risk to send an ambulance via the village taking rough road to the camp and collected his relatives at about 5.30 p.m. on 25th of Feb. the cremation was carried out in Mai river and it took till 11.30 p.m. The relatives were escorted to the camp late in the night with the help of two ambulances taking the same route from the remote village. The police at Urlabari and Damak were informed about this but not asked to escort owing to the risk as the locals had a clash with them at Pathari.
For four days the ambulance could not go and 29 patients discharged in Biratnagar are stranded in Biratnagar without needful management. When these patients had conversation with the AMDA staff they were told that AMDA would not be able to send a vehicle but if the camp secretaries take the risk to take them they could do that. The patients requested the camp secretaries by telephone to help them to come to the camp. But the camp secretaries being refugees can only request the agencies concerned and the Govt. to provide necessary assistance which could not materialize. It is learned that the UNHCR is constantly requesting the govt. of Nepal to calm down the situation, so that the operation exercise is not hampered in camps.
There has been information from the camp since there is no vehicle movement to the camp there is no diesel to supply drinking water to the camp population. Therefore, UNHCR taking all support of the Government should take immediate action to solve this problem.
Please note that this information is received through the Camp Secretary and the Deputy Secretary of the Camp Management Committee, Sanischare camp. The report is checked and confirmed with BRDSCC members actively involved in the monitoring of the situation. The incident is somehow related to the inadequate assistances for the refugees like briquette in particular.
Finally the BRDSCC and the camp secretaries thank all the concerned for the initiative taken so far towards resolving the issue to this extent and further request to take an urgent action to provide security and protection to the refugees in present situation.

Census, Citizenship and Statelessness in Bhutan

Human Rights Organization of Bhutan (HUROB)

After the Nation wide census enumeration, which supposed to be the first of its kind in Bhutan funded by International agencies in May 2005 to determine the exact population, which hitherto remained guarded figure of the country, now another census in the southern districts is going on. The census this time is for issuing new citizenship card with more security measures making difficult for any duplication and invalidating the oldone. However, there are other ostensible motives behind the new citizenshipcard especially for the southern Bhutanese. There are reports that the new citizenship cards are not issued to the people of Category F5-F7 (F5-Bhutanese woman with non-Bhutanese husband, F6- Adoption and F 7-Non-Bhutanese). Moreover, the centre of census work is located at convenience of the department officials at the district head quarters and not in a place convenient to the public. Therefore, besides depriving ofcitizenship cards, people are being harassed, as many families in hordes have to walk two to three days with all necessary provisions to the headquarters. The whole family members have to stay and wait for turns several days and at the end some get it and others do not. There is strict scrutiny and if it is found that someone's relatives are livingin the refugee camps in Nepal or any adverse record of some family members orrelatives taking part in peaceful demonstration in 1990, they are not issued thecard. In addition, any mistakes in name and spellings that even would have been the mistakes of the government is denied correction and kept pending thus depriving citizenship card. Of course, unlike in the past census in 1989, no one is asked to leave the country immediately but definitely creating many stateless people and detection of them while on physical verification later will be evicted. According to our estimation suchpeople will constitue about 50000 that concurs with figure of non-Bhutanesedeclared by the government after the nation wide census and perhaps also is a pre-empted figure of southern Bhutanese to be evicted as the Bhutan government has plan just to keep about 28% of the total population. Other implication of the citizenship cards is that many of the southern Bhutanese will not get a chance to exercise their franchise in the coming first ever-democratic election in 2008. Not only that they will be further deprived of government opportunities as they already are, as they cannot produce No Objection Certificate (NOC), which is mandatory, and without citizenship card and adverse record they will not get it. The citizenship card is required even for admission of children in school. After the completion of census exercise and issuing of the cards, it is most thatevery one has to show the card while leaving the country and coming in addition to produce in the police and immigration check post within the country. This rule no doubt is to check the infiltration of outsiders but at the same time making freedom of movement difficult to Bhutanese who have no citizenship card. One should think what happens to their future generations. Bhutan is always on the prowl of reducing the southern hutanese though living in Bhutan for generations and contributing equally with other northern Bhutanese in nation building besides taking the responsibility of protecting the southern border as entrusted by the national assembly of 1958. The population of Bhutanwhile joining the UN in 1971 was projected as 1.4 million and that figure remained officially till the southern Bhutanese problem started in 1990. In early 1990's the figure suddenly came down to 600000. Now after the 2005 nation wide census the population is about 553000. Where the rest of the people in 35 years of time had vanished? Still there is an effort to reduce the figures. UNHCR and other agencies should be ready to receive these refugees in the future.

Reintegration of IDPs, Transitional Justice and Gender Issues in the Post-Conflict Situation

Shiva Dhungana

A talk programme was hosted by Friends for Peace (FFP), a research and resource centre working towards facilitating research and dialogue in the filed of conflict transformation and peace building in Nepal, on 23 January 2007 in Kathmandu. The talk programme was entitled Reintegration of IDPs, Transitional Justice and Gender Issues in the Post-Conflict Situation. The main speakers of the programme were Prof Ranabir Samaddar, Director of Calcutta Research Group (CRG), Dr Paula Banarjee and Dr Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury, members of Calcutta Research Group. The programme was chaired by Mr Laxman Prasad Aryal, FFP Chairperson and Coordinator of Interim Constitution Drafting Committee and Former Justice of Supreme Court and moderated by Mr D B Gurung, Executive Director of FFP. The programme was attended by around 40 people representing various sections of civil society, academics, NGO and INGO representatives, human rights activists and researchers.
Prof Samaddar introduced the Calcutta Research Group and its activities. He spoke on the issue of reintegration of IDPs with special reference to the recently concluded research project “Voices of IDPs in South Asia”. He mentioned that the IDPs form the invisible populations of South Asia as they are not visible in the eyes of policy makers. He also highlighted the issues and challenges of IDP reintegration in a society where the society itself is not integrated. He also emphasized that the rights of IDPs in the transitional phase should be ensured otherwise the conflict can resurface again as happened in Sri Lanka. He suggested that a durable peace could be attained through intensive discussion among many layers of society not just by top leaders.
Similarly, Dr Basu Ray Chaudhury spoke on the various aspects of transitional justice and its relevance in a conflict-ridden society like Nepal. He also highlighted the importance of reintegration and reconciliation in post conflict situation, where bitterness between the victims and their perpetrators in the conflict days could increase in the transition period. He suggested that the return of peace with justice to the people is a necessity for durable peace. He also said that the narrowing of differences through dialogue could make transitional justice effective
Dr Paula Banerjee spoke of the plight of women, children and other marginalized population of the society. She said that women were specially targeted by the warring parties and they were always at the front to face the consequences of the conflict. She claimed that most of the burdens were heaped on women's shoulders during the conflict. She emphasized that women's voices should be heard while transforming conflict into durable peace in most conflict situations.
FFP chairperson Mr Laxman P Aryal said that the reintegration of IDPs is important in Nepal at this juncture of political development and the proposed Truth Commission will address these problems soon.
The presentations were followed by an intensive discussion focusing on IDPs, Bhutanese refugees and various issues related to transitional justice and gender issues with special reference to the conflict in Nepal.

Trafficking of girls in Nepal

Trafficking
Nepal and Bangladesh are the main source countries in south Asia for trafficked children. (Masako Iijima, "S. Asia urged to unite against child prostitution," Reuters, 19 June 1998)
The trafficking of girls from Nepal into India for the purpose of prostitution is probably the busiest 'slave traffic' of its kind anywhere in the world. (Tim McGirk, "Nepal's Lost Daughters, 'India's soiled goods," Nepal/India: News, 27 January 1997)
In Nepal, trafficking has become a highly profitable business, with high profile political connections. Nepali, Bangaldeshi and Pakistani women are trafficked to India, and through India they are trafficked to Eastern Europe and Saudi Arabia. (Interview with Meena Oudel, Programme Coordinator of Oxfam Nepal, 18 March 1998)
More than 9,000 girls are trafficked each year from Nepal and Bangladesh into bondage in India and Pakistan, often with the acquiescence or cooperation of state officials. (http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news/press/releases/22_april_1998-0.shtml, 22 April 1998)
Every year around 10,000 Nepalese girls, most between the age of nine and 16, are sold to brothels in India. (Tim McGirk, "Nepal's Lost Daughters, India's soiled goods," Nepal/India:News, 27 January 1997)
7,000 Nepalese women and girls are trafficked for prostitution to the Asia Pacific area. (Statement of the CATW - Asia Pacific and Philippine Women's Groups, 4th International Congress on AIDS in the Asia Pacific, 29 October 1997)
5,000 Nepalese women are trafficked into India yearly. There are now 100,000 Nepalese women in India in prostitution. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)
More than 200,000 Nepalese girls are involved in the Indian sex trade. (Tim McGirk "Nepal's Lost Daughters, 'India's soiled goods," Nepal/India News, 27 January 1997)
Nepalese women who are trafficked and prostituted in debt bondage in India's sex industry are forced to work longer hours and have more clients than local women. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)
Hong Kong is the second biggest market for trafficked Nepalese women. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)
Methods and Techniques of Traffickers
In Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka child marriage is accepted, and considered the best method to procure girls for prostitution. (Indrani Sinha, SANLAAP India, "Paper on Globalization & Human Rights")
Parents sell their daughters and husbands get rid of their young unwanted wives for US$200 to $600. Depending on her beauty, a girl can fetch anywhere from less than a water buffalo, to slightly more than a video recorder. Organizers in rural areas, brokers and even family members sell girls. Husbands sometimes sell their wives to brothels. (Tim McGirk, "Nepal's Lost Daughters, 'India's soiled goods,"Nepal/India News, 27 January 1997)
In Nepal, there is a system, called "deukis," where by rich childless families buy girls from poor rural families and offer them to the temples as though they were their own. These girls are forced into prostitution. In 1992, 17,000 girls were given as deukis. (Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN Special Report on Violence Against Women, Gustavo Capdevila, IPS, 2 April 1997)
Every year between 5,000 and 7,000 Nepalese girls are trafficked into the red light districts in Indian cities. Many of the girls are barely 9 or 10 years old. 200,000 to over 250,000 Nepalese women and girls are already in Indian brothels. The girls are sold by poor parents, tricked into fraudulent marriages, or promised employment in towns only to find themselves in Hindustan's brothels. They're locked up for days, starved, beaten, and burned with cigarettes until they learn how to service up to 25 clients a day. Some girls go through 'training' before being initiated into prostitution, which can include constant exposure to pornographic films, tutorials in how to 'please' customers, repeated rapes. (Soma Wadhwa, "For sale childhood," Outlook, 1998)
Trafficking in women and girls is easy along the 1,740 mile-long open border between India and Nepal. Trafficking in Nepalese women and girls is less risky than smuggling narcotics and electronic equipment into India. Traffickers ferry large groups of girls at a time without the hassle of paperwork or threats of police checks. The procurer-pimp-police network makes the process even smoother. Bought for as little as Rs (Nepalese) 1,000, girls have been known to fetch up to Rs 30,000 in later transactions. Police are paid by brothel owners to ignore the situation. Girls may not leave the brothels until they have repaid their debt, at which time they are sick, with HIV and/or tuberculosis, and often have children of their own. (Soma Wadhwa, "For sale childhood," Outlook, 1998)
The areas used by traffickers to procure women and girls are the isolated districts of Sindhupalchow, Makwanpur, Dhading and Khavre, Nepal where the population is largely illiterate. (Soma Wadhwa, "For sale childhood," Outlook, 1998)
Health and Well-Being
Nepalese girls, trafficked and sold into prostitution in India, are abandoned when they become infected with HIV. (Robert Hardman, "Prince brings hope to Nepal’s rescued sex slaves," London Telegraph, 9 February 1998)
Of the 218 Nepalese girls rescued in February 1996 from a Bombay police raid, 60-70% of them were HIV positive. (Tim McGirk "Nepal's Lost Daughters, 'India's soiled goods,"Nepal/India News, 27 January 1997)
NGO Action
The exploitation of Nepalese women and girls may never end. "[F]or some there is too much easy money in it, for others there's nothing to be gained by lobbying for its abolition. But surely, for now, it can be monitored. Its magnitude can be lessened," says Durga Ghimire, chairperson of a 98-NGO-strong pressure group National Network Groups Against Trafficking. She feels that the alarmingly low rates of female literacy, coupled with the traditionally low status of the girl-child in Nepal have to be addressed to tackle the problem. Gauri Pradhan of Child Workers in Nepal Concerned Centre (CWIN) emphasizes the need for collaboration by the two governments on this issue. (Soma Wadhwa, "For sale childhood," Outlook, 1998)
There are several shelters run by various Katmandu-based NGOs working against trafficking and towards rehabilitation of girls who manage to escape or are rescued from Indian brothels. This is not easy work. Relatives of the rescued girls generally don't want them back and Nepal's government is worried about the spread of HIV, as many of the trafficked girls have contracted HIV while enslaved in India. (Soma Wadhwa, "For sale childhood," Outlook, 1998)
"The Selling of Innocents" is an Emmy-award winning documentary that tells the stories of trafficked Nepalese children and the filmmaker, Ruchira Gupta, says elimination of sexual exploitation is perhaps the only way to end this human rights violation. "It's a long haul, we've to change and challenge society. The trafficking and the trade are getting institutionalised, it's a modern form of sexual slavery," she warns. (Soma Wadhwa, "For sale childhood," Outlook, 1998)
Official Response and Action
139 prostituted Nepalese girls were rescued through a police raid in Kamatipura, India and were then repatriated to Katmandu. (Soma Wadhwa, "For sale childhood," Outlook, 1998)

South Asian Experiences of the Right to Return

Paula Banerjee and Ranabir Samaddar

Refugees enjoy very few rights but one of the most intrinsic rights for a refugee is the right to return. Although much debated internationally the right to return is most clearly enshrined in the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) under its provisions on the right to freedom of movement (Article 12.4) which says that No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country. But this right has often proved to be a chimera. This paper will explore South Asian experiences of displaced peoples right to return. On the basis of three case studies the paper will portray that from its inception South Asian states have denied displaced people the right to return.In fact it has acquired nation form on the basis of such denials.
Perhaps the first group of people whose right to return was denied by a South Asian state were the Indian emigrants who travelled abroad in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to work as plantation labourers. All through the nationalist period the fate of these labourers in their country of domicile was a rallying point for Indian leaders to portray the dark side of foreign rule. There was constant reiteration that they state was responsible for all the people who were born in India. Yet during the legislative assembly debates in 1944 the leaders came to a consensus that these émigrés rightfully belonged to their country of domicile and not in India. Unlike nationalists during the colonial period, the leaders of the post-colonial State formation project no longer looked forward to the return of the emigrants who were slowly being considered as foreigners.
South Asian independence was accompanied by a blood bath.The partition of India and Pakistan resulted in two million deaths and about 15 million people were displaced. Most of the refugees were lucky enough to get domicile and often citizenship in their country of domicile. Yet problem arose over the issue of return. In peoples memory their Desh (country) was where they were born. But once displaced they did not have the right to return even when they so desired. South Asian states passed legislations whereby property of the displaced were confiscated by the state and treated as enemy property. So the home that they wanted to go back to remained only in their own imagination.
One often hears the argument that because partition refugees have got an alternate citizenship they have lost the right to return. In South Asia there are however, other groups of refugees who remain as stateless people and yet they are denied the right to return. This paper will discuss two such groups of refugees: the Chakmas (Jumma people) and the Bhutanese. The Chakmas form part of the great Tibeto-Burman language family. The jungles of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) are home to several such Tibeto-Burman tribes, among whom Chakmas and Marmas are the largest and they are collectively called the Jumma people. The 1935 Government of India Act defined the hills as a “Totally Excluded Area”, taking it out of Bengal’s control. The first political blow suffered by the Chakmas was when their territory was placed within East Pakistan although they wanted to remain within India. During the 1971 war for Bangladesh’s liberation, the CHT population backed the Mukti Bahini against the Pakistani army. The following year, Manobendra Larma, who had been elected to the national parliament from the Hill Tracts, called on Sheikh Mujibur Rahman with a delegation in order to place Chakma concerns on the new nation’s political agenda. As it became clear that Shiekh Mujibur and the new establishment he represented were in no mood to listen, Mr Larma set up the Jana Sanghata Samiti as a political group, and later, its armed wing, the Shanti Bahini. The Jumma people have been consistently displaced from the CHT by the machinations of first the East Pakistan government and then the Bangladesh state. In 1964 when the Kaptai Dam was built over 30,000 development refugees cane to the Lushai and Cachar Hills in India because the East Pakistani government refused to pay them any compensation. Later in the 1970s and 80s the CHT became the site for enormous violence and the Bangladeshi government began its draconian policies to contain any protest whereby over 80,000 Jumma people were displaced. Repatriation talks between the Bangladesh authorities, the Indian Government and the Chakma leadership have continued over the past many years and an accord was signed in 1997 but yet the Chakmas could not return. Those who returned found their land taken by Bengali settelers and so they could not be resettled and many became refugee for another time. The present Bangladesh government is ambivalent about its attitude to Chakma refugees and so many, who are remaining in India have no hope of going back.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the Bhutanese government introduced a series of repressive citizenship laws and “Bhutanization” policies that focused on the political, economic, and cultural exclusion of ethnic Nepalese living in southern Bhutan. The Citizenship Acts of 1977 and 1985 included several provisions permitting the revocation of citizenship. The government began enforcing the 1985 Act in a discriminatory manner through a 1988 census, resulting in the mass denationalization of thousands of Bhutanese of Nepali origin in violation of international human rights law. In the early 1990s, the Bhutanese government crushed resistance by ethnic Nepalese and others who protested against the policies through large public demonstrations and called for a multi-party democratic system. The government closed schools and suspended health services in southern Bhutan. Members of the Bhutanese police and army imprisoned, raped, and tortured many of those who were directly, indirectly, or incorrectly presumed to be associated with the demonstrations. Government forces also destroyed houses and forced many ethnic Nepalese off of their lands. International NGOs began operations to aid the Bhutanese refugees, and in 1991, the government of Nepal and UNHCR established refugee camps. By mid-1994, approximately eighty-six thousand refugees resided in the camps. Since then many of these people have been agitating so that the international refugee regime recognise their right to return. Only recently the Government of Bhutan and the Government of Nepal have agreed to discuss the repatriation of some refugees but their terms of reference are such that it will deny the right to return to the overwhelming majority.
The paper will discuss these cases and try to analyse what makes the right to return a chimera. It will bring in this context the need for a political study of places and communities in violent South Asia. Such a study will show the gap between how we live and what we idealise, the gap that is a paradox, produced by the most extra ordinary juxtaposition of nationalising polities by fictive ethnicities, a homogenous citizenship, and the claims to pluralism, democracy, and accommodation. Which then is South Asia’s political history? How is this history predicated by aliens, half-citizens, exiles, refuge, temporary shelters where citizens pass away their lives, illegal immigrants, - in short, the non-state persons who are beyond the pale of citizenship rights, and who are not even the proper subjects of the international law on non-state persons? The focus in any discussion on the right to return of citizens expelled has to be thus on the need to move away from the classical theories of sovereignty, democracy, State, and citizenship, and take the exile, the alien, the displaced (both internally and trans-border), and the half-citizen as the central figure of the politics in South Asia, the figure who is with us like the eternally accompanying shadow, so normalised that we forget its existence which we have taken for granted. In this physical milieu of expulsion, de-enfranchisement, and nationalisation, the right to return is at once the most crucial question and the most hallucinatory claim.
The main question simply will be: Can we realise this right in the present state system? What can be the juridical rules of a right to return that nullifies the right to expel? And what can be the possible politics where accommodation can take the place of marginalizing places, names, communities, bodies, and existences? In a situation where expulsion of peoples is the norm rather than being an exception, where the pure space of exception has got to be de-naturalised, that is to say be returned to its status of being an exception, what can be the politics of an exile?

Is the Right to Return a Symbolic Right?

Shreyashi Chaudhuri

The term Right to return reflects a belief that members of an ethnic or national group have a right to immigration and naturalization into the country that they, the country, or both consider to be that group's homeland, without prior personal citizenship in that country. This belief is sometimes reflected in special consideration in a country's immigration laws which facilitate or encourage the reunion of a diaspora or dispersed ethnic population.
The phrase right to return has several dimensions. The right to return seems to be very elementary and simple. But when the specific context and specific groups are considered it becomes important to think whether this right to return is applicable or should be applicable. The question of right to return in Sri Lanka and in many countries evolves from the perspective of national security and economic burden. Till the 1960s the uprooted people from East Pakistan dreamt that one day they would go back. But they cold never do so and their vulnerability remained. Therefore along with the right to return unless and until the security of life is ensured the right to return cannot b exercised. Once a group of people is displaced from a place the place does not remain unoccupied. This also restricts the right to return. Seroius problems can arise when internally displaced persons are compelled to return to unsafe areas or to areas where they do not wish to reside. Sudan offers an example: the government has forcibly moved the displaced from Khartoum to outlying areas where they are neither part of the urban community nor in their own natural setting. In Peru the government provides assistance only to those internally displaced persons who return to their original homes. In Sri Lanka assistance has been used to induce returns, but to its credit the government has adopted guidelines against physical coercion.
The provision of protection upon return also requires special attention. They may find their homes, land and personal property taken by others and no functioning judicial system to resolve disputes. Another problem returnees may face are land mines. In Mozambique these have killed more than 10,000 displaced persons over the course of the return and resettlement program. The Guiding Principles prohibit the deployment of land mines owing to the danger they pose to internally displaced and other civilians both during hostilities and after their conclusion.

Literary Reflections of Migration in Assamese Literature Particularly in Reference to late Umakanta Sarma

Pritima Sharma

The growth of indigeneous population suffered a very serious and violent setback in the early part of the 19th century when three Burmese invasions of Assam took a heavy toll of Assamese life .Assamese population was completely massacred by the invading Burmese forces . The last being in the third decade of the 19th century . Practically the land of Assam became a graveyard of Assamese population . As a result a great famine in 1825 occured and in 1826 on the basis of Yandaboo Treaty Assam was taken over by the Britishers . That a major chunk of agricultural and residential land lying vacant was itself a source of attraction for the advent of outsiders particularly neighbouring East Bengal Muslim communities from the region of Myamansingh. Since then the migration continued to remain unabated till today . The then Bengal sent over half migrant to Assam . Some from Chotanagpur ,Bhagalpur etc. A great majority of population were garden coolies or agricultural labour who crossed the agricultural land .
In the Gazetteer of Bengal and Northeast India edited by Gait and Ellen the following information is sound . The whole of increase since 1991 was due to immigration for the number of persons born and enumerated . Since then the growth of immigrant population has changed the democratic pattern of Assam’s population .
In Assamese literature this issue of migration forms an important theme among most of the novels . Among the novelist , Late Umakanta Sarma has elaborately delineated this theme in most of his novels .This paper looks into the novels of Umakanta Sarma where migration forms the core issue .
TheMythical ‘Bharanda’ of the ‘Panchatantra’ is the bird with two heads and a single body. Once one head found a luscious fruit and ate it up alone without sharing it with the other head. In the quarrel that ensued, the other head, out of spite, ate a poison fruit which killed the bird itself. This mythical allegory is used by novelist Umakanta Sarma to depict ground reality of present Assam in his novel ‘Bharanda pakhir jak’, 1992 (Flocks of Bharanda birds). The delicate relationship and the grounds of conflict between Bodos and Assamese constitute the theme of this magnificient novel . Then follows another novel Megar Sa ( the shadow of floating clouds ) which dealt with the lives of the poor and the marginalized who are displaced .
In “Ejak Manuh and Ekhan Aranya ”(A group of people and a forest ) in 1986 reflects a massive opus on the beginning of the tea plantations with bonded labourer in the colonial age . Labourers are the main protagonist in this work and the novel is truly their story . The ethnic conflict and the loss of cherished communal values reflect in his minor works . Kajolir Rog ( ailments of kajoli) his last novel is based on migration of hard working Maimanshingia peasants from East Bengal to Assam and the resultant problems .This novel gives a strong social message and showed how migration has changed the democratic pattern of Assam’s population .

Displacement in Jharkhand

Rajni Soren

This paper looks into the displacement caused by development projects in the state of Jharkhand and shows how the people most in need of protection are displaced, and how in cases where displacement was essential for mining purposes no proper rehabilitation of the affected people has taken place.
In view of the long history of the systematic deprivation of the tribal people of their rights over the land and natural resources that had been theirs for years, various legislations have been passed to secure the land rights of the tribal people.
One of the most important legislations of recent times, which protects the rights of the tribal people over their land and the natural resources, is the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996. Extension of the 73rd Amendment of the Constitution to the scheduled areas through this Act seeks to ensure effective participation of the tribal people in the process of planning and decision-making by laying down provisions to be followed by the State Legislatures. The Act is laudable for the fact the fact that it does not treat citizens as mere objects of development decisions, and makes them a part of the development process.
The provisions laid down aim to achieve a very noble goal, but there is lack of information on the state of implementation of the Act, the experiences of the government and non-government agencies have not been documented nor have they been subjected to
systematic research, there is need to know how far the Gram Sabha and Panchayats have been able to exercise control over government schemes, what are the mechanisms developed by them to manage natural resources, and how have the Panchayats and the Gram Sabha been able to protect and conserve their customs and traditions. In spite of the importance of the act in the process of empowerment of the people in the scheduled areas, panchayat elections have not been held in Jharkhand ever since the creation of the new state.
However in spite of the principle of protecting the land rights of the tribal people, the state still has the supreme right to acquire land irrespective of the fact whether the land lies within the scheduled areas as specified in the constitution.
The right of eminent domain is the right of the State through which it asserts its dominion over any parcel of the soil of the State on account of public exigency and for public good. The legislations based on this principle are the Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) Act, 1957; Atomic Energy Act, 1962 etc. and the most important of all being the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
The Land Acquisition Act seeks to achieve acquisition and not confiscation. Two inbuilt conditions namely the right of the owner to receive compensation and acquisition of land solely for public purpose are embedded in the law, however other than the problems with regard to implementation of the Act such as payment of compensation, there are several inbuilt drawbacks in the Act.
The most glaring drawback of the Land Acquisition Act is that it contains no provisions for rehabilitation, it only provides for monetary compensation which does not in any way guarantee a normal life for the displaced people and the monetary compensation in no way compensates to raise the standard of living of the people. The compensation is only given for the value of the land, however when displacement occurs in the scheduled areas the question is not just about land, because the inhabitants of these areas depend on the forest for more than fifty per cent of their food and other needs. Thus monetary compensation is not the solution and more so when the displacement occurs in the scheduled areas since the land acquisition act does not take into consideration the special conditions involved. Another major blemish of the Land Acquisition Act with regard to the tribal people is that it only recognizes legal rights and does not recognize customary rights such as that of nomads, fisher folk etc. for grant of compensation.
Another ironical feature of the Land Acquisition Act is that it does not take into consideration the impact on various ongoing land reforms. There are no remedial measures provided to take care of these special cases for e.g. the case of a landless labourer who has been given agricultural land by the land reform plan of the government, but again loses land through acquisition for a development project.
The total number of people displaced in Jharkhand from the year 1951 – 1995 is 15, 03,017. Out of which 6, 20,372 belong to the scheduled tribe, 2, 12,892 belong to the scheduled caste and 6, 76,575 belong to other categories
In the name of development various large-scale industrial, mining, irrigation and power projects were launched in the state such as the Tata Iron and Steel Company, Heavy Engineering Corporation, Suber-narekha Dam Project, Chandil Power project etc. but the benefits arising out of these projects have only accrued to the big business houses and all that the displaced people have got is wages for providing manual labour required by these projects.
In fact besides causing displacement to enable mining activities, mining has resulted in displacement which has occurred due to the threat of disasters which may occur due to past or ongoing mining activities. The Jharia Coalfields are one such example. Because of unscientific and irregular development, extraction and abandonment of mines, the Jharia coalfields are facing the brunt of mine fire and subsidence. The impact of the development projects on the marginalized section is such that the environmental hazards threaten the very existence of the communities that have depended on natural resources and have preserved them for centuries.
Another major threat of displacement in the state of Jharkhand is the implementation of the Koel-Karo Hydro-Power Project. The Koel-Karo area is about 80 kms from Ranchi, it is in the south-west region of Ranchi district. The implementation of the project has been stalled for over three decades because of the tribal people’s movement against the project; it is one of the oldest power projects in the country. Initially during the year 1973-74, the people demanded the employment of the local people in the construction work of the dam. The people were then not informed of the submergence and the displacement that would result from the construction of the dam. After the people learned of the consequences they immediately stopped all construction work relating to the project in the year 1974-75. The people’s movement against the construction of the dam consolidated under the name of the organization ‘Koel-Karo Jan Sanghathana’, the movement has now been going on for over three decades.
The irony however is that the movement has not really entered into the mainstream national discourse. The reason for this is that the mainstream national media has not given sufficient coverage to this issue.
In spite of all the hope that with the implementation of various development projects development would take place in various sectors like infrastructure development, health, education etc. Jharkhand still ranks poorly in terms of most social and economic indicators. It can thus be said that industrialization in Jharkhand has in no way contributed to the well being of the tribal people and to raising their standard of living; it has only worsened the situation by displacing a large number of people and depriving them of their basic right of occupation of their lands, keeping in mind the limited means that the tribal people have to work their way up the socio-economic ladder.
The exploitation of the people over the years has resulted in widespread turmoil amongst the tribal people. In fact tribal politics in India, by and large can be described as the politics of resistance, a long struggle against the violation of tribal rights on water, forest and land. Various movements like the forest andolan in Singhbhum against the planting of teak and the commercialization of forests, movements against the construction of big dams like Koel-Karo, Subarnarekha are central to the politics in the state. The movement for the creation of the separate state of Jharkhand was to make way for local people to regain control over the resources of the state, however the government of Jharkhand with the industrial policy of 2001 is geared to follow the same path of so called development.
The recent signing of MoUs by the Jharkhand government indicates the fact that we are heading on the same path again. The government hopes through the Industrial Policy of Jharkhand 2001 that the downward filtration theory would work and industrialization would lead to the development of the state and the welfare of its people. However our past is witness to the fact that mere industrialization has never led to development, what is required is various measures by the government to lead the path to development. The Jharkhand government has signed about forty-two MoUs with several companies and needs about 60,000 acres of land for the various projects. The bringing of private players in to the state is no result of desiring development for national interest; it is only in the interest of the rich capitalist class who wish to make profits by making use of the cheap and abundant opportunity available in the state. Moreover the government has made such a big decision without putting into place a proper resettlement and rehabilitation policy. It is an irony that the miseries of the local people that was responsible for the demand and the creation of the new state, is only going to be furthered if the government goes ahead with its plan as laid down in the Industrial Policy 2001.
It is to be remembered that out of Jharkhands 22 districts, 12 fully and two partially comprise scheduled areas. Displacement of the tribal people in these areas require special attention, mere grant of monetary compensation as seen in the past does not guarantee the well being of the tribal people. What is required is the resettlement of the people and a guaranteed share in the benefits arising out of the development projects. The omission to do the same would be the failure of the State to uphold the constitutional goal of the welfare of the tribal people.
As stated earlier the Land Acquisition Act contains no provisions for rehabilitation of the displaced people and ironically the country till date does not have a central legislation to address the issue of resettlement and rehabilitation of the people affected by the various development projects, there however exists a National Policy on Resettlement and Rehabilitation (2004), without the backing of any legislative and statutory powers.
However there have been legislations with this regard in certain states though not holistic. In 1985 the Madhya Pradesh government enacted a law for resettlement and rehabilitation that did not apply to central government projects but to irrigation and power projects of the state, Karnataka also enacted a rehabilitation law in 1987 with the same limitations as that of Madhya Pradesh.
In the absence of a law on relief and rehabilitation, rehabilitation policies have been implemented from project to project, wherein the nature of rehabilitation depends on the voluntary undertaking of the company and does not depend on a set of rules and regulations which address the issues of the displaced people and this gives rise to several problems. For e.g. the NALCO Project in Damanjodi (Orissa), which has been set up decades ago, is yet to complete its rehabilitation activities properly.
Thus there is need to put into place a central legislation which provides for the resettlement and rehabilitation of the people displaced by development projects all over the country, keeping in mind that it is the lowest wrung of society that is affected by it and unless this basic right is protected every effort made to improve the socio-economic condition of the downtrodden is futile. The reason for the absence of such an important enactment is obviously lack of political will. The near future doesn’t seem to be bright either, the Common Minimum Programme of the UPA government does not speak of rehabilitation of the people affected by development projects.
The recent turn of events raises the important issue of displacement in the scheduled areas, which have been protected by the Constitution and the land rights of the tribal people, which have been protected by various legislations. The question that arises is whether it would be just to displace the tribal people for development projects, which do not in any way contribute to their well being, as has been seen in the past.
Acquiring land for development projects without providing for resettlement violates the basic rights of the tribal people, displacing the tribal people without providing for their resettlement deprives them of their basic right of occupation of their land which results in several problems like deprivation of their means of livelihood, migration to other places in search of work and living in poor conditions there, all of this just goes to show that displacement worsens the current position of the people. Since the need to provide special protection to the tribal has been recognized it would be an irony that when they are made to sacrifice to contribute for national development, their rights are completely violated and they are deprived even of their due basic r

Echoes of the Participants in the Guwahati Workshop on Rethinking Rights, Justice and Development in India

April 20-23, 2006

The papers presented in the conference ‘Rethinking Rights, Justice and Development in India’ give an insight into the prevailing conditions of violation of basic human rights of various groups of people by the state itself and also by militant organizations because of ethnic conflict.
The papers in common go on to show how the most vulnerable groups like the poorest of the poor, the tribal people, people affected by natural disasters, workers in the unorganized sector have to bear the brunt of the failure of the state to provide good governance when in fact it’s priority should be to safeguard the rights of these most vulnerable sections of society.

Rethinking Rights, Justice and Development in the Northeast; A Reflection on Nagas Experience
by Imcha Imchen
This presentation looks into the Nagas’ demand for complete autonomy and secession from the Union of India. The writer in order to facilitate an understanding of the issue provides an insight into the history of the Naga Homeland, and the injustice and problems faced by the Naga people. The entire Naga Homeland had been arbitrarily divided into various states for administrative purposes without the consent of the people in the colonial regime. The Myanmar and the Indian government instead of rectifying this legitimized the divisions. The Naga Homeland was divided and half of it now lies in Myanmar and half in India. In India the Nagas are further spread over Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland. The Nagas had declared their independence on 14 August 1947 and when the Union of India was formed in 1950 on the voluntary basis, the Nagas chose not to join. The writer thus says that the Nagas have a right to complete independence. The writer also looks into the misuse of the ‘Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958’ by the army and how it has led to gross violation of basic human rights. According to the writer one of the fundamental reasons why the people in the northeast feel alienated is the attitude of the central government towards development in the northeast, however he also blames the local politicians for the misuse of the development funds. The writer has acknowledged the support being provided to various movements in the northeast by civil societies and intellectuals and also stresses its importance. Attention is drawn to the fact as to how the whole Naga movement has undergone a change from an earlier demand, which completely overlooked India to now where negotiations are being carried with the central government. Finally the writer states that the various problems in the northeast have different solutions because of different demands – while certain states want more autonomy while others want more attention in terms of development, however neither of the two would be the solution to the Naga problem since the Nagas want complete independence.

Displacement in West Bengal
By Nandini Basistha
This paper looks into the irony of ‘Development’ wherein for the so-called overall development of society, the basic rights of the most vulnerable groups are violated.
Like most other governments, the government of West Bengal too views industrialization and modernization as the most important means of development and so to encourage this large scale displacement has occurred for building dams, highways, airports, new towns etc. Urban planning in Kolkata has led to the displacement of the poorest of the poor e.g. the ‘New Town’ Project of Rajarhat has displaced small and landless farmers and fisherman. It is alleged that dams which have caused widespread displacement have failed the purpose for purpose for which they were constructed i.e. control floods, it is claimed by residents that over the years the intensity of floods in the lower Damodar has increased. Thus in the name of development thousands of people have been deprived of their basic right to shelter and livelihood. India being a welfare state ought to provide economic security for the population by providing for the people when they are unemployed, ill or elderly. Instead of doing so, in spite of the unemployment rate being high, the government of West Bengal resorted to evicting hawkers from streets. In 1996 ‘Operation sunshine’ evicted 24000 hawkers. It even led to some of them committing suicide. Thus the so-called development process involves the violation of the rights of the most vulnerable groups of people.

The Question of Democracy in Manipur
By Ayangbam Shyamkishor
This article looks into the failure of representative democracy in Manipur in every aspect.
In spite of over five decades of democracy in Manipur, accountability, transparency, responsibility, peace, stability is still a far cry. The very foundation of democracy i.e. the election process is not carried on in accordance with law and is marked by practices like rigging and booth capturing, influence of muscle and money power. Another common practice is the boycotting of elections by various insurgent groups. The law and order problem in Manipur has been a perpetual one. In fact disorder and violence has become a way of life. The main reason for weak governance is the presence of a large number of powerful militant insurgent groups. It is alleged that the militant groups even overpower the government, to the extent that they collect taxes from government departments. In order to control insurgency the Armed Forces Special Power Act, 1958 has been imposed in the state. In spite of the several instances of its misuse by the armed forces, the army maintains that the repealing of the Act would render them powerless to deal with the problem of insurgency. In terms of the economy Manipur still remains by and large an underdeveloped state. Agriculture the mainstay of the economy is still dependent on rainfall. The state depends on other states for most of the essential items of consumption.
A sizeable percentage of the population lives below the poverty line and there is widespread unemployment. To add to the economic crisis the government of Manipur is running the state with deficits of hundreds of crores of rupees, all due to financial mismanagement. Corruption is rampant in the state, and is a major cause of discontent, which has given rise to the involvement of militant organizations in getting rid of the corruption in bureaucracy and government. Thus democracy in Manipur has failed to fulfill any of its objectives. It has failed to provide political stability, good governance, control corruption, promote accountability and above all establish rule of law. The successful working of democracy requires participation of people in the decision making process, electing responsible leaders; it requires responsible leaders who would work for the development of the state. It is essential for the development of the state, that its resources be used properly so as to put an end to unemployment and poverty. The problem of insurgency should be solved through peaceful negotiations and corruption must be checked in accordance with law.

Echoes from flash flood victims: A case study of Balbala flash flood
By Shahiuz Zaman Ahmed
This article presents a detailed description of the flash flood, which occurred between the 7th and 9th October 2004 and affected the areas of Krishnai, Balbala and Agai, and the various relief measures taken post flood, the writer finally puts forth suggestion with regard to such disasters in future. The flood-affected areas were low-lying areas and hence flood prone. However of late tremendous environmental changes had taken place around the area due to deforestation for several purposes. Another reason for the flood was that Pancharatna-Kamakhya railroad lacked sufficient culverts and bridges to pass water to the river Brahmaputra. The tributaries of various rivers had no proper embankments to check floods either. The flood caused tremendous destruction of human lives, settlements, flora and fauna. Villages were totally washed out. The efforts made by the Indian army did manage to save a lot of lives. The official records put the number of the dead as 218, however there are claims that the real figures are much higher. One important point with this regard is that a large number of the inhabitants of the flood-affected areas had come from other flood-affected areas earlier on, and hence as per UN’s guiding principles, these inhabitants were Internally Displaced Persons. Their names were not even recorded with the district administration, and hence their death was not even acknowledged and this went against the UN principles related to Internally Displaced Persons. Various relief measures were taken but they were far from sufficient. The writer makes a comparison between the flash flood and the tsunami and says how the flash received very less importance. The improper implementation of the monetary assistance scheme of the government has also been looked into as to how several victims and relatives of the dead have still not received compensation due to the corrupt officials. The Internally Displaced Persons who had resettled in the flood-affected areas were refused compensation because they were not registered with the local administration on the ground that they were suspected be illegal migrants, and hence had to face unnecessary harassment. The flood led to complete impoverishment of the people and rehabilitation measures by the government are a must. The health and living conditions of the people is much below reasonable standards and hence requires various measures by the government. The writer puts forth various suggestions to prevent such a disaster in the future: massive forestation, controlled deforestation, construction of embankments, setting up mechanisms to forecast such disasters etc. and most important of all issuing of identity cards to the IDP’s in the state so as to enable safeguarding their rights and to prevent depriving them of their rights because of doubt over their citizenship.

A Brief Study on Human Rights Violations in Wokha District and its adjoining areas
By Ayamo Kikon
This paper is a case study of violations of human rights in Wokha district (situated in the mid west of the state of Nagaland). Certain instances of human rights violations have been cited with a view to create awareness about such happenings. The first incident cited took place at Yimpang village on March 3, 1997. This particular incident is an instance of human rights violation by the armed forces. The NSCN armed opposition groups were taking shelter in the village. The 16th Rashtriya Rifles troops arrived at the village and fired indiscriminately and in the process a pregnant woman and two civilians were killed. The villagers were also mishandled by the armed forces. The second incident cited involved a bomb explosion in a passenger bus, which was bound for Wokha from Dimapur. In this incident several people lost their lives. Regular frisking and house checking are common practices associated with security operations. These security operations do not respect the privacy of the people and have caused great trauma to the local inhabitants.

Resisting Development: A Case Study of the Pagladia Dam Project
By Barnalee Chowdhury
Development based displacement is based on the premise that someone has to suffer if the nation is to prosper. However it is always the poor and the marginalized that are made victims in the process of development. The state is vested with unquestionable power to carry on development, however of late sections of society and the affected people have begun to question government decisions with regard to development. One such example is the movement against the Pagladia Dam Project, which is to be constructed at Thalkuchi village in Assam. It is a multi purpose project that aims to serve several development objectives. However at the same time the dam will submerge 38 settled villages thereby displacing a large number of people most of whom are tribal people. The Brahmaputra Board, which is the implementing agency of the project, has drawn up a Rehabilitation & Resettlement (R &R) package. The package however is not acceptable to the people for several reasons. As per the R & R only 18,473 persons will be displaced however the number exceeds much more than that. People who do not possess proper ownership documents will also not be entitled to compensation. Thus because of these grievances the people started a movement in the year 1968. The organization is called Pagladia Bandh Prakalpar Ksatigrastha Alekar Sangram Samiti. The other grievances of the people are that the place to be given to them for resettlement is already occupied by other people, and their entry may lead to conflict. Resettlement would scatter the people in different areas and it would result in community breakdown. It is also alleged that the land being given to them for resettlement is not that fertile. The dam would also submerge a lot of schools, religious institutions. The R & R package does not provide for sufficient reconstruction of the same. The people for the various reasons have protested against the government on several occasions, however these democratic protests have always been suppressed through violent means. Thus instead of addressing the grievances of the affected people the government brutally suppresses protests against it. The media has failed to give coverage to this issue, which involves the rights o f thousands of people. The movement is an example of how people have learnt to resist state action even if it is taken in the name of development, and thus going on to show that development processes can’t ignore the rights of those who are made to sacrifice for development.

Human Rights Issues in Tamenglong District of Manipur
By N.Atungbou
This paper looks into instances of human rights violations by the armed forces and the militant groups in the district of Tamenglong, which is located in west Manipur. Since the late 70s and 80s people in the district have been subjected to torture and violence because of the abuse of the Armed Forces Act by the Para-military forces. In 1997, in Tousem sub-division the Para-military personnel tortured the entire village. In 2000 the Jat regiment shot at nine persons. In 1993 an ethnic conflict broke out in the district between the Kukis and the Zeliangrong Nagas, it lasted for four years and several people died. The state government played a partisan role and failed to intervene and control the situation then. However in the course of time the conflict came to an end. There have also been several instances of violence by armed opposition groups.

The Internally Displaced Persons of Lower Assam
By Subhash Barman
This paper looks into the displacement caused due to the Bodo movement, in lower Assam. Amongst the various groups of victims, this paper looks at the special case of the Santals. The Santals of lower Assam are the ex-displaced of the colonial regime that were evicted from their homeland Chotanagpur and were brought to Assam to provide cheap labour for the plantations. The Santals have been marginalized over the years. The Bodo movement finally led to their complete deprivation. The Bodos are the largest tribal community of Assam. The Assamese high castes have always dominated the society, polity and bureaucracy in Assam and this led to the marginalization of the Bodos, which led to their demand for the division of Assam for the creation of a separate ‘Bodoland’. The movement turned violent and it finally led to legislation in 1993 and the Bodoland Autonomous Council was formed. However in the areas under the BAC, the Bodos did not form the majority and hence started the process of ethnic cleansing to create a Bodo majority. The marginalized sections and the Santals became targets of this ethnic cleansing. Initially the immigrant Muslims were targeted, later on the Santal peasants were primarily targeted. The cleansing was carried out by militant organizations. There were large-scale massacres in which about 1000 Santals lost their lives and about 2,50,000 were rendered homeless. The displaced have been living in the relief camps in Bongaigaon and Kokrajhar districts. The living conditions in these camps are miserable and unhygienic. The ration provided by the government is insufficient and there are no provisions for drinking water. There are no provisions for education or health facilities. Moreover there is no sufficient security arrangement and hence there is always the threat of attack by the militant organizations. The government has taken no measures to promote peace so that the displaced can return home. Other people have occupied the lands of the few who returned. The government has not done anything with this regard either.

Brus in Mizoram
By Irene Lalruatkimi
The Bru/Reang tribes were original inhabitants of Mai-an hill near the Chittagong Hill Tract, Bangladesh. They migrated from their homeland to Tripura from where they were ousted by the king and then they finally settled in Mizoram. The Brus were a minority in the state of Mizoram. Most of them were illiterate and hence the government of Mizoram took steps to uplift the Brus. The Christian missionaries too played a role in this regard.
Education gave rise to community consciousness amongst the Brus and they organized themselves into the Reang Democratic Convention Party in 1990, with a view to safeguard their culture, custom, language and to promote the development of the community. The political consciousness ultimately led to the demand for a separate autonomous district. This demand was not acceptable to the Mizos and they protested against this and thus began the tension between the Mizos and the Brus. The Bru leaders ordered the Brus to leave their homes. The Brus formed the militant group called the Bru National Liberation Front and carried out violent activities. Several Bru families left for Tripura. Brus from Assam and Manipur also joined them. The Mizoram government tried to convince the Bru refugees to return to their homes and also made arrangements for their rehabilitation and security. Under these conditions a few Brus returned, while the majority chose to stay in the Tripura refugee camps.

Land Alienation in Tripura – A Case Study of the Tribals
By Sushil Debbarma
This paper looks into the land alienation of the tribal people in Tripura. It looks into the failure of the state to prevent land alienation and how the state is in fact actively causing land alienation. The TLR & LR Act 1960, imposes restrictions on transfer of tribal land to non-tribals without prior permission from the collectors. There is also a provision for the restoration of tribal lands that were transferred to non-tribals on or after 1st January 1969. However in spite of the law a very few restoration cases have been disposed off, and most of the land that ought to have been restored, remains unrestored. A major flaw of the Act is that it does not recognize the customary shifting cultivation, and all such land is recorded as forestland. The government of Tripura has been using tribal land for the rehabilitation of the refugees. The Dhumbur/Gumoti hydel project in south Tripura has displaced a lot of tribal people, moreover most of these communities are Jhumians and have no land records and hence the rehabilitation policy did not benefit them.In 1948 the Swasti Samity, a cooperative society of the non-tribal landless farmers was set up. For the setting up of this society hundreds of tribals were evicted from their homes without any rehabilitation. It can be said that the state has not only failed to prevent land alienation of the tribals but is in fact actively responsible for it.

Internally Displaced Persons: Nagas in Manipur
By Pongdeila
This paper looks into the internal displacement of the Nagas in Manipur. The Manipur Nagas lived in the four hill districts of Chandel, Tamenglong, Ukhrul and Senapati. They were displaced from these districts because of the Naga-Kuki ethnic crisis, and the movement by the Meiteis to drive out the Nagas from Manipur. The violence directed against the Nagas led to their displacement. A few civil societies and organizations did take steps for their rehabilitation but it is alleged that the government suppresses various efforts made by them. The Nagas live in fear and doubt as to whether they can ever return to their homes.

Boom in the Construction Sector of Pune
By Manish Kumar
This paper looks into the miserable conditions under which the construction labourers work in the city of Pune, in spite of the fact that there has been a huge boom in the construction sector and the labour force is a major contributor to the growth of the city. The boom in the construction sector of Pune has come about because of the growth in the IT sector and Pune has been declared as a computer hub city. The second reason is the market hike. Lastly huge investments are being made because of increasing market demand and also because of the presence of black money in the economy. Indirect foreign investment is also being made. This growth in the construction sector has led to tremendous increase in the demand for construction workers. Migrant labourers from the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand have also increased. With the growth of the sector the problems faced by the construction workers have also increased. Men and women still don’t get equal pay for equal work. Occupation and social security is almost nil. Only a miniscule percentage of the builders provide safety measures like helmets, gloves. In fact facilities are not provided as should be as laid down by the Pune Municipal Corporation. Few builders provide group insurance, which has proved not to be too helpful either. There are no health care facilities available. There are also no facilities for the education of the children of the labourers. In the midst of all the profit that is being made, the major contributors are being denied their due basic share.

A case of rights and displacement on the subansiri lower
Hydroelectric power project (SLP)
By Tarikh Kamcham
This paper looks into the rights and displacement on the lower subansirihydro electric power cooperation (NHPC) Ltd.which lies on the inter state boundary between Assam and Arunachal pradesh . That is why there is a longstanding dispute between the two states over the land on which the project site is located. The subansiri lower hydroelectric power cooperation (NHPC) Ltd., which was under initial survey and investigation by the Brahmaputra flood control board (BFCB), was transferred to NHPC Ltd by the MOWR, GOI ON 23RDmarch 2000. Thereafter the project has been under the NHPC till date. The hon’blesupreme court of India, while according consent vide order dated 19thapril, 2004 to the MOWR, GOI for the forest and environmental clearance of the project, stipulated certain stringent conditions which interalia, included:
1) The reserve forest that forms part of the catchments of lower subansiri including the reservoir should be declared as national park \sanctuary.
2) There would be no construction of dam of upstream of the Subansiri River in future
The forest department government of Arunachal pradesh intimated the MOWR, GOI of the compliance of the state government, to the above conditions as recommended by Indian board for wild life. The order of supreme court had very serious implications upon the state government such as, immense difficulty involving huge displacement of indigenous people by virtue of declaration of national park / wild life sanctuary which would have far reaching socio politico economic ramifications .the execution of the project remained suspended as per the cabinet decision as the project is located in a sensitive boundary involving boundary dispute for which the matter is being heard by the honorable supreme court . This project remained suspended for a quite a long time till a long term settlement is materialized and a formal MOW is signed with the state government by the Nhpc Ltd.

Chandigarh Conference

February 13-15, 2006

The Centre for the Study of Mid-West and Central Asia, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India and Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence, University of Tampere, Finland jointly organised an international conference on Revisting ‘Euro-Asia’: Cultures, Connections and Conceptualizations during February 13-15, 2006 at the ICSSR Complex located in the Panjab University Campus of Chandigarh. The InternationalGeographical Union and the World Commission of Political Geography sponsored the conference. Scholars from India, Malaysia and Finland took part in this conference. Professor K.N. Pathak, Vice Chancellor of Panjab University welcomed the participants. Before the formal deliberations began, Dr. Jyrki Kakonen, Jean Monnet Professor, University of Tampere introduced the conference. His Excellency Asko Numminen, Ambassador of Finland to India, delivered the inaugural address while Professor Siddiq Wahid, Vice Chancellor, Islamic University of Technology, delivered the keynote address. Dr. Sanjay Chaturvedi, Honorary Director of the host Centre offered a vote of thanks at the end of the inaugural session. The Calcutta Research Group (CRG) sponsored two sessions of this conference. One was on “Nations, Migration and Citizenship: European-Indian Experiences”, and the other was on “Citizenship, Migration and Autonomy: Gender Perspectives”. Dr. Bishnu Mohapatra of the Ford Foundation, New Delhi, chaired the first one. Dr. Samir Kumar Das and Dr. Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury spoke on behalf of the CRG. Dr. Das presented a paper on “Contesting Citizenship in an Age of Forced Migration: Two Case Studies from India”. He primarily dealt with the experiences of the Assam Movement (1979-85) and Gorkhaland Movement (1986-88). Dr. Basu Ray Chaudhury presented a paper on “Being and Belongingness: Democratic Citizenship in South Asia”. He offered a critical account of the exclusionary tensions of citizenship in South Asia and examined how the trans-national social spaces emerging in the context of migratory and refugee flows over the years have put pressures on the democratic character of the post-colonial states ans societies in the region. Dr. Mika Altola of the University of Tampere spoke on “Corporate Communities of Practices and Homogenizing Pressures of Globalization”. In the other session sponsored by the CRG, Dr. Paula Banerjee spoke on “Women’s Autonomy in the Age of Migration and Security”. She addressed the questions related to women’s autonomy in India and analysed its location within different available discourses. Professor Rajesh Gill of the Department of Sociology, Panjab University, presented a paper entitled “Caught between the Domestic and Public Spheres: Women as a Pendulum”. Ms. Anna-Kaisa Heikkinen, Second Secretary of the Embassy of Finland in India, chaired this session. Dr. Ranabir Samaddar, Director, CRG, delivered the Valedictory Address at the end of the three-day conference. He spoke on the immigration and the possibilities of trans-national citizenship. His lecture was a take on Etienne Balibar’s We the People of Europe. Dr. Samaddar also chaired a session earlier, which was on “New Great Games and Beyond” and it mainly dealt with the emerging geopolitical scenario in Euro-Asia.

Trafficking of Women & Children in Nepal

Shreyashi Chaudhuri

Trafficking in women and children is considered as a contemporary form of slavery and a gross violation of women’s and children’s basic human rights by the international community. It is also a growing phenomenon internationally, regionally and nationally. While trafficking is a global problem and an integral part of the process of international migration, it does assume specific regional and national dimensions. The increasingly protectionist policies of countries of destination which also constitute the labour receiving countries and the subsequent restriction on legal forms of migration, as well as the growing economic crisis with increasing unemployment, play a major role in the growing incidence of trafficking of women and children within the Asia-Pacific and specifically within the South Asian region.Trafficking in persons is defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of persons, by any form of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, and abuse of power. This involves the giving or receiving of payments, or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for exploitation. (UN article 3 of Trafficking Protocol) “Women, who make up 51 percent of the total population in Nepal, have a secondary status in the patriarchic (sic) Hindu structure. Throughout their lives, women face reduced opportunities and discrimination. Literacy rates and life expectancy are much lower for women than men. Some say that lack of investment on education and development of women, which is an outcome of patriarchal predominance, is a major cause of vulnerability. The 1991 Nepalese census shows that only 25.54 per cent women were literate. One of the reasons for such a low rate of female education is that “the traditional attitude of the family, which requires girls to work rather than attend school. The higher female work burden in rural areas demonstrates that girl children are an active labour force in agriculture.” Many laws are explicitly biased against women, especially those regarding property, citizenship and marriage. Women are frequently prosecuted for having abortions, which were illegal until very recently. Women often face domestic violence and harassment, with no legal recourse, as paternalism and gender discrimination is deeply entrenched in society. Also the social system teaches women “subordination to males from childhood.” Such value systems deny women any options. Hence many rural women fall prey to the traffickers and trafficking of Nepali women has assumed horrifying proportions.Due to lack of adequate studies it is difficult to identify all the different ways in which trafficking is carried out. There is more than one way of trafficking. The existence of the circumstances created by the anti-women nature of the sex market creates an atmosphere characterised by the deception, use of drugs, enticement, abduction, fake marriages, misuse of guardianship etc.
A few current trafficking activities can be summed up as follows:
The problem of trafficking is no longer confined to specific ethnic communities. In the past the problem was confined to a limited catchments area surrounding the Kathmandu valley. Over the last few years it has rapidly expanded to over 30 districts in Nepal.
The information gathered from the interviews and stories of rescued girls and women demonstrate that girls and women from socially oppressed and backward community are increasingly vulnerable.
The diversification of the destination is also a troubling new aspect of trafficking. Gulf countries are fast becoming a destination for the sexual exploitation of Nepalese women.
Trafficking of increasingly large number of teenage girls as opposed to women is another new and disturbing pattern.
Trafficking is increasingly an act of organised criminal rackets operating from both inside and outside of Nepal.
Based on recently reported trafficking trends it is apparent that the problem of trafficking in girls and women has increasingly crossed the barriers of ethnicity and mountain geography. The problem of trafficking for sexual exploitation is now happening in numerous communities. This is corroborated by the appearance of a large number of Dalit girls & women in the market. The incidents of trafficking in Brahmin, Chettri & Newar girls and women are also increasing. There are two major factors responsible for the increasing numbers of girls and women being trafficked in Nepal:
The village to city migration process has become common phenomenon in Nepal over the decades. The main intention of migration is to earn money to provide the basic necessities for the family. The process of migration has contributed to the multi billion dollar sex industry with the massive migration of women and girls for purposes of legitimate work in Nepalese cities and abroad, trafficking has been facilitated through such means as promised by agents of the sex trade of high paying jobs or marriages. Trafficking is now the packaging, the marketing, in short the commodification of the women, which has become systematised, organised and trans nationalised. Rapid urbanisation and job prospects entice teenage girls to migrate to cities in Nepal. They seek work in the carpet industry, garment industry, restaurants and domestic service. These unsuspecting girls arrive in cities and one coerced into the sex trade. Cities such as Kathmandu, Pokhra, Dharan are serving as transit centres for trafficking abroad. Such migration is an expected outcome of development activities including increased accessibility to transportation, communication and business activities between villages and cities.
The gradual erosion of the traditional norms of the social regulation has resulted in more heterogeneity in cultural and social relations. In the past the homogenous clusters of the villages maintained a system of regulation based on traditional hierarchy and co-operation. Every group kept track of and cared for its own members. With greater mobility over the decades the homogeneity of villages has been diminished. Individuals are thus less aware of what is happening to the people who live nearby. The failure by the police and governing bodies, in general, to address these changing conditions has created a breakthrough of the traditional regulatory norms. This societal structure breakdown has helped traffickers gain a foothold in various community groups.
Political instability in Nepal has compounded the problem. The conflict between the Maoists and the State has contributed to increasing instability. Recent newspaper reports also reveal how women are particularly vulnerable to such harassments. In a news item published in the month of May this year in Kathmandu Post it was stated that one woman of “Tehrathum fled to Kathmandu after Maoists coerced her to join their militia. Her pursuit for secure life in the valley was wrecked after her colleagues sold her to a brothel in Mumbai.” Although she was rescued with five other Nepali girls no one knows whether she can be rehabilitated in her own society.
When women are trafficked across borders such as from Nepal to India it makes them even more insecure. After crossing a border these women can become stateless if they are without any papers or proof of citizenship. Often they are coerced to do so to repay their family loan. It has been stated “about 153,000 Nepali girls were in Indian brothels in 1990 and the number has been steadily increasing at a rate of 5,000 every year.” Nepal is considered as the most significant source of girl-child commercial sex workers to India. The average age of Nepali girls entering into Indian brothels ranges from 10 to 14. “In this era of globalisation, tourism has become another occasion for child trafficking from Nepal. Although Nepal has passed the Human Trafficking (Control) Act of 1986 these Acts are hardly ever implemented. Trafficking of Nepali women to India continue unabated. A very disturbing phenomena within this process is that young Nepali “virgins” are trafficked because people not only prefer their fairer complexion but also there is a ridiculous but common belief among some communities that having intercourse with a young girl can cure many sexually transmitted diseases as well as AIDS. So price for these girl children go up. But the moment they contract the illness they are thrown out of the brothel and come back to their homes where their family is often loathe in taking them back. These children are often oblivious of the risk they are in. According to one social worker in J.J. Hospital in Bombay “one 15 bedded women ward was occupied with 13 patients with HIV infection, out of this 11 were Nepali.” What people in sex trade do not realize is that trafficking is not merely violence against women but against humanity. These young girls living in brothels are so powerless that they can hardly insist that their clients use safety measures. Once they contract the disease they inadvertently infect many more and contribute to destabilization and insecurity of the whole region. Once there illness is discovered they are treated like pariahs. They are punished for something over which they had hardly any control and yet the process continues. Trafficking finds little space in traditional security discourse yet it is one mode of migration that actually leads to physical insecurity of a region.
The increased success on the part of traffickers has resulted from these recent societal changes. Mobility and the resulting social breakdown have tended to marginalize the weaker sectors of the community. Migration and mobility detach girls and women from their traditional framework of protection, and exposes them to an unfamiliar world. This makes them extremely vulnerable. In summation
Poverty and lack of resources results in an increase in migration and mobility.
In Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka child marriage is accepted, and considered. the best method to procure girls for prostitution. (Indrani Sinha, SANLAAP, “Paper on Globalisation & Human Rights”.) Parents sell their daughters and husbands get rid of their young unwanted wives forUS$200 to $600. Depending on her beauty, a girl can fetch anywhere from less than a water buffalo, to slightly more than a video recorder. Organizers in rural areas, brokers and even family members sell girls. Husbands sometimes sell their wives to brothels. (Tim McGirk, “Nepal’s Lost Daughters, ‘India’s soiled goods,” Nepal/India: News, 27 January 1997)
In Nepal, there is a system, called “deukis,” where by rich childless families buy girls from poor rural families and offer them to the temples as though they were their own. These girls are forced into prostitution. In 1992, 17,000 girls were given as deukis. (Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN Special Report on Violence Against Women, Gustavo Capdevila, IPS, 2 April 1997)
Intensified migration and mobility causes a breakdown of the traditional norms and social regulations.
The process of migration and mobility is especially unfavourable for marginalised girls and women in the sense that they, being ignorant of the circumstances around them and not having the security of communal protection become easily accessible to sex traders.
Economic needs and hopes of a better life render marginalized women and girls easy targets.
As for the response of the Government of Nepal to the issue of trafficking it may be said that certainly, greater political has been demonstrated particularly over the last couple of years to address this problem. This response has in part been spawned by pressure put on the government by the public discourse on the issue created by NGOs, community and women’s organisations, the media, INGOs, the UN system as well as by members of the civil society. However, mostly of these very recently initiated responses are either still in the planning stage or are awaiting financial commitments from various donors to actually get off the ground. As such, limited concrete and demonstrable activity is actually visible on part of the Government of Nepal thus far to combat the problem of trafficking even though several plans are in the pipeline.
The key strategies-cum-objectives are being recommended for future anti-trafficking work on basis of the assessment in this study:

1.Initiate and intensify work to reach agreement and deeper understanding on rights protective strategies for designing and implementing anti-trafficking work.
2.Statistical data on those affected by trafficking in all sites
3.Traffickers and their modus operandi
4.Changing trends, patterns, forms of trafficking and those trafficked
5.Development and assessment of strategies and programmes
6.Development of rights based models of intervention in prevention, recovery, repatriation and reintegration of those affected by trafficking
7.Develop legal countermeasures, which vindicate the rights of abused and trafficked persons, and do not recriminalize them further.
8.Develop guidelines to separate legislation for trafficking from prostitution laws.

Victimisation of female migrants from Bangladesh

Catelijne Mittendorff

Nari pacahar, also known as trafficking of women, has attracted a tremendous amount of attention within the Bangladeshi media and civil society groups during recent years. Certain sources state that as many as fifty women and children are reportedly taken out of Bangladesh every day, and sold into forced prostitution, organ trade or slave labour. All this media attention has prompted the Bangladeshi authorities to enact restrictions, often an outright ban, on the international migration of women. For example, since 1976 the government of Bangladesh has barred certain categories of unskilled or semi-unskilled female workers from working overseas. This ban was relaxed in 1988 to be re-imposed in 1997. Female migration has consequently been pushed underground and has become an illegal practise. This policy restricting female migration is remarkable given the fact that Bangladesh is a labour-exporting nation. It is one of the densest populated countries in the world and the remittance migrant workers send home is a large source of income for the country. Therefore, the government of Bangladesh has always been a great supporter of male labour migration. Taking into account the economic disadvantages of such a ban, the decision to enact such a restriction must have been taken in an attempt to protect Bangladeshi women from exploitation and trafficking. But the question can be raised whether this policy achieves the intended result and made Bangladeshi women less vulnerable for trafficking? There is in fact little known about female migration from Bangladesh. Recently, however, an extensive study has been conducted where it became apparent that far more female migratory movement takes place than official numbers suggest. This study also made clear that female migration is larger and more varied than suggested by the trafficking scenario on which the media and NGOs have focused so much of their attention. Often the preconceived notion exists that migratory movement takes place predominantly under coercion, or when women lose control and other people take advantage of them, whereas this is not always the case. While risks of exploitation are considerable, the earnings women make abroad are impressive as well. Many female migrant workers have returned to Bangladesh with substantial savings, an enhanced sense of well-being and greater confidence in their ability to take decisions and cope autonomously. It is important in this context to understand the concept of 'trafficking', and how women become targets for traffickers. It is also essential to make a distinction between ‘trafficking’ and irregular female migration. The difference between irregular migration and trafficking is repeatedly a matter of perception and the generalisations in identifying the two concepts can be misleading. Often if the migratory process goes well, people consider it to be migration and if it does not go well that it is trafficking. In addition, it is generally assumed that if a girl wanted to migrate herself, she can not be trafficked, whereas this is not necessarily true. A working group of various civil society organisations within Bangladesh have defined the concept of human trafficking as “a wide range of crimes and human rights abuses associated with the recruitment, movement and sale of people into exploitative or slave-like situations.” This means that trafficked women do not necessarily need to be involved in the sex/ entertainment industry, as often is assumed. One can say that the fundamental problem of trafficking is the loss of control, “where women lose their freedom to control what they want to do because they fall under the influence of dept bondage, coercion, force or threats”, we can speak of trafficking. Most often people are of the perception that trafficked girls are kidnapped, taken away from their homes and completely against their will. Although this sometimes happens, in most of the cases a girl will decide to go along with the trafficker herself or under pressure from her family. Traffickers will look for girls from poor and vulnerable families in villages and tempt them and their parents with offers of lucrative jobs, a good marriage or a comfortable life in neighbouring countries. Only when they have taken her over the border and reach her final destination will she find out what kind of circumstances she is forced to work in. Society is a big factor in the vulnerability of women to become a trafficking victim. In Bangladesh, the migration of women, especially unaccompanied by guardians, is often regarded as suspect, for the reason that a woman moving independently is socially not accepted. “This can lead to a exploitative situation for women in which the slightest sexual deviation or social dislocation makes them ‘polluted’ and the object of social degradation.” In many cases, women migrating independently will lead to loss of honour for her family. This places women in Bangladesh in a very difficult position. On the one hand, they cannot work outside the house, because this is not their role and because their sexuality needs to be protected. As a consequence she cannot earn money. But at the same time she costs her family a lot of money due to the dowry system. Therefore, if a woman does not get married soon, or for some other reason, her reputation has been damaged and she will do more harm to her family than good. Due to this situation immense pressure will be put on the girl to find a good husband and be able to pay her dowry. In poor families girls will sometimes not see any other solution other than to look for their fortune abroad. And then once these girls have migrated, they often become outcasts at home. Because their move brought shame to their families it will become difficult to go back to their village. Furthermore, the girl feels tremendous pressure to work hard to compensate for her loss of honour. Regardless of her bad living conditions, the social pressure will make it very difficult for her to abandon work. Despite the fact that trafficking needs to be fought, a ban on female labour migration will not help these girls. As long as their social position is not improved, it is not realistic to assume that women would stop looking for better labour opportunities abroad. Given the demand of effective labour along with women’s willingness to sell their labour, a government policy that bans female migration will force women to push the whole process of female migration underground. As a result of these circumstances, created by the government, going abroad for opportunities, even for proper or legal jobs, can only be done through informal or illegal channels. The illegal nature of migration makes these girls easier prey in the hands of traffickers. Thus, instead of banning female migration, both civil society and the government should realise that migrated women are not necessarily victims and that trafficking and irregular migration are not the same. If the government would acknowledge that female migration is not necessarily harmful, it could help women to look for a better future and to make them less easy preys for traffickers. Instead of restricting women to work abroad, it could support them and help them to find safe and legal job opportunities. Concrete steps like skill building education and creation of networks could be taken. Additionally a change is needed from within Bangladeshi society, whereby it becomes socially acceptable for women to work abroad and social illegal practices like dowry are abandoned, in order to prevent women getting into desperate situations where they become easy prey for traffickers. An important reason for women to migrate is often empowerment. Migration can give women a chance to have more control over their own life, and not be completely dependent on the maintenance of her family or husband. Unfortunately, such changes do not occur from one day to another. In the mean time the government needs to pursue an active policy that will lead to empowerment of women instead of doing the opposite. At present, a vicious circle has been created wherein civil society has victimised female migrants by emphasising trafficking in such a manner that the government decided to restrict female migration. Instead of improving their social situation, this policy makes these women more vulnerable and as a result they have become easier targets for traffickers. This circle needs to be broken.