Throughout history, people have abandoned their homes and
seek shelter elsewhere to escape prosecution, armed conflict or political
violence. But until the 20th century, there were no Universal standards for the
protection of such people.
It was not until the period after the first world war, that
the refugee issue came to be regarded as an international problem that had to
be tackled at the international level.
The office of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) was established in the year 1950-1951. The 1951 UN Refugee convention
along with its 1967 protocol is still the most important, and the only
Universal, instrument of International Refugee Law.
The Tibetan refugees who have lived in India since the late
1950s are often overlooked. This is largely due to the fact that they have
survived with relatively little international assistance. Large numbers of
Tibetans fled to India in March 1959 after the Chinese suppression of an
uprising and the flight of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and political leader
of Tibetans.
After the 1962 Sino- Indian border war, it was recognised
that the Tibetans would not soon be returning to their homeland and Indian
authorities for the first time requested International assistance from UNHCR.
Since 1962, assistance programs for the refugees are being
run by the Indian government. The Indian authorities have also provided ration
cards, identity papers, residence permits and travel documents for registered
Tibetan refugees.
Although they're considered as foreigners under the 1946
Foreigners Act, they've been accorded the basic rights of most citizens but are
not allowed to contest or vote in an Indian election.
The Indian government has consciously promoted a policy
which enables the Tibetan community to maintain its distinct identity and
cultural values, together with a political and administrative system of its
own. A separate Tibetan government-in-exile has been established in
Dharmashala, Himachal Pradesh.
Many universities in India including Delhi University and
Jamia Hamdard are not charging a special fee from Tibetans though they're given
admission through foreign quota. Tibetans are struggling for the same treatment
from other central and state Universities in the country.
The majority of Tibetan refugees in India still wants to
return to Tibet and is continuously struggling for "Free Tibet". More
than five and half decades after the initial flight of this group of refugees,
permanent solutions for them still appear to be a long way off.
SOME FACTS ABOUT TIBET
● Until 1949, Tibet was an independent Buddhist nation in
the Himalayas which had little contact with the rest of the world.
●Communist Chinese invasion in 1950 led to years of turmoil,
that culminated in the complete overthrow of the Tibetan Government and the
self-imposed exile of Dalai Lama and 1,00,000 Tibetans in 1959.
●In Tibet today, there is no freedom of speech, religion, or
Press and arbitrary dissidents continue.
● It is evident from the formal peace treaty concluded
between China and Tibet in 823 (which demarcated the borders between the two
countries and ensured that, "Tibetan shall be happy in Tibet and Chinese
should be happy in China"), that Tibet once was a free country and had
full control over its own affairs as any nation. The peace treaty is carved in
Tibetan and Chinese on one side of a stone pillar in front of the Jokhang
Cathedral in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa.
Image result for Tibetan shall be happy in Tibet and Chinese
should be happy in China
The new generation of Tibet seems just as determined as its
predecessors to regain the country's independence as the older generation was.
-Ekta Singh
