EFI: Church must advocate for refugees

The Church in India must respond with compassion to the needs of refugees who have fled due to religious persecution, said the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI), as it Sunday marked the World Refugee Day.

Highlighting the plight of Afghan Christians in India, the evangelical body said refugees fleeing that country are being subjected to frequent attacks and prayers must be offered for "special protection of the Afghan Christian community".

A pastor of a small Afghan congregation in south Delhi informed EFI that his house was broken into and subsequently he has been forced to shift his home after receiving threatening calls.

EFI says police have repeatedly refused to register complaints of the refugee community in India, claiming that "illegal immigrants" are not entitled to legal protection.

"Most do not have the required documentation to remain in country even as their applications are under process in the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Even having a refugee certificate from UNHCR is no guarantee that the Indian government will not deport refugees back to their country," it observed.

Furthermore, most refugees or asylum seekers live without access to proper shelter, employment or legal processes. "Many are forced to work as street vendors or translators, a highly visible job which made it easy for police to extort money or inventory from them. Many instances of sexual abuse also go unreported due to the ambiguity of the status of the asylum seekers."

Therefore, it said Church must pray for "India to pass a domestic law that would provide for protection of the basic fundamental rights of every refugee or asylum seeker."

Church also must respond with "compassion to the needs of the refugees by assisting in meeting their basic needs and for advocating for a change in government polices and laws."

World Refugee Day is celebrated on June 20 each year to draw attention to the plight of refugees and renew commitment to solve refugee problems. According to Amnesty International, there are an estimated 14.2 million refugees in the world, and 24.5 million internally displaced persons.

In India, according to the World Refugee Survey, there are 456,000 refugees, including the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists.

The survey also noted that there were 100,000 refugees from Burma, 30,000 from Afghanistan, 25,000 from Bhutan, and another 25,000 from Nepal residing in the country.

India is not party to the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Due to the absence of clear guidelines, refugees are generally governed under the Foreigners Act 1946.