Her Dilemma: Homeless at Home

Homeless in their homeland is a dilemma with which Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) continue to live for decades. Unlike refugees they neither cross the borders nor seek asylum outside their countries. Further, the IDPs continue to seek protection from the very states which through their policies create situation of forced migration leading to displacement in subsequent years. This paper under the theme of interdisciplinary perspective on Human Rights, Women and Forced Migration shall attempt to present an emerging phenomenon of displacement and forced migration of the religious minorities through manufactured communal violence. The use of the word 'manufacture' is deliberate as the paper explores in the introductory section through the ethnographic work of Paul Brass (2003,2006) how communal violence is organized in India often against the targeted religious minority groups.

The main focus of the paper shall be on recent episodes of communal violence in two states of India which has lead to displacement and forced migration of ethnic and religious minority groups. Women are the worst sufferers in such cases of displacement as they not only are burdened to rebuild the lost homes but also are forced to nurture the progeny in conflict situations which continue to persist much after the actual episodes of violence have subsided. Testimonies of the victimised minority women bring forth the grim reality of state negligence, inadequate protection, human rights abuses and lop sided policies which have led to thousands of people becoming domestic refugees. Narratives gathered from the field and witness literature ( Mander 2009 and 2004, CRG 2006, Varadarajan ed. 2002) present an alarming reality of conflict-induced displacement of ethnic and religious minorities within the democratic state of India, which numbers more than half a million currently, with women as the worst sufferers in such cases of displacement.

Publication Date: 
2016
Volume: 
4
Issue: 
1
Journal Name: 
Human Rights International Research Journal