Gender Based Violence in Tibetan Refugee camps in India: A study of Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

xxii Gender Based Violence in Tibetan Refugee Camps in India: A Study of Himachal Pradesh ABSTRACT Conflicts are one of the major parts of human life and it exists within society in various forms. Mostly, the conflicts occurred within society or state. Major reasons for conflict are either division of power or unequal distribution of natural resource or violation of rights. Gender based violence is also the result of conflict that occurs with different human communities which are part of all types of society and most common in conflict affected areas like refugee settlements. The problem of refugee in various forms has been prevalent in the world from ancient times. One of these problems is gender based violence, affecting every third person in the world. It is very much pervasive in every society, ranging in proportion from one to another societal structure. Gender based violence with refugees becomes even more macabre, for already facing many problems. It exists as a serious issue in those refugee camps which are built for temporary settlement to receive refugees in order to meet basic human needs and protection of human right during conflict all over the world. Gender based violence is a violation of human rights. This kind of violence perpetuates the stereotyping of gender roles that denies human dignity of the individual and stymies human development. It includes physical abuse (includes battering, sexual assault, at home or in the workplace), psychological abuse (includes deprivation of liberty, forced marriage, sexual harassment, at home or in the workplace), deprivation of resources needed for physical and psychological well-being (including health care, xxiii nutrition, education, means of livelihood) and treatment of women as commodities (includes trafficking in women and girls for sexual exploitation) and reinforces inequalities between women and men. China's occupation of Tibet in 1950 by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the massacre of human rights caused widespread exodus of Tibetans, and theydecided to seek asylum in India. Approximately 1,09,015 Tibetan refugees living in India in the forty-one different settlements, and are divided into 70 communities in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Meghalaya, Chhattisgarh, Sikkim, West Bengal, Maharashtra, and Orissa. According to the last census taken by the CTA in 2009, 109,015 Tibetans lives in outside of Tibet, including 94,203 who live in India. India is not party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol and does not have a national refugee protection framework. However, it continues to grant asylum to a large number of refugees from neighbouring states. Apart from this, the refugees in India are not only living their lives but also enjoying their rights. Some rights of refugees have been vested for security reasons, but apart from this, they are providing education to their children under Right to Education and appealing for their authority in the Indian courts, likewise, other important rights have been given by the Government of India and the State. Despite the rights given by the government, due to unfavourable socio-economic structure, refugees have to face many problems. Gender based violence is important among these problems. This study tries to critically examine gender based violence in refugee camps of India particularly Himachal Pradesh as the focused area of study, in the process of it the study attempts to examine the impact of India’s policy and programmes formulated specifically for Tibetan refugees who migrated to India after 1959 for giving the legal xxiv status of the Tibetan refugees including; rights of their education, access to social benefits and welfare schemes, access to security, safety and justice from criminal activities, human rights, etc,. This study is basically divided into two main sections. The first section focusses on the introduction of study with objectives, research questions, database, methodology, literature review, taking into account a brief description of Himachal Pradesh’s five Tibetan refugees’ settlements. Dharamshala is the most populated settlement of Tibetan refugees among them and located in district Kangra and other four Bir Dege and Bir Tibetan Society, Bir Chauntra, Nangchen and Phuntsokling, Dalhousie are around it. This section of the study divided into three different parts. First subpart details about nature and conceptualised causes of gender based violence; different sites of gender based violence; theoretical perspectives of gender based violence with details patriarchy theory, feminist theory, social learning theory, ecological theory, cycle of violence theory and theoretical framework of gender based violence. The ecological theory has been able to develop the Social Ecological Model (SEM). The SEM model is a theory-based framework for understanding the comprehensive and interactive effects of personal and environmental factors that determine behaviours. This model aims at identifying behavioural and organizational leverage points and intermediaries. It includes five hierarchical levels of the SEM: Individual, interpersonal, community, organizational, and policy/enabling environment. The second part includes root causes of migration of Tibetan abroad. This sub-part elaborates historical background of Tibetan and their government structure in Tibet. Second part also cover various causes of Tibetan migration. Apart from this, this study deals about the cultural revolution and cultural genocide, destruction of the xxv Tibetan culture and human rights violation which are the major causes of Tibetan migration abroad. Tibetans continued to migrate to India after the massacre because India was safe for practising Tibetan faith, protection of arts, culture and religious practices. The emigration did not stop but Tibetan emigration to India still continues. Availability of spiritual education, secular education and work opportunities are the main factors for immigration of Tibetans in India. Arrival in India was not the simplest things for Tibetan. They faced different types of problems including hot weather, insecurity of livelihood and gender based violence. Third part of first section of study discussed the policies and programmes offered by the government of India to the Tibetan refugees in their respective time period of arrival. Tibetans are enjoying India because of their legal status. They are registered with Registration Certificate (RC), Identity Certificate, Special Entry Permit, with the help of these documents they can also travel to different parts of India and abroad. The Government of India and various state governments have a rehabilitation policy for Tibetans. These policies and programs helped develop agro based industries, carpet-weaving and handicrafts and agriculture in Tibetan settlements. Tibetan protected by Constitutional Provisions and Indian judiciary. This part has discussed the Indian judiciary provision for the protection of Tibetan rights against gender based violence and human rights violations. The second section of this study deals with issues of gender based violence with Tibetan refugees in Himachal Pradesh contextualising the impact of violence on decision-making processes. Further, this section also incorporates the summary of findings, suggestions and conclusion. To fulfil the requirement of objectives the data has been collected from both primary as well as secondary sources. The primary data have been collected by interviews, questionnaire survey and case studies. Secondary xxvi data have been collected from different Government departments, Central Tibetan Administration, Settlements office of the Tibetan refugees and Tibetan Demographic Survey (2009). In addition, samples have been investigated to generate first-hand data to support the study. In order to understand the GBV among the different respondents of Tibetan settlements in the area of study, the qualitative narrative method has been utilised. This information has been collected through discussions with the CTA's office and Tibetan refugees, including representatives of various gender and age groups, representative of state and central government of India, settlements officials and Tibetan religious leaders. Case studies have been referred to collect information about gender based violence in the Tibetan settlements of Himachal Pradesh. The collected information is described in a sequential manner to fulfil the first and second objective. Further, to understand the impacts of gender based violence on women in refugee camps and it also examines changes in social impact and affairs, affecting decision-making role, centring India’s policy and programme for upliftment of Tibetan refugees in India. Further it is to be noted that certain techniques; descriptive and inferential statistical technique, crosstab, frequency table and figure have been constructed for the inferential statistical, chi-square test, custom table of SPSS uses to calculate the share of different categories under the different set of data. Study shows that the without the signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol, India takes care of refugees on humanitarians’ basis. About 50 thousand Tibetans decided to seek an asylum in India after the Lhasa demolition before 69 years. xxvii Present time approximately 94,203 Tibetan refugees living in India in the forty-one different settlements. The study attempts to show that Tibetan are enjoying all human rights for improvement of their socio-economy status. Apart from these, Tibetans are eligible to avail credit facility by Indian banks. This is a great financial support for Tibetans as it enables them to resolve the financial rebellion that is available to Tibetans. Therefore, many Tibetan refugees are getting loan from the bank and stablishing to set up their businesses, hotels and other resources for their livelihood. The study depicts that the majority of Tibetans are educated and are employed or retired from different institutions of non-governmental organizations, private limited, state government departments and the central government of India. In addition, sons and daughters of Tibetan people are also working in various government-funded institutions. Tibetans have built pucca houses in collaboration with national and international funding agencies. Apart from this, they have also built schools and hospitals. The Government authorities have tried their best to provide right to education, Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao, and other rights to cultural remedies and have full supports for Tibetan refugees in India without any refugees’ law. In addition to it Tibetan have valid document for traveling out of India with their Identity Certificate (IC) issued by Indian Government. Gender based violence is major issues of refugees’ camps of the world. It effects human dignity of individual and stymies the possibility of human development, overwhelming majority of the victims/ survivors of gender based violence are women and mostly girls. Even if gender based violence seems to be a public concern, it has to be admitted that it is deeply rooted with the individual attitude to condone violence within the family, towards the community and to the state at a large. The root causes xxviii and consequences of sexual and gender based violence must be understood before appropriate steps could be taken to prevent and respond to this violence. The gender violence does not occur in concurrence with age, place or time, it occurs anywhere at any time and age. Women aged between 15 years to 44 years are more vulnerable to gender violence. The gender violence is used as a weapon during the times of conflict. However, in Indian society, Tibetans are facing different forms of gender based violence. As per the record, Dharmshala police registered FIR against an Indian citizen for murder of Tibetan girl. The State Government, as well as the Government of India, is fully committed to protect the human rights of Tibetan refugees as per the provisions ascribed in the Constitution of India. Whoever the offender is, the Constitution of India punishes the offender according to the crime. This constitution provides full protection to Indians as well as foreigners. Study of the State Plan Division, Planning Commission, H.P (2005) reported that Himachal Pradesh falls in the category of high-ranking states in crime against women. Districts of Kangra, Mandi and Shimla have recorded high rates of crime against women and these districts are more populated with Tibetan refugees. Social Ecological Model asserts that every human being affects the other in different ways. In the same context, the spokesperson of CTA in his interview said that “We are aliens but we are also human beings and we can't deny that GBV doesn't occur in our community”. The study was also supported by a study by the Tibetan Women's Association (TWA), which aimed to raise awareness of China's oppressive, violent policy against Tibetan women in 1984 and the preservation and promotion of the specific culture, religion and identity of the Tibetan people. Various Indian courts are also giving priority to cases related to gender based violence specifically related to women, in addition, the Government of India has special xxix emphasis on lawsuits related to foreigners, which is helpful to protect the rights of Tibetans as they are living in India as foreigners. India's policy and programs are also helping to strengthen their socio-economic status.