The Global Refugee Crisis: Legal Frameworks, India’s Response and Future Imperatives A Doctrinal Study of International Protection Standards and the Indian Position

Abstract

The international refugee regime enters its seventy-fifth year with an unprecedented number of displaced persons. As of the end of December 2025, the number of people displaced worldwide due to persecution or hardship reached 117.8 million, including 41.6 million refugees, making one person out of every 70 in the world displaced. This article analyzes the legal framework in which the rights of these people are protected, India’s place in this system, and the changes to be made in the future. The article uses a doctrinal method with analytical and comparative elements. The analysis is based on the Convention and protocol of 1951 and India’s constitution and laws, followed by an analysis of UNHCR’s Executive Committee’s findings and secondary sources. The article reveals the nuances of the law on the status of refugees, especially the differences between a refugee, with their specific and detailed rights, and a migrant, who is a concept in search of a definition. The article focuses on India, which is a country that houses many refugees but is not a party to the convention and protocol. The article shows that the 2025 Immigration and Foreigners Act, which for the first time regulated the status of foreigners in the post-colonial period, does not follow the convention and protocol, leaving the rights of refugees in India to judicial interpretation through the lens of article 21. Finally, the article analyzes the limitations of the mandate of UNHCR, caused by its reliance on donor States and host States, and identifies four pillars for future reform – statutory, institutional, rights-based, and responsibility-based.