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Abstract
Refugees are often quoted to be a ‘creature of circumstances’, it’s the grave human rights violations that force people to flee from the country of origin and seek refuge in another country. Recent times have seen a great increase in the number of refugees; the Syrian refugee crisis and the Rohingya refugees have once again highlighted the magnitude of the problem. Different countries have dealt with the refugee crisis differently. This paper attempts to highlight the impact of refugees on host countries. The problems faced by the host countries include sharing of resources, the strain caused on the economies, threat of terrorism and conflict between citizens and refugees. While the problems faced are many there has to be humanitarian approach taken to protect the human rights of these vulnerable people. The 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Additional protocol remain the bedrock of international refugee protection. Many countries such as India have not yet acceded to these two instruments. Therefore can India hide behind the shield of non-accession or is it duty bound to step up and provide refugee protection needs to be analyzed. Further it becomes important to note that certain principles of refugee protection such as the non-refoulement principle have the stature of jus-cogens, principles of customary international law which has to be respected by all nations. In the light of the aforesaid international law principles the present paper highlights the different approaches taken by host nations towards mitigating the global refugee problem.