UNHRC

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHRC) was established in 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly.
The agency is mandated to lead and coordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees.
It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country. It also has a mandate to help stateless people.

The 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (commonly known as the Refugee Convention) and its 1967 Protocol are the key legal documents that form the basis of UNHCR’s work.
With 149 State parties to either or both, they define the term ‘refugee’ and outline the rights of refugees, as well as the legal obligations of States to protect them.
The core principle is non-refoulement, which asserts that a refugee should not be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom. This is now considered a rule of customary international law.
UNHCR serves as the ‘guardian’ of the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol.
India has not been a signatory of the 1951 Refugee Convention or the 1967 Protocol.

The High Court of Manipur has allowed seven Myanmar nationals, who entered India secretly following the February military coup, to travel to New Delhi to seek protection from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Though India is not a party to the UN Refugee Conventions, the court observed that the country is a party to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966.
The court also noted that the far-reaching and myriad protection afforded by Article 21 of our Constitution, as interpreted and adumbrated by our Supreme Court time and again, would indubitably encompass the right of non-refoulement.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a historic document which outlined the rights and freedoms everyone is entitled to. It was the first international agreement on the basic principles of human rights.
The Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris in 1948 as a common standard of achievements for all people and all nations.
It sets out fundamental human rights to be universally protected. The UDHR is widely recognized as having inspired, and paved the way for, the adoption of more than seventy human rights treaties, applied today on a permanent basis at global and regional levels.
Nearly every state in the world has accepted the Declaration (including India).

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1966, and it came into force in 1976.
The ICCPR, together with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, are considered the International Bill of Human Rights.
The covenant commits its parties to respect the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, electoral rights and rights to due process and a fair trial.
At present, the Covenant has 173 parties (including India).

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