“India signed and ratified the ICCPR on April 10, 1979. It had signed but not ratified the Convention Against Torture. The US is party to the ICCPR and a signatory to the Convention Against Torture, which it ratified on October 21, 1994,” she added.On deportation, the MEA website states that it “can be done by a foreign country when a foreigner violates the immigration laws of that country. In most cases the Indian Embassy/Consulate will not be able to intervene in preventing such deportation. However, in cases where the concerned Indian national is not at fault or feels he is being unfairly deported, this can be brought to the notice of the Embassy/Consulate so that it can be taken up with the local immigration authorities concerned.”In response to a question on deportation of Indians from various countries on February 8, 2024 in the Rajya Sabha, the then MoS, Ministry of External Affairs, V Muraleedharan had stated, “Many foreign countries do not provide information on illegal stay in their countries, except when they are under orders of deportation and travel document/nationality verification is required. As such, our Missions and Posts do not have any reliable data on the number of Indians staying or working illegally in foreign countries.” Information about arrest/detention and deportation is not shared with Indian Missions/Posts and deportation is done directly by the host country, added Muraleedharan. He had brought to the notice of the House that there are “several unscrupulous agents/travel agencies, which are illegally involved in the business of manpower recruitment for overseas employment. Information about illegal agents is uploaded and updated on a regular basis on the e-Migrate Portal.”For legal migration, the MEA has taken several initiatives such as Pravasi Bhartiya Bima Yojana (PBBY) and Pre Departure Orientation & Training (PDOT) to ensure that migrant workers undertake safe migration, have safe working and living conditions in the destination countries and are aware of their rights and have access to the government’s welfare schemes. The MEA’s campaign launched in 2018 — Surakshit Jayen Prashikshit Jayen (Go safe, Go trained) — was aimed to bring in awareness to prospective emigrants. But clearly the message has not reached many of its intended recipients.
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