This brief highlights challenges and obstacles faced by African migrants in India that are crucial to address in the planning of inclusive urban futures. It explains how a precarious legal status for migrants substantially impacts their access to urban infrastructure in cities such as Delhi. It also delineates the ways in which stereotypes of racial difference engender social and cultural barriers to the effective inclusion of migrants.
Research suggests that racialised migrants in India, even those with an accepted legal status, experience insecurity, unstable access to housing and dependency on intermediaries, in addition to various forms of violence. Sustained and systemic interventions, built on an understanding of the links between legal and sociocultural forms of precarity impacting migrants, are vital to address existing challenges and to ensure inclusive and dignified futures for all the city’s residents.
