Bhutanese refugees uncertain of ever going home

Many Bhutanese living as refugees in Nepal have lost all hope of ever returning home, according to observers. “The level of despair has taken its toll amongst them and now they are looking towards the international community to help in third country settlement,” said dissident Ran Bahadur Basnet, chairman of the Bhutan National Democratic Party. In the last 15 years, the number of Bhutanese refugees in Nepal has reached nearly 110,000. They live in 11 camps in east Nepal with support provided by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), World Food Programme (WFP) and several other aid agencies. They took refuge in Nepal after they were evicted from their native country in the early 1990s when the Bhutanese government introduced discriminatory citizenship policies targeting ethnic Nepalis. Bhutan asserted that they were not Bhutanese nationals and classed them as voluntary migrants from Nepal. Following international pressure, bilateral talks were held between the two countries in 2001 to verify and categorise the refugees. But even after 15 rounds of discussions, the situation for the refugees has not changed, say representatives of the Bhutanese community in Nepal. According to some Bhutanese activists in Nepal, countries like Canada and Norway have been exploring the possibility of providing settlement to a limited number of Bhutanese refugees. UNHCR has also agreed the third country resettlement option is under consideration. “We are in dialogue with resettlement countries but they too are waiting for the start of repatriation [to Bhutan] before offering the option of third country resettlement,” said Abraham Abraham, UNHCR’s representative in Nepal. “While many [Bhutanese refugees] are already undergoing serious health and education problems, many are also undergoing mental depression. Morale [in the refugee camps] is very low,” added Rizal. Some refugee leaders said material assistance to them in the camps has been reduced in recent years. “Relief support like food, shelter, health, education and other basic things has been significantly cut down in the last several years leading to immense difficulty for the refugees in the camps,” said Gajmere. But UNHCR disagreed, saying support to the Bhutanese was continuing. “I don’t know where they get the idea of a slash in aid because there is no reduction in the overall level of assistance,” said Abraham. “There is no significant change in the aid. We continue to support every year and have been doing that for the last 15 years.” UNHCR and WFP rely entirely on donors to assist refugees world wide and are continually campaigning for more resources. WFP has previously been responsible for supplying food to the camps but there is no confirmation of funding for food to the camps after September 2005. “There are positive signs that the donor support may come but there is no 100 percent guarantee,” said WFP’s deputy director in Nepal, JP Demargerie. “We are pinning our ultimate hopes on the international community,” said Tek Nath Rizal of the Bhutan Human Rights Council, adding there was widespread frustration with the inability of Western governments to resolve the refugee crisis. “It’s time for the international community to step up pressure to solve the refugee crisis. We should now go for trilateral or multilateral talks since the bilateral process has proven a failure and everybody knows that,” explained Bhutanese dissident and human rights activist Ratan Gajmere, speaking in the capital, Kathmandu. UNHCR pointed to the need for Nepal and Bhutan to work together to resolve the refugee issue, since it was primarily between the two countries. “They’ve [Bhutanese refugees] been there for 15 years and you cannot keep them for another undetermined period. This would be both inhuman and criminal,” Abraham added.