![[Nepal] Bhutanese refugees embarked on a demonstration outside UN offices in Kathmandu in May. [Date picture taken: 08/17/2006]](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/20068180.jpg.webp?itok=kuNxWky8 "Bhutanese refugees embarked on a demonstration outside UN offices in Kathmandu in May")
Bhutanese refugees in Nepal have vowed to continue their demonstration in front of the United Nations (UN) office in the capital, Kathmandu, to draw international attention to their plight.
Tirtha Bahadur Gurung, 70, a member of the Bhutanese Movement Steering Committee (BMSC) formed in May to represent the interests of the estimated 106,000 refugees in Nepal, said they were not going to move.
“We will continue with our strike until death and not move from here until our problems are sorted out,” Gurung said.
The refugees have been living in Nepal since 1990 when they were evicted from their homes by the Bhutanese government. It introduced a new citizenship law that disenfranchised the group, most of whom have Nepalese ancestry, depriving them of citizenship and civil rights.
Most of the refugees live in one of seven camps in the Morang and Jhapa districts of eastern Nepal, nearly 800 km from Kathmandu.
The Bhutanese and Nepalese governments have had more than 15 rounds of bilateral negotiations to resolve the refugees’ situation but they remain in the camps, receiving aid from the office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food Programme and local charities.
“We have to now look for other possible options since repatriation seems not possible,” refugee Prem Siwakoti, who used to work as a teacher in Bhutan, said.
“We cannot wait any longer. We are happy now to settle in any country,” Siwakoti said.
Many refugees want the UN and the international community to facilitate third-country resettlement.
“The situation is becoming worrisome every day. There is increasing despair, some of us are becoming suicidal,” Mukti Raj Gurung, a refugee who has been in Nepal for 15 years, said.
Ganga Bhandari, 19, said that depression, school absenteeism, crime and forced prostitution were all on the rise among the refugees.
“Vulnerability is growing, especially among the youth. There is now social disturbance growing in our own communities,” Bhandari said.
BMSC said girls from the camps had been trafficked into sex work in Indian brothels.
“The health situation is also deteriorating due to lack of proper diet and medical facilities,” Ghaneswari Rai, a refugee who has been part of the demonstration in the capital since it began more than two months ago, said.
Rai sleeps on the street under a thin piece of plastic and has not eaten a proper meal for three weeks.
Judy Cheng-Hopkins, the UNHCR’s assistant high commissioner for operations, recently visited the refugee camps and assured them of the agency’s support.
“We are doing everything we can to bring your plight to the attention of the international community," she told them.
A young refugee said they had been waiting for nearly 16 years and could not wait any longer.
"It’s time for action and not merely words and press statements from the UN.”
Cheng-Hopkins said it was working to resettle 16 of the most vulnerable refugees in Canada and the United States. Bhutanese police had tortured some of the group.
Meanwhile, UNHCR said on Thursday that it was concerned by reports that refugees had established a roadblock by the Goldhap camp to try and pressure it to undertake development work.
"This is unfortunate and disappointing. This has seriously affected the delivery of humanitarian assistance and risks the eroding of international protection to the refugees," Abraham Abraham, UNHCR's representative in Nepal, said.
"As a result of the blockade trucks carrying cooking fuel as well as undertaking emergency medical transport have been blocked from reaching the Goldhap camp at an extreme cost," Abraham said.
Tirtha Bahadur Gurung, 70, a member of the Bhutanese Movement Steering Committee (BMSC) formed in May to represent the interests of the estimated 106,000 refugees in Nepal, said they were not going to move.
“We will continue with our strike until death and not move from here until our problems are sorted out,” Gurung said.
The refugees have been living in Nepal since 1990 when they were evicted from their homes by the Bhutanese government. It introduced a new citizenship law that disenfranchised the group, most of whom have Nepalese ancestry, depriving them of citizenship and civil rights.
Most of the refugees live in one of seven camps in the Morang and Jhapa districts of eastern Nepal, nearly 800 km from Kathmandu.
The Bhutanese and Nepalese governments have had more than 15 rounds of bilateral negotiations to resolve the refugees’ situation but they remain in the camps, receiving aid from the office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food Programme and local charities.
“We have to now look for other possible options since repatriation seems not possible,” refugee Prem Siwakoti, who used to work as a teacher in Bhutan, said.
“We cannot wait any longer. We are happy now to settle in any country,” Siwakoti said.
Many refugees want the UN and the international community to facilitate third-country resettlement.
“The situation is becoming worrisome every day. There is increasing despair, some of us are becoming suicidal,” Mukti Raj Gurung, a refugee who has been in Nepal for 15 years, said.
Ganga Bhandari, 19, said that depression, school absenteeism, crime and forced prostitution were all on the rise among the refugees.
“Vulnerability is growing, especially among the youth. There is now social disturbance growing in our own communities,” Bhandari said.
BMSC said girls from the camps had been trafficked into sex work in Indian brothels.
“The health situation is also deteriorating due to lack of proper diet and medical facilities,” Ghaneswari Rai, a refugee who has been part of the demonstration in the capital since it began more than two months ago, said.
Rai sleeps on the street under a thin piece of plastic and has not eaten a proper meal for three weeks.
Judy Cheng-Hopkins, the UNHCR’s assistant high commissioner for operations, recently visited the refugee camps and assured them of the agency’s support.
“We are doing everything we can to bring your plight to the attention of the international community," she told them.
A young refugee said they had been waiting for nearly 16 years and could not wait any longer.
"It’s time for action and not merely words and press statements from the UN.”
Cheng-Hopkins said it was working to resettle 16 of the most vulnerable refugees in Canada and the United States. Bhutanese police had tortured some of the group.
Meanwhile, UNHCR said on Thursday that it was concerned by reports that refugees had established a roadblock by the Goldhap camp to try and pressure it to undertake development work.
"This is unfortunate and disappointing. This has seriously affected the delivery of humanitarian assistance and risks the eroding of international protection to the refugees," Abraham Abraham, UNHCR's representative in Nepal, said.
"As a result of the blockade trucks carrying cooking fuel as well as undertaking emergency medical transport have been blocked from reaching the Goldhap camp at an extreme cost," Abraham said.
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