Resettlement option nudges forward

Source:Kantipuronline.com
BY DAMAKANT JAYSHI

KATHMANDU, July 28 - .The Home Ministry has agreed to provide between 25-30 armed policemen for each of the seven Bhutanese refugee camps within a month to help facilitate the process of resettlement in third countries, sources privy to this development told the Post.

"We had committed to beef up the security by Ashad-end (mid-July) but due to violence in the terai and other constraints, we could not do so," admits a top Home Ministry official when asked to confirm this development. The ministry has already written to APF and Nepal Police to provide additional personnel of about 200. .

As per an understanding, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Nepal (UNHCR-Nepal) has agreed to construct buildings for police personnel (both APF and Nepal Police) inside each of the camps and meet some related costs.

This new arrangement is in addition to an Armed Police Force (APF) base camp near the Beldangi camps with about 200 men.

For 17 long years, the evicted Lhostsampas (Nepali-speaking Bhutanese in southern Bhutan) - now numbering over 100,000 - have been waiting to lead a normal life outside their small huts. With Nepal-Bhutan bilateral efforts failing to find a solution vis-à-vis repatriation due to Bhutanese government's reluctance, refugees now want to avail themselves the next option - resettlement in third countries - which has become possible due to offer by core group countries.

The core group countries - the United States, Canada, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand - have declared their intention to resettle tens of thousands of refugees on humanitarian grounds, with the US alone expressing its willingness to take in around 60,000 refugees.

But to the dismay of many refugees, some hardline youths in camps and their leaders outside have opposed the option. Outfits like Bhutan Communist Party (MLM) and Bhutan Tiger Force have sprung up and both these groups have threatened those who advocate third country option.

The violence in Beldangi-2 erupted after its pro-resettlement camp secretary Hari Bangale said, in an interview to a local FM station on May 28, that extremist refugee youths were preventing others from openly speaking in favor of third country resettlement. Soon after, he was beaten by the enraged youths and in an attempt to rescue him, the police had to open fire and two persons died subsequently. The lone police post inside the camp was torched. Although the situation is now returning to normal, UNHCR-Nepal feels security needs to be bolstered before it can move ahead with the resettlement process. Some refugees feel that way too.

"I cannot go back to my camp (in Beldangi-2) because I have openly spoken in favor of resettlement," Munna Giri, 23, told the Post in the capital. She fled the camp after the violence erupted and "I started receiving threats". Her parents and two siblings are still in the camp.

Groups like the Bhutanese Refugee Repr-esentative Repatr-iation Committee (BRRRC), and Bhutan Movement Steering Committee (BMSC) both headed by Tek Nath Rizal - who was jailed for a decade in Bhutan - are opposed to "resettlement in its present form". "Simple refugees are being hoodwinked and coerced to opt for resettlement; hence youths are angry," Rizal explains.

Others like Refugee Rights Coordination Com-mittee, AHURA-Bhutan, and Voice for Change advocate the pragmatic option - resettlement. These organizations insist that resettlement would in no way take away a refugee's right to return to Bhutan.

Interestingly, BRRRC had, in a letter to Arthur E Gene Dewey, US Assistant Secretary of State, who visited the camps in 2004, requested that the United States help explore "all alternative options".

If resettlement is derailed, there would be serious violence, fears Pingla Dhital from Beldangi-2, now in Kathmandu since 2005. "People are now keeping quiet as they do not want to risk disqualification for resettlement during the interview. But they may lose patience." The pro-settlement group claims that that there is a concerted misinformation campaign - like refugees would be holed up in camps in third countries, the physically challenged would not be accepted, among others.

UNHCR officials refute such allegations. "No disabled would be left behind if they chose to resettle," says Abraham Abraham, UNHCR-Nepal Represe-ntative. "In fact, the physically challenged would get specialized treatment in countries they would resettle in." Those with communicable diseases would be treated here first before they resettle abroad, he adds.

Govt's policy shift
On July 4, presenting its annual policy and program for 2007-08 to the interim Parliament, the government spoke of allowing refugees to resettle in third countries as a provisional solution on humanitarian grounds, while saying also that repatriation to Bhutan is the primary option. All along its policy had been advocating repatriation alone.

Census results
Home Ministry and the UN agency completed a long overdue census (re-counting) from November last year to May this year. The census found that there are 108,744 registered refugees. Of them 1,959 are 'disputed' cases: like children from Bhutan joining their parents in the camps after the latter had registered; women who married Nepali men; kids born out of such

wedlock, who, by law, are now Nepali citizens; trafficked women and girls who have returned; those who 'deregistered' and now have returned, and so on.

7,000 Bhutan Refugees May Fly to US by Sept 2008

Source: TheHimalayanTimes.com
Damaru Lal Bhandari
Kathmandu, July 29

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which was selected as the Overseas Processing Entity (OPE) to assist in the screening of the Bhutanese refugees before they migrate to the United States (US), has started setting up delayed operations in Damak.
However, "significant processing" of the applications will start only at the end of September, while only 7,000 Bhutanese refugees have a chance of flying to the US by September 2008.
This indicates that the task of processing 60,000 refugees from the total of 107 thousand, which the US expressed willingness to take, could take about nine years.
The process of screening the refugees by hiring a specialised agency goes back to February last and is running behind by a month due to what has been described as the "unsettled" conditions in refugee camps in Damak.
Going by the initial schedule, the task of setting up the operations was supposed to get underway by July 1 before the OPE "assumed responsibility for the small existing caseload by Wednesday, August 1."
This has translated into a delay by one month from September 1, a deadline by which the IOM was initially scheduled to start what has been identified as the "significant processing."
"The agency which was selected to process the cases is IOM. It was initially scheduled to start operations earlier on, but unstable conditions in Damak ruled that out. The task of setting up operations is going on now," spokesperson for the US embassy in Kathmandu, Sharon Hudson-Dean, told The Himalayan Times.
Sharon-Dean also said that "since the process is a lengthy affair, not more than 7000 refugees may get to enter the US by September 2008, indicating that the prospect of the 107 thousand Bhutanese refugees starting a new life in the US could take "several years." The IOM was selected as the OPE by the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, Office of Admissions, under the US Department of State to facilitate migration of the refugees from Nepal to the US earlier in the year following a process which got underway on February 1.
The bureau has entered into what has been identified as a "cooperative" agreement with the IOM for the period from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008, with the guarantee to renew the same for any number of years.

Bhutan offered southern district to India, claims scholar

A group of Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, who have been trying to go back to their homeland from where they were evicted because of their Nepali origin nearly two decades ago, says it has learnt about 'an astonishing exchange of parleys' between India and Bhutan regarding the protracted refugee problem.

The National Front for Democracy in Bhutan, an umbrella of several Bhutanese political parties in exile, says the Bhutan government made a 'desperate' proposal to India to solve the refugee impasse that has tarnished Bhutan's image in the eyes of the international community. It has also cast doubts over King Jigme Wangchuk's abdication in favour of his son in an avowed bid to promote democracy and usher in the first election next year.

The exiled Bhutanese group is citing an article written by academic Mahendra P. Lama of the School of International Studies at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) that was published along with other papers last month.

'The Politics, Human Rights and Implications of Protracted Refugee Situations', published by Oxford University, United Nations University, Tokyo and Centre for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US, last month carries a paper by Lama where he says he learnt about an offer made by Bhutan to India during discussions with senior Indian officials.

According to Lama, Bhutan offered to give up one of its southern districts, where the population includes people mostly of Nepali origin, and which was subjected to a massive eviction drive that forced people to flee to India and Nepal.

Thimphu offered to hand over the district to India, its biggest donor, trade partner and foreign affairs adviser, for re-settlement of the refugees and other Nepali speaking Bhutanese citizens, Lama's article says.

Had India accepted the proposal, it would have badly affected the already much-frayed India-Nepal relations with Nepal regarding India as having annexed the once independent Sikkim.

While lauding India for turning down the proposal, the refugee group has begun a campaign against 'the deliberate anti-national attempt of (the) despotic regime' of Bhutan to 'disintegrate the country in order to continue holding on to power'.

Issuing a statement in Nepal, NFD-Bhutan said it would launch a mass awareness campaign in Bhutan, adopting the model of the non-violent protests organised by Nepal's opposition parties last year that succeeded in toppling King Gyanendra's government, though it was backed by the army.

The organisation warned that the campaign could include general strikes and taking the issue to international forums to highlight the 'anti-national policies' of the Bhutan government.

It also said it would stage a second long march to Bhutan soon and was garnering support from the liberal parties in India. Many Bhutanese refugee leaders are in Indian cities and are expected to give a boost to the march back home.

The Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, who number over 106,000, have been in a stage of ferment since the US government said it was willing to resettle in American cities and towns as many Bhutanese refugees as favoured third-country resettlement.

The offer came after the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, which administers refugee camps in eastern Nepal, said the donors maintaining the camps were growing weary of an impasse that showed no sign of resolution and funding was increasingly slashed.

The resettlement offer has divided the refugees, part of whom want to accept it and part who favour returning home.

The pro-repatriation group is reported to be trying to intimidate those who want to accept the US offer, leading to growing tension and violence in the camps.

Moriarty stresses freedom for refugees to make decision on resettlement

Source: Nepalnews.com
In his meeting with the Bhutanese refugee leaders, the US ambassador James Moriarty, on Friday, said that fear must not affect refugees' choices on third country resettlement.

According to a press release by the US Embassy, Moriarty emphasised that it is essential for refugees have the freedom to make well-informed, independent decisions regarding their future without fear of threats or intimidation.

Moriarty discussed the details of the American program, beginning this year, that offers to resettle at least 60,000 Bhutanese refugees in America over the next four-five years.

He said that the offer was based on humanitarian concern for the well-being of the Bhutanese refugees not for political reasons.

At the meeting, which was held on the backdrop of growing criticism by refugee leaders that the US was pushing for resettlement without adequately pressuring the Bhutan government on repatriation, Moriarty said that the US continues to support the right of "eligible refugees" to repatriate to Bhutan and will continue to urge the Royal Government of Bhutan to fulfill its obligations in this regard.

"Third-country resettlement does not preclude the right of refugees to return to Bhutan should conditions there permit return at a later date," Moriarty told refugee leaders.

He also called on all refugees to reject violence and respect each other's right to choose their own future. "Violence will have a negative and lasting effect on the refugee community and could harm the refugees' future opportunities for repatriation to Bhutan," he said. nepalnews.com sd Jun 15 07

Chance of a lifetime

Source: Nepalitimes.com
More than 100,000 Bhutani refugees are finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel. After 17 years in camps in eastern Nepal, there is the prospect of resettlement in the United States, Canada, Denmark, and Australia.

But the refugees are now suddenly confronted with a political backlash from activists and refugee leaders who insist that resettlement would jeopardise their right of return to Bhutan. We find this incongruous.

The Lhotshampa have suffered enough. Thimphu’s constant prevarication and India’s baffling unwillingness to confront the culpable Bhutan regime raised fears the refugees would simply disappear into the South Asian night. The US resettlement offer lets Thimphu off the hook for now, but offers refugee families a chance to rebuild their lives.

There is a surprising silence from the refugees. A majority of refugees would want to take up the resettlement offer rather than wait any longer in Jhapa. But ultra-left radicalisation of the camps means refugees are afraid to speak out. Some Bhutani political leaders who stand to lose their flock to resettlement are also against the proposal.

There is genuine concern that the refugees’ right of return might be compromised if they are settled overseas. Nepal fears resettlement may trigger another wave of Lhotshampa, and word is at least 80,000 are being ‘prepared’ for departure. Resettlement rather than return could trigger depopulation of Nepalis from the Indian northeast as well.

These fears have a sound basis, but the interest of the refugees must come first. This is a humanitarian issue and only then a political one. People cannot be sacrificed to principles against their best interests. Besides, the refugees’ right of return to Bhutan will not be compromised when they are resettled. And a future Bhutani diaspora could even evolve as a strong force for human rights and democratisation back home, as we have seen with refugee resettlements elsewhere.

Refugee leaders must now speak for the humanitarian interest of the people they represent. The Core Group countries must ensure that Bhutan’s depopulation exercise does not go unpunished in the long run. Nepal’s Home Ministry must maintain law and order in the camps so individual refugees are free of intimidation.

Sital Nibas must come out with a white paper to detail the policy shift that has already been set in place by Foreign Minister Sahana Pradhan, which is that Nepal supports resettlement without giving up the goal of right of return.

Finally, it is India that must atone for its inaction on the return of Bhutan’s refugees. New Delhi must send a strong message to Thimphu that further ethnic cleansing will not be tolerated. It must also firmly stamp out any copycat moves to evict Indians of Nepali origin from its own northeast.

Bangaley refutes allegation on him

Source: Apfanews.com
Kathmandu, July 6: Hari Adhikari Bangaley has strongly refuted the news story covered by Bhutan News Service (BNS) on July 5 titled ‘Himal South Asian denies Journo’s presence in discussion’ which quoted him as saying that every body possessesin the camps weapons.

“The content of the story is false. I didn’t speak that exiled Bhutanese possess weapons”, said Bangaley, claiming that the next quote that stated of having adequate information about resettlement process in camps is also misquoted.

“I have said the present deteriorating security situation in camps is not because of inadequate information on resettlement. This is because of the undesired step of the opposing group of exiled Bhutanese taken to terrorize and check people from opting for the offer of third country resettlement”, said Bangaley.